Man detained in France after 4 bodies found in Paris’ River Seine

By Philippe Cordier and Catherine Nicholls, CNN

Paris (CNN) — A man in France has been detained on suspicion of murder after four bodies were found in Paris’ River Seine earlier this month.

The suspect, who prosecutors described as a “homeless man in his twenties,” was brought before a judicial court on Sunday, the Créteil Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement to CNN.

He is being investigated for “multiple counts of murder” in respect to the four victims, all of whom were men, the prosecutor’s office said.

On August 13, the bodies of the four men were discovered in the Parisian municipality of Choisy-le-Roi in varying states of decomposition.

The alarm was raised after a passenger on a train overlooking the river saw a body floating in the water, according to public broadcaster FranceInfo.

The body of one man, who was later identified to be a 48-year-old French national, was recovered in a “relatively intact” state, the Créteil Public Prosecutor’s Office said. An autopsy revealed injuries that suggested that he was strangled. He was found wearing a T-shirt but was naked from the waist down.

The other bodies found were in a “very advanced state of decomposition,” which made it difficult to determine their cause of death, the prosecutor said.

The second body, that of a 21-year-old Algerian national, showed injuries consistent with strangulation. He was reported missing by his relatives the week before his body was found.

The two other victims were identified as homeless men who regularly frequented the area close to where their bodies were discovered. Both had not been heard from since late July. One of the men was a 21-year-old Algerian national and the other was a 26-year-old Tunisian national, the Créteil Public Prosecutor’s Office said.

Investigators were unable to establish whether or not all four men knew each other, though they were all linked to the area where their bodies were discovered, according to the prosecutor.

The area was frequented by homeless people and was also “known as a spot for casual same-sex encounters,” the prosecutor’s office said.

After reviewing CCTV footage and analyzing phone data, investigators focused on the suspect, who “was usually present” in the area, the prosecutor continued.

Before the bodies were discovered, he was arrested while in possession of documents belonging to one of the victims. He was also stopped by police officers on the day the bodies were first found, and a week later he was taken into custody.

Investigators have been able to confirm a link between the suspect and “each of the victims at a time contemporaneous with their disappearance,” the prosecutor’s office said.

The suspect refused to answer any questions about the crimes he is accused of, and only gave brief answers when asked about anything else, according to the Créteil Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Investigations into the crimes will continue, the office said.

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