The suspect who admitted to having raped and killed Vanesa, a 14-year-old girl, was indicted for kidnapping, forcible confinement, rape and murder and was remanded in custody on Sunday, November 20. He was known to justice for acts of sexual assault.
[Mis à jour le 21 novembre 2022 à 22h36] The suspect who confessed to raping and killing 14-year-old Vanesa was charged with kidnapping, forcible confinement, rape and murder on Sunday night before being remanded in custody, according to reports by South West. He faces life imprisonment. The young girl was found on the night of Friday to Saturday in an abandoned house in Birac-sur-Trec, a town located about fifteen kilometers from Tonneins. The investigation into the tragedy was entrusted to the Marmande research brigade and the Agen research section. The mayor of Tonneins, Dante Rinaudo, announced this Monday on BFM TV that a white march in tribute to the teenager will be organized in the city this Friday, November 25.
The main suspect in Vanesa’s murder is a 31-year-old man named Romain Chevrel, reports South West. According to a source close to the investigation interviewed by the media, the young girl was kidnapped in a street near the Tonneins station, when she was returning from college to return to her home. The suspect allegedly double-parked before forcing her into his sedan. Still according to the source interviewed by South West, the suspect, afraid of being noticed, explained that he parked in a place isolated from view, before raping the young girl. After committing this rape, he decided to kill her by strangulation. Romain Chevrel also assured that he did not know, before the facts, the abandoned house of Birac-sur-Trec in which he ended up depositing the body of Vanesa.
The public prosecutor of Agen, Olivier Naboulet, indicated in a press release that Vanesa was found dressed in Birac-sur-Trec. He also claimed that the suspect did not know the teenager, and that he decided to kidnap her after noticing her walking on the sidewalk. This Monday, the mayor of Tonneins announced that “the family wishes to bury the little one in the region of Granada (Spain), where she came from” before being educated in France, according to information reported by West France. Dante Rinaudo also indicated that a kitty “to help financially” the family was going to be opened. Flowers and messages in support of the family have been placed in front of the Germillac college where Vanesa was studying, since the announcement of her death in tragic circumstances.
The main suspect in the Vanesa case is Romain Chevrel. According to information from France 3 Regions, who quotes his lawyer Me Alexandre Martin, the 31-year-old man works as a temporary worker in the building industry in Lot-et-Garonne. The lawyer indicated that his client has “moved a lot in his life”, that he did not know his father and that his mother died when he was still very young. The suspect is known to the courts and was sentenced in 2008 to a 15-day suspended prison sentence and a two-year probation for having sexually assaulted a minor in 2006, when he was aged 15 year. Despite this conviction, Romain Chevrel is not registered in the file of perpetrators of offenses of a sexual nature, since he was a minor at the time of the facts.
Originally from Seine-et-Marne, Romain Chevrel has been living in Marmande for a year with his partner, with whom he had a child who is now two months old. According to elements of the investigation relayed by France 3 Regions, Romain Chevrel is a fan of child pornography. He is also known for larceny such as degradation and theft, but had not been talked about since 2011. Interviewed by France 3 Regions, Romain Chevrel’s lawyer said: “He is responsible but he does not give an explanation.” The suspect will be the subject of psychological expertise.
Arrested by investigators, the suspect confessed to killing and raping Vanesa. He expanded on the unfolding of the facts by telling the investigators to have spotted the teenager around the Germillac college, establishment in which she was registered in 4th grade, Friday afternoon, while he was hanging out in his car while smoking cannabis . The suspect said he kidnapped her in a street near Tonneins station, while the girl was returning home from her school. He double-parked before forcing her into his sedan. He then drove before parking “out of sight”, then sexually assaulted her before killing her by strangulation. He then indicates that he left the body of his victim in an abandoned house, the same where the young girl was found on Friday night. During his confession, the suspect also told investigators where he left Vanesa’s body.
Around 6:45 p.m., Friday, November 18, Vanesa’s parents had reported the disappearance of the teenager, worried not to see her return from her day of classes. The investigators quickly took the matter seriously and launched the investigations to find the young girl before discovering her body, on the indications of the suspect, in an abandoned house in a neighboring town of Tonneins, a little before midnight.
Vanesa’s personality was unanimous among her family and college friends. The teenager was the eldest of three siblings and lived with her Spanish-speaking mother and her partner. A cousin of Vanesa described a young girl “very happy, very intelligent and very smiling” but also “close to her family” with BFM TV. At the Germillac college, the children speak of the teenager, who was taking 4th grade lessons in a class adapted to allophone students who do not fully master the use of French, as a “discreet and very pleasant” person.
To pay tribute to Vanesa and support her family, the mayor of Tonneins Dante Rinaudo announced this Monday at the microphone of BFM TV the organization of a white march on the evening of Friday 25 November. The daily The Little Blue of Agen specified the route of the march which will begin at 5 p.m. in front of the town hall and will end at the family’s home. Vanesa’s relatives are supported by La Mouette, a victim support association, and have also received support from the municipality. At Germillac college too, support for Vanesa’s relatives and students traumatized by the tragic event is being organized with the opening of a psychological support cell set up on Monday. The mayor of Tonneins has also indicated that a kitty “to help financially” the family will be opened.