Murder of Lyhanna: arrest warrant for Barella ignored three months before tragedy
Gendarmes had received an order to arrest Jérôme Barella as early as February, three months before the fatal abduction of Lyhanna. The Lectoure brigade allegedly did not carry out the mission.
Barella in the sights of justice for years, without arrest
According to lenouveaudetective.com, revelations published by Le Parisien cast a damning light on the procedural failings that preceded the abduction and alleged murder of young Lyhanna. Jérôme Barella, the principal suspect in this case, had been suspected of paedophilia for many years.
In 2017, a woman alerted the authorities after discovering that he was maintaining a relationship with her 17-year-old daughter. The young girl, however, declared that she consented to it. In 2022, another mother filed a complaint in Béthune for the rape of her 7-year-old daughter. The child had named Barella in writing, but had refused to testify before uniformed officers. The procedure was closed on the grounds that the offence was "insufficiently established".
A solid complaint sent by ordinary post
In August 2025, a new complaint was filed in Plaisance-du-Touch, in Haute-Garonne. Barella allegedly this time raped the friend of one of his daughters, aged 10, at his home in the Gers. The file, considered solid, had been sent to the Auch public prosecutor's office — which had territorial jurisdiction — but by post only, without a follow-up telephone call or accompanying email. The file thus ended up buried in the pile of procedures awaiting registration.
A magistrate nevertheless seized the file and tasked the Lectoure gendarmerie brigade with completing the investigation. Still according to Le Parisien, a telephone conference had been organised on 14 February. The magistrate then asked the gendarmes to arrest Barella and place him in custody.
The Lectoure brigade allegedly did not carry out the order
The officers did not proceed with the arrest. Did they postpone the mission? Did they simply forget about it? The answer remains unknown at this stage. "We cannot say that the gendarmes of this brigade were overwhelmed by heavy and serious procedures," declares a source cited by Le Parisien. It was three months before the fatal abduction of Lyhanna.
Body found in the Gers
On Thursday, 4 June 2026, almost a week after the young girl's disappearance, the body of a child was discovered in the Gers, near Fleurance. It was wearing the same clothes as Lyhanna was wearing on the day of her disappearance. The body was found in the agricultural silo of a disused factory — a location known to the principal suspect in this case.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)