Murder in Rouen: man convicted in 2013 denies killing friend despite damning evidence
Yann T., already convicted of murder, is tried at Rouen's assize court for the death of Laurence, 56, found stabbed in 2022.
A repeat offender in the dock, contradictions his only defence
According to actu.fr, an exceptional trial for murder recidivism was held at Rouen's assize court between Wednesday 23 and Friday 25 September 2026. Yann T., the sole suspect in the murder of his friend Laurence, committed in autumn 2022, has maintained his innocence from day one. "Everything accuses me," he repeats tirelessly from the dock.
The facts date back to the night of 16 to 17 September 2022. Laurence, 56, mother of five children, is killed by four stab wounds to the thorax in her fifth-floor flat on rue du Mail, on the left bank of Rouen. Her body is not discovered until five days later, on 21 September, by firefighters alerted by concerned neighbours who had not seen her. With the front door locked, the emergency services break down a glass door in the lounge to enter the premises.
Inside, they find Laurence lying inert on her bed, with dried blood around the throat and upper chest. What immediately strikes the responders, and later the investigators, is the strong smell of bleach permeating the flat — and the body of the victim itself. The apartment, according to the trial judge, is "very neat and shows no signs of struggle". A staging that suggests someone sought to cover their tracks.
DNA as central evidence
Suspicion quickly focuses on Yann T., an alcoholic vagrant whom Laurence had been housing since his release from prison in April 2022. In exchange for accommodation, he performed housework and minor repairs. A friendship of thirty-five years bound them.
The prosecution has a considerable body of evidence. Yann T.'s blood and DNA are found on the victim's clothing and body, notably on the wounds caused by the murder weapon. His genetic profile is also identified on a Swiffer broom and a bottle of bleach, materials presumably used to clean the scene.
His psychological profile drawn up during the investigation describes him as impulsive and capable of becoming violent under the influence of alcohol. This pattern is not new: in 2013, he was convicted of the murder of a man stabbed during a New Year's Eve 2010 drinking spree.
Yann T. is moreover the last person known to have seen Laurence alive. That evening, a neighbour and friend of the victim, Huguette, had spent the early part of the evening with them before leaving around 22:00, leaving the accused and Laurence alone in the flat, both intoxicated. The next morning, around 11:00, another neighbour sees him leaving the building hurriedly.
Changing accounts, a defence that crumbles
Since the start of the investigation, Yann T.'s statements have continually evolved. During police custody, he feigns surprise upon learning of Laurence's death. Then, two years after the events, in 2024, he gives the investigating judge a radically different version.
He claims this time to have left the flat late in the evening whilst two unknown men presented themselves at the door. Laurence allegedly "asked him to leave". He says he complied and returned to the Saint-Paul hostel, where he had a room since his release.
But on the way, he claims to have realised he had forgotten some papers at his friend's place. Turning back, he rings several times without answer, eventually enters the building through the rubbish room, goes up to the fifth floor, and finds the apartment door open. That is where he claims to have discovered Laurence's body on her bed.
"In shock", by his own account, he first considers calling the police. He changes his mind, fearing that his serious criminal record would immediately make him the obvious suspect. After spending more than two hours in the apartment, he begins cleaning the scene to erase traces left during his previous stays.
This version "does not add up", according to Maître Jérémy Kalfon, who represents the interests of Laurence's five children and her brother Nicolas. The presumed time of the two unknown men's arrival, their physical description, the route taken to return to the hostel, the method of cleaning the crime scene: no element is coherent. "He tends to jump from one thing to another," acknowledges his own lawyer, Maître Sophie De Araujo.
The motive remains unanswered
A few months before the tragedy, the two friends had fallen out over a matter of unduly received social security benefit. According to the accused, they had since made up.
For Maître Kalfon and the prosecutor, Yann T.'s guilt is beyond doubt. He alone knows the exact circumstances of Laurence's death. But to each question about the motive for the murder, the accused merely answers "I do not know". The hypothesis favoured by the civil parties' lawyer is that Laurence died "over trifles" during a heavily intoxicated evening.
Yann T. describes himself as "the ideal culprit" — previously convicted of murder, housed by the victim, present in the flat the evening of the tragedy, and covered in biological traces. Faced with the evidence against him, he nonetheless maintains his line of defence: he is not the murderer.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)