Friday, November 25, La Dépêche du Midi revealed that, according to its information, the man who confessed to having killed and raped Vanesa was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. A mass followed by a white march was also organized at the end of the day.
[Mis à jour le 25 novembre 2022 à 19h07] A week ago, to the day, the young Vanesa, 14, was found dead in a decrepit house, not far from Birac-sur-Trec, in Lot-et-Garonne. The man who confessed to having raped and then killed the teenager was indicted on Sunday, November 20. The Midi Dispatch reports, Friday, November 25, that he would have confided, during an interview with an agent of the probation and integration service (SPIP), shortly after his incarceration in the remand center of Agen, to want suicide. Remarks taken very seriously and which would have led the prison administration as well as the officials of SPIP 47 to alert the public prosecutor. For 24 hours, he would therefore have been transferred to the Candélie psychiatric hospital, where he would be taken care of. Nevertheless, his stay should not last forever, understands The Midi Dispatch which hints at a return behind bars next week. Indicted for kidnapping, forcible confinement, rape and murder, Sunday, November 20, before being placed in pre-trial detention, he faces life imprisonment.
For their part, the investigators are continuing their investigation. Objective ? Establish everything that happened between lunchtime and the discovery of Vanesa’s body. To help them in their task, they therefore have the confessions of the main suspect in the case. An autopsy was performed Tuesday, November 22 on the body of the young Vanesa. The Bordeaux forensic institute was in charge of the autopsy. On Wednesday, various media indicated that it had indeed taken place but that the results had not been communicated. The Midi Dispatch reported that the justice system, like the gendarmes, was particularly careful to protect the young woman’s family.
Asked by BFM-TV, Tuesday, November 22, a 17-year-old girl said she was followed by this same suspect earlier in the day, Friday, November 18, the day of the murder. “I was walking and I saw this man there, he started to slow down, he said hello to me with a big smile”, described Tahlia. On the phone with her mother, the teenager confides “he was too weird”. His mother advises him not to stay. The scene occurred a few hundred meters from Vanesa College, around which the indicted stayed part of the day, smoking cannabis in his car.
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 suspended fifteen-day prison term and a two-year probation for sexually assaulting a minor in 2006, when he was 15 years old . 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. According to information from BFM TV, during his police custody, the man said he “frequently” watched child pornography videos. On the day of the murder, he said he had “an urge” seeing Vanesa drive by on the sidewalk while he was smoking cannabis in his car. He then forced the teenager into his vehicle before raping and strangling her until he killed her, according to her confession.
Romain Chevrel is also known for larceny such as damage 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 course of events by telling the investigators to have spotted the teenager around the Germillac college, an establishment in which she was registered in 4ᵉ, while he was hanging out in his car 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 evening. 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. 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.
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 4ᵉ lessons in a class adapted to allophone students who do not fully master the use of French, as a “discreet and very pleasant” person.
A mass at Notre Dame church, followed by a white march, was organized on Friday, November 25 to pay tribute to Vanesa. The building was packed for the occasion. The family and relatives of the victim were present, all dressed in white. Vanesa’s body is expected to head to Andalusia on Monday. The mayor of Tonneins had announced on Monday, November 21, 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. This is where she will be buried on Tuesday, November 29. The burial will be held in the strictest privacy. Francisco Cuenca, mayor of the city, has already indicated to the Spanish press that the municipality would take charge of “the burial with the municipal funeral directors”.
Vanesa’s relatives are supported by La Mouette, a victim support association, and have also received support from the municipality of Tonneins, in France. At Germillac college too, support for Vanesa’s relatives and students traumatized by the tragic event was quickly organized, with the opening of a psychological support unit set up on Monday, November 21. The mayor of Tonneins had also indicated that a kitty “to help financially” the family was going to be opened.