The investigation into the disappearance of Leslie and Kevin is moving forward with the indictment of Tom T., the main suspect, for “kidnapping and forcible confinement”. Two other men must be brought before the judge on March 3 and 4.
[Mis à jour le 3 mars 2023 à 12h47] The arrest of the main suspect in the disappearance of Leslie and Kevin called others. Will it be the same for the indictment of Tom T., the friend of the missing couple? If the young man was placed in pre-trial detention on Thursday March 2, the two other suspects aged 22 and 23 must in turn be brought before an investigating judge this Friday afternoon and this Saturday, with a view to a potential indictment.
The investigation into the disappearance of Leslie and Kevin accelerated and took a turn on February 28, after three months of investigations, with the arrest of Tom T. indicted for “kidnapping and forcible confinement” on March 2 , on decision on the floor of Poitiers. The young man who lent his accommodation in Prahecq (Deux-Sèvres) to the lovers who disappeared on the evening of the tragedy made new statements during his hearing by the investigators. He denied any involvement in the case and drew attention to other suspects, leading to two arrests. According to him, the disappearance of Leslie and Kevin would be linked to an argument related to drug trafficking. A regular activity of Tom T. who would have the habit of selling drugs in party, but also for Kevin who would have taken part in a larger device organized between Niort and La Rochelle.
The other two suspects could also have a link with this drug trafficking, one of them arrested in Puyravault (Charente-Maritime), very close to where the cases of the missing were discovered in a container in December 2022, is known to police services for several drug-related cases. Little is known about the third suspect, except that he is close to Tom T. and possibly the couple.
Case update
The Parisian returned in detail to the evening of the disappearance of Leslie and Kevin, that of November 25 to 26, 2022. Then in a relationship for less than a month, the two young people are invited to an evening “blanquette de veau” at Nicolas R ., a longtime friend of Kevin’s father, Guy Trompat. Before going to dinner, around 5:30 p.m., they both have an aperitif at the home of Tom T., a friend of the couple who is hosting them for the night. They go to Nicolas at around 7 p.m. to taste a veal blanquette in the company of the host of the place and another guest. The latter would have left the household around midnight. Leslie and Kevin, meanwhile, would have left around 3 a.m. after a ballet of back and forth.
Who is Tom, indicted in the Leslie and Kevin case?
Tom T., placed in police custody on February 28 before being indicted and imprisoned on March 2, is a friend who was part of “the close entourage of Leslie and Kevin”. It is also at his home in Prahecq (Deux-Sèvres) that the lovebirds had to sleep on the evening of their disappearance. The 22-year-old was cited several times in the investigation into the lovers’ disappearance before being described as the last individual to hear from Leslie through messages. As a close friend, he also participated in the hunts for Leslie and Kevin. Since the placement under seal of his accommodation in Prahecq, the suspect has moved in with his father in Vendée, the department in which he was arrested.
Tom T. presents a suspicious profile for the gendarmes who must determine his schedule on the evening of the disappearance. The respondent claims to have spent the night of November 25 to 26 and the following night in techno at La Crèche and Parthenay before being admitted to hospital because of a blood clot. But investigators learned during the investigation that during the evening of the tragedy, the suspect was in contact with Leslie and Kevin by message. He also joined the couple in the middle of the evening. His version with the media has evolved.
The suspect’s involvement in the disappearance of Leslie and Kevin has not yet been proven, but the gendarmes are following two leads according to the details of the Parisian. One sentimental with the jealousy of not being in a relationship with Leslie as a motive, the other linked to drug trafficking in which Tom T. and Kevin could have been involved. Heard by the Niort gendarmes, the young man was brought before an investigating judge in Poitiers (Charente), charged with “kidnapping and forcible confinement” and placed in pre-trial detention.
Two other suspects in the disappearance of Leslie and Kevin
Two other men have been taken into custody in the Leslie and Kevin case. The first is a certain Nathan B. according to information from the South West. He was arrested on March 1 in Puyravault, near La Rochelle, in Charente-Maritime. The 22-year-old is described on the “margin” by neighbors to the local newspaper and would work in the family business. “He had already had problems with the gendarmerie for cases related to drugs”, specifies a neighbor of the family. During the arrest, the converted truck in which the young man lived was searched. The suspect had moved into his parents’ garden, just a few hundred meters from the container where Leslie’s personal effects were found. The role of this man in the affair is not yet established, could he have got rid of Leslie’s belongings found on December 8 in a dumpster for clothes in Puyravault?
On March 2, a third suspect was arrested and taken into custody according to The Parisian. The information was confirmed by the Poitiers prosecutor’s office in the evening but very few details were provided as to the identity of the suspect. He would be “a 23-year-old man linked to Tom Trouillet”, according to the public prosecutor.
