A 14-year-old boy killed, likely beaten to death. This is a tragic news item which took place on Thursday, in Alénya, in the Pyrénées-Orientales. The victim’s mother, aged 46, and her stepfather, aged 42, were arrested by the police in the Paris region and placed in police custody. 20 Minutes takes stock of the affair revealed by the regional daily The Independent.
What happened?
Thursday, a person contacted the police to report a murder. According to her, the teenager’s stepfather confided to her that he had killed the young man in their house in Alénya. The police arrested the man and his wife in Bezons, in Val-d’Oise, where they had fled. The victim’s little sister, aged nine, was with them at the time of their arrest. She has since been placed in child welfare.
The officials then alerted the gendarmes who went to this town located about ten kilometers southeast of Perpignan. There, they discovered the young boy’s lifeless body. The Perpignan public prosecutor’s office opened a murder investigation and entrusted the investigations to the gendarmes of the Montpellier research section.
Where is the investigation?
According to the Independentthe boy’s death was several days ago. The military will try to determine the circumstances and motive of the crime. “Investigations were carried out around the home then inside with the discovery of the body” early Thursday morning, the PCF mayor of Alénya, Jean-André Magdalou, told AFP, confirming “the homicide of a young minor who succumbed to the violence of his father-in-law’s blows.” The latter, the elected official believes, would have “recognized” his gesture.
Who are the suspects?
The victim’s mother and stepfather had recently arrived “in this quiet subdivision of a quiet town” in the Pyrénées-Orientales, according to Jean-André Magdalou. The mother works as a childminder in the neighboring town of Saint-Cyprien, by the sea. According to our information, they are known to the police.
Who is the victim?
According to the councilor, the teenager had just entered the Bourquin high school in Argelès-sur-Mer, around ten kilometers further south. The father of the killed boy, living in the neighboring town of Théza, told the Independent having had “suspicions of abuse” against his son and having “made a report a few years ago”.
