85-year-old British retiree killed in Verlus: murder enquiry opened in Gers
A man aged 85, of British nationality, was found dead at his home in Verlus after suffering violent blows to the face. A murder enquiry has been opened by the prosecutors' office in Auch.
Violent death of an octogenarian British man in Verlus: investigators following leads on several suspects
A 85-year-old British retiree was found dead at his home in Verlus, a village in the Gers department, during the night of Friday 25 to Saturday 26 September, according to ladepeche.fr. The victim bore "very violent blows to the face", according to initial findings by the forensic pathologist reported by the interim deputy prosecutor of the Republic in Auch, who was present at the scene from Saturday morning.
The magistrate clarified that these injuries were "presumably the cause of death", but that an autopsy should confirm this. His car was also stolen; the mayor of Verlus, Jean Menvielle, indicated that it was a "basic" model, aged "between 5 and 10 years", "not a valuable or classic car".
A discreet man, living alone in an isolated house
The octogenarian lived alone in a relatively isolated house, on the Peyron hillside. His wife, hospitalised, had not been living under his roof for some time. Villagers paint the portrait of an unassuming man.
"He was a decent man. I had seen him at a few events, he was adorable. He lived quietly, he did a bit of cycling," recalls a neighbour. Mayor Jean Menvielle describes him as "someone very discreet, whom one rarely saw in the municipality", adding that "they were people without incident who lived their lives without mixing much with the population".
Several suspects actively sought, motive unknown
The prosecutors' office in Auch has opened a murder enquiry. The search section in Toulouse has been called in, and search brigades from the gendarmeries of the Gers and other departments have been mobilised to track down the presumed perpetrator or perpetrators.
"We have no information on the motive. We do not know whether they came to steal or if there was another reason, all of that is under investigation," declared the interim deputy prosecutor. Criminal identification technicians moreover gathered evidence at the victim's home on Saturday. "Everything is being done to try to identify the perpetrator or perpetrators as quickly as possible," the Auch prosecutors' office assured.
The village in shock
In Verlus, news of this death provoked considerable emotion among the inhabitants. "We are asking ourselves questions. If he was killed savagely, it is frightening," confides a neighbour. The community, accustomed to the peacefulness of this small village in the Gers, finds itself confronted by an act of extreme violence whose precise circumstances remain, at this stage, unexplained.
Source: Google News LU FR