“Benevolent”, “full of life”, “very intelligent”… Two days after the discovery of Philippine’s body in the Bois de Boulogne, testimonies are pouring in while investigators continue their work.
The shock. On Saturday, September 21, 2024, the lifeless body of a young woman was discovered in the Bois de Boulogne. It is that of Philippine Le Noir de Carlan. Aged 19, the young woman was a third-year student in economics and financial engineering at Paris Dauphine University. This Monday, a minute of silence to pay tribute to Philippine was organized in the reception hall of the university, an opportunity for those who knew her to remember the person she was.
She was “a very intelligent, caring girl, very supportive with her classmates and above all full of life,” she testified to the Parisian a former teacher of the young woman. “She was brilliant and very hard-working. She was a class leader. I often told myself that she would surely have access to better masters than me,” confided to the Figaro a student. And another classmate added: “She was a very good student who loved reading. She was deeply kind. She was gentle and very discreet. She was not an extravagant person. She spent time with her family whenever she could.”
While a prayer vigil was organized Sunday evening in the Saint-Pierre-du-Lac church, which the victim and her family attended, a supervisor of Philippine in the scouts also remembered her in the columns of the Figaro. “She is very active, very kind and very proactive. She was always willing and available if there was a need to do anything or to motivate others,” he recalled.
This Monday, at the university, the insecurity in the neighboring Bois de Boulogne was unsurprisingly on everyone’s lips, but those who knew Philippine wondered above all who could have wanted to hurt her. “She was very hard-working, really nice, a little shy and reserved. I don’t know who could have wanted to hurt her,” confided to the Figaro a classmate. “I only knew her by sight, but she was a very nice girl who didn’t seem to have any problems,” she also noted to the Parisian an acquaintance.
Philippine’s body found partly buried
On Friday afternoon, the student had left the University around 2 p.m., after having lunch at the Crous. She was supposed to go to her parents’ house in Yvelines, in Montigny-le-Bretonneux. That was the last time she was seen. When her parents noticed that their daughter had not arrived, they tried to call her, without success. The young woman’s sister was the first to raise the alarm that same evening, at around 11 p.m., by going to the police station in the 16th arrondissement of the capital. A procedure for a worrying disappearance was then opened.
Concern quickly grew among her relatives. Philippine was not in the habit of remaining unreachable for very long. Her phone was last detected in the Bois de Boulogne. A search was then organized on Saturday to try to find the missing young woman. Nearly fifty people lent a hand to the family by going to the scene. Her phone was first found, before the discovery of the body, “about 20 meters from where the device was discovered, behind a mound,” said The Parisian.
At 4:50 p.m., Philippine’s body was discovered, partly buried, near a hiking trail. “The young woman reportedly has multiple injuries,” the media outlet said. “The victim was formally identified late in the evening,” this Sunday, the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to the Parisianparticularly thanks to the chain around her neck and the clothes she was wearing. An investigation has been opened for voluntary homicide and entrusted to the criminal brigade.
Man with pickaxe seen by witnesses
Now, a question must be answered: what was Philippine Le Noir de Carlan doing behind her University when she was supposed to go to her parents’ house in Yvelines? Indeed, the RER station and line C, which the student was supposed to take, is “on the other side”, explains The Parisian. An autopsy was performed and“The conclusions of this examination, which will have to be confirmed by other examinations and expert reports, have not been communicated at this stage,” the public prosecutor’s office told the daily.
For the time being, no arrests have been ordered, according to information gathered by BFMTV. According to people close to the investigation with the continuous news channel, the geolocation of Philippine’s phone is already guiding the investigators’ searches. The hearings are continuing, and the relatives who participated in the searches on Saturday should in particular be heard in the premises of the criminal brigade. According to information from the Figarowitnesses reportedly saw a man wearing a surgical mask and carrying a pickaxe heading towards the lake in the Bois de Boulogne. The individual, “brown, about 1.80m tall”, could be a lead for investigators.