u/Electrical-Cat1126

Cedric Jubillar was convicted of killing his wife Delphine some months ago in France. Her body has never been found. He has always claimed innocence but today confessed to her murder in 2020 via his lawyer. The case was given a very thorough write-up nine months ago by u/DArklyHeritage, now archuved, but linked below. Hopefully Delphine can now be brought home to rest, bringing some comfort to her friends and family, including her two children.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimeDiscussion/comments/1oaqfs3/the_perfect_murder_that_gripped_france_delphine/

The 2^(nd) of July 2026 saw an extremely unusual event in the annals of French legal history, as the country’s supreme court Dany Leprince overturned his conviction for the fourfold murder of his brother Christian, sister-in-law Brigitte, and nieces Sandra (aged ten) and Audrey (aged 6).

The story begins in the farming village of Thorigné sur Dué, a couple of hours’ drive south-west of Paris, on 5 September 1994. That morning, Christian and Brigitte fail to show up for work. The employees at Christian’s car body workshop decide to go and check the house, where they find the four bodies, slashed to death with a butcher’s cleaver. At the same time, the childminder for the couple’s youngest daughter, Solène (aged 2), is ringing the house to see why she has not been dropped off as usual. The line is busy the first three times she tries, then on the fourth, it rings, but no-one answers. She comes over to the house, finds the bodies and runs to the town hall to raise the alarm. When she returns, a few minutes later, the annex window has been shut.

Christian’s employees go next door to see Christian’s brother Dany, but he has been at work at the local meat packing plant since 3 that morning. Instead they tell his wife, Martine, of the slaughter. She rushes over and starts looking for Solène with the childminder. When the police arrive, they find Solène in her crib. There is no trace of blood in the nursery. Solène is unharmed. Her nappy seemed not to have been changed since the night before. Meanwhile, Martine calls Dany to tell him his brother is dead.

Forensics placed the deaths at between half past nine and half past eleven the night before. It was a brutal attack, with blood sprayed across the floor, walls and ceiling. More blood was found outside by the letterbox, where Christian was killed before being dragged inside. The girls died just as they were getting ready for bed. A search of the house found some unknown footprints, UK size 7, a broken knife with Brigitte’s DNA and that of another unknown individual, hair without roots in the hands of the girls, and an IOU from Dany to Christian for 10,000 francs. Strangely, the garage doors were locked from the inside.

The investigations began. Dany had spent the afternoon sowing rapeseed on his farm and then went to a neighbours’ house for a drink. He left at around 10 as he had a factory shift starting in a few hours and needed some rest. A neighbour who lived 200 m away said she heard nothing unusual that night.

  Martine recalled that her parents-in-law had a cleaver of the sort used for the murders. Dany had no training in using a cleaver, but she did: she used it to chop up pig carcasses at the farm they ran together. The police noticed Martine had a badly bruised nose, which she attributed to accidentally hitting herself in the face while slaughtering a pig. She was unable to reproduce the same gesture when asked. After a few days questioning, she changed her story: she had seen Dany kill the family, slipping out of the house without him noticing. This version was believed and Dany was arrested.

Dany, in turn, accused his wife. She was extremely jealous of her brother-in-law. They were doing much better financially and had just got back from holiday, while Dany and Martine had to work on the farm every day. Dany was working two jobs, one by day, one by night. Dany said his wife’s behaviour that evening was unusual: she did not serve him dinner, she washed her clothes, and when he went out to the car for his 3 a.m. shift the seat position had been changed. He was able to give the investigators a detailed account of the film he’d been watching on TV that evening.

There was no proof against Dany other than his wife’s word. Not a drop of blood on his clothing, no footprints that matched his size, no DNA. Solène, who was just 2, was able to tell investigators that Dany was mean, that he hit her sisters, and Martine had given her a bath and slept by her side. She also said she’d been hidden in the attic.

The case went to trial. Dany was found guilty and sentenced to life.

Three years later, a local dentist picked up her phone to a man who had misdialled the police station. He talked to her for an hour and a half, claiming to have been carrying out electrical work in the roof space at Christian and Brigitte’s house when the murders took place. He had not come forward before because the work was off the books. When it seemed calm, he had gone down to save Solène, taking her up to the roof space over the garage with him. He then left over the roof, which explained why the garage doors were locked from the inside. The man was known to be a notorious alcoholic who had a long history of fake bomb threats. His story was discounted.

In 2006, a discarded cleaver engraved Leprince was found alongside a road in the vicinity. It was handed in to the police, who unfortunately misplaced it. The meat packing plant said the cleaver belonged to Martine, not Dany.

In 2008, DNA testing on the knife found at the murder scene revealed DNA compatible with Martine.

In 2010, Dany was released from prison. Now his conviction has been overturned, he will face a retrial.

 

 

Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affaire_Leprince

A roughly 1 in 6 chance of dying on the job so far

We spend around 8 hours a day looking at them when we are asleep