It was a macabre discovery that shook the peaceful town of Sauron (Charente-Maritime) on the night of February 28, 2015. Marie-Hélène Jaud and Thierry Lefebvre, a couple in their fifties with no history, were found dead in their partially burned home. . The traces of strangulation and other marks on the bodies of the victims testify to “unheard-of violence”, according to our colleagues from Parisian. For Louis Mea, “a real massacre”. The son-in-law of the Lefebvre couple quickly attracted the attention of the investigators: he was the last to have seen his in-laws alive. Traces of his DNA were notably found on a bloody shirt. The Charente-Maritime Assize Court sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
A few hours earlier, the Parisian in his forties took the road in the direction of Sauron to visit “unannounced” the couple who were then going through a difficult time. “When I arrived at my in-laws, Marie-Hélène Jaud told me that she was fed up, that things were not going well with her husband”, said Louis Mea, whose visit takes place between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. . The Lefebvre son-in-law remembers the visit of two “Romanians” interested in the motorhome that the couple would have put up for sale. Key witnesses whose existence has never been proven. The investigators, however, find a hypothetical motive for the crime: the repayment of a loan of 30,000 euros granted by his parents-in-law to allow him to set up a business in Côte d’Ivoire.
Why the crime of the Lefebvre spouses was almost perfect
“Louis Mea’s DNA was not found on the clothes and bodies of the victims, argue lawyers Me Lionel Béthune de Moro and Me Aurélien Bourdier during the trial five years later. You do not kill your in-laws who consider you a son for that amount.” For Advocate General Soraya Arhas, the evidence is “overwhelming”. In tears, Louis Mea will never deviate from his version of the facts: he is quite simply innocent. Without any confession on her part, the crime will be described as “diabolical” and “almost perfect” by Soraya Arhas. “The confession is a form of respect vis-à-vis the victims, society and oneself”. The accused will launch his ex-companion Angéline Lefebvre: “I deeply sympathize. Losing both parents, I do not wish it on anyone”.
The affair of the Lefebvre couple © DR
