Three children from a blended family living in Taninges, in Haute-Savoie, were found dead on Tuesday noon. They had stab wounds. Their mother, aged 45 and described as depressed, remained untraceable Tuesday evening, almost ten hours after the discovery of the bodies.
What happened?
The victims are two boys aged 2 and 11 and a 13 year old girl. At midday, upon arriving at his home, the father of this blended family discovered the three bodies of the children. He immediately called the emergency services who arrived on site around 12:30 p.m. and were only able to note the deaths. According to the Dauphiné Libéréthe man who discovered the corpses is the father of the youngest child. Initial findings established that the victims had stab wounds, explained Bonneville prosecutor Boris Duffau. Autopsies and additional assessments will be quickly carried out by the Grenoble Medico-Legal Institute (IML).
Where is the mother?
The mother of the three children, aged 45 and described as depressed, has been “actively sought” since the middle of the day, according to the prosecutor. “Several hearings of the close entourage of this blended family are currently underway,” also specified Boris Duffau. The mother would have left a letter then taken the direction of the massifs surrounding Taninges, according to The Dauphiné Libéré. A large device including around sixty gendarmes and a helicopter was mobilized to find his trace.
Where is the investigation?
On Tuesday evening, gendarmes blocked access to a small isolated alley where the house where the tragedy allegedly took place is located, at the exit of the town. Criminal identification specialists left the scene around 8 p.m., shortly before a funeral home removed the bodies of the three children.
A blatant investigation for “intentional homicides” was opened and entrusted to the gendarmes of the Bonneville research brigade with the support of the Chambéry research section, indicated the Bonneville prosecutor, Boris Duffau, in a press release late Tuesday . “The investigation continues to determine the exact circumstances of the commission of the facts,” explained the prosecutor. A medico-psychological emergency unit has been set up at the town hall of Taninges, a mountain town of 3,500 inhabitants in the Giffre valley, approximately 50 km east of Geneva.