The Round Trips and Leslie and Kevin the Night They Disappeared
During the evening, Leslie, Kevin and their loved ones have multiplied the trips and the meetings. According to the chronology established by the investigators, the couple and their friend Nicolas R. were joined by the companion of Kevin’s father who came to bring 5,000 euros in cash to his stepson, at the request of the latter. The last elements rather evoke a sum close to 10,000 euros. She would have arrived around 8:30 p.m. and would have stayed with Nicolas R. for two hours. During this time, Kevin would have left the house, alone, for fifteen minutes in order to go to an appointment in the village with a man who sold a second-hand car. Kevin would have justified by this appointment the fact of asking this substantial sum of money to his mother-in-law. Kevin’s father claims to have had his son on the phone during this time, and explains that Kevin would have indicated to him, while he was walking, that there were “five suspicious people” in a white car.
For her part, Leslie would have left the small group around 9:30 p.m. to go to Jérémy, a 30-year-old friend who had already hosted her in his home located in Aigondigné. Leslie and Jérémy would have spent two hours talking, and the young woman would then have left to find Kevin in Prahecq, at Nicolas R.. The group would then have started having dinner.
Drug trafficking mixed with the disappearance of Leslie and Kevin?
What was the large sum of money that Kevin had in his possession supposed to be used for? According to the parents of the young man, the 10,000 euros were to allow the purchase of a car, a transaction which would have been organized on the night of November 25 to 26, 2022. But, disturbing facts, Kevin does not have the license and none of the Leslie’s friends did not seem to be aware of this purchase project, like Cassandra, a friend of the deceased who testified to near TF1 : “I was not aware of a car purchase. These stories of money, it’s still quite suspicious.”
The shadow of a deal deal could surround the thesis of buying a car. As reported by Kevin’s father, Guy Trompat, the young man would have seen and was worried by “five suspicious people” during the evening. “Before he disappeared, Kevin felt watched by five guys he didn’t know in a white car. Someone was after the boy for his money. But Kevin doesn’t deal, he only buys for his consumption. personal”, added the father at the microphone of TF1. Near RTLKevin’s father assured that after this meeting related to the sale of this used car, his son was different, “stressed” and “upset”.
On the question of a possible deal, Cassandra is categorical: Leslie was not steeped in this world. “I know very well that Leslie was not dealing drugs, I know that it was not towards her that there was a concern. It does not come from her in any case”, she judged.
While in police custody, Tom T. made “disturbing statements”, according to The Parisian. The young man, who hosted the young couple at his home in Prahecq, told investigators that he had information about the crime which he said was “linked to a dispute over narcotics”. He also reportedly gave investigators the role of other suspects.
Did Leslie and Kevin run away to Portugal?
Since the disturbing disappearance of Leslie and Kevin, several hypotheses have emerged as to their disappearance. There are rumors of a leak in Portugal. A runaway categorically rejected by Leslie’s parents: “In Portugal, in a cart without a license, we found it so big…” they rejected with The New Republic. For them, it is only a diversion to cover up a criminal case. Leslie wouldn’t have “Never did that to her dad, she would never have done that to her brother. She even asked us so that Kevin could come over Christmas.”
“It feels like they’re trying to take us somewhere else,” Leslie’s family suspected on RTL. “If we want to make evidence disappear, like clothes, we put them in a garbage bag. While there they were dumped with no bags, nothing, loose. It was made so that we find them in this place, with, at least, an identity paper which put the chip in the ear and that the gendarmes were immediately warned” they revealed to the media .
A friend of Leslie revealed that it had already happened to her friend that she went on an excursion some day but she always gave news to her relatives. “She always sent a message, at least, to her parents or one of us. She would never have abandoned her father, her twin brother or her friends!” added her friend to the daily.
Personal effects of Leslie and Kevin found
After the opening of the “disturbing disappearance” investigation by the Niort public prosecutor’s office on December 3, following the report of Leslie’s family, the city public prosecutor’s office relinquished the case on December 27 to entrust it at the criminal investigation center of Poitiers (Vienne), as reported The Parisian. The criminal track is therefore now privileged, with the opening of a judicial investigation for “arrest, kidnapping, detention or forcible confinement”.
Since the disappearance, investigators have not found traces of Leslie and Kevin, but personal effects were discovered on December 8 in a container in Puyravault (Charente-Maritime), near where Leslie lived. These are three pairs of shoes, a toiletry bag, a hairbrush and paint-stained clothes that belonged to the young woman, who was a painter. In addition, two sweatshirts, a wallet, a road safety certificate in Kevin’s name and two shotgun cartridges were discovered.
Leslie’s parents do not believe in the theory of a voluntary departure as they indicated to the ParisianJanuary 26, 2023: “Leslie could not have disappeared voluntarily, she may be kidnapped, held against her will, collateral victim of a situation that completely escapes her…”