Two human feet were found last Tuesday on a towpath along the Seine in Méricourt. These are recurring events in the area.
Two human feet were discovered on Tuesday, September 10, on the banks of the Seine, by a walker in Méricourt in the Yvelines. One in a shoe, the other a few meters further. “The shoe was lying down. I thought it was a stone inside, I told myself that someone had been having fun,” Corinne, the walker, told BFMTV. In a hurry because of an appointment, she continued on her way, but the feet were still there on her return journey. A friend of hers who had taken the same route finally contacted the town hall, which quickly called the police.
Investigation opened for voluntary homicide
The towpath on which the feet were discovered and the area have been cordoned off by the police. For the time being, the rest of the body has not been found and no leads have been ruled out. As revealed by BFMTV, “the feet were cut off” and sent for analysis to the criminal research institute of the national gendarmerie. An investigation has been opened by the Versailles prosecutor’s office for voluntary homicide. It has been entrusted to the Mantes-la-Jolie research brigade. “The whole difficulty in this type of case is to identify the victim,” an investigator explained to Le Parisien. The recent disappearances and DNA analyses will perhaps provide new evidence if the man was known to the police.
“The fourth discovery of this type since I was elected mayor in 2020”
If this macabre discovery on the banks of the Seine has all the makings of a horror film, it is ultimately not so exceptional. Indeed, as Le Parisien reminds us, events of this type are recurrent in this sector. Philippe Jumeaucourt, mayor of Méricourt deplores “the fourth discovery of this type since I was elected mayor in 2020”, in the columns of Le Parisien. Upstream from the town, a dam-lock could constitute the beginning of an explanation.
On July 20, the daily newspaper recalled that the body of a man under 45, trapped in a fence, was found in the river, near Mantes-la-Jolie, still in the Yvelines, on the banks of the Île aux Dames. “The elected officials of the town bordering the river at this location confirm several cases, such as the body of a homeless person found by fishermen in the hamlet of Lavacourt, in Moisson,” we can also read. Not enough to reassure walkers who regularly use these paths to walk their dog or break in their new running shoes.