Three months after the mysterious and disturbing disappearance of Leslie and Kevin in Deux-Sèvres, the investigation continues. The lifeless bodies of the lovers have been found and three suspects are in pre-trial detention. What about mobile? Update on the latest information.
Leslie Hoorelbeke, 22, and Kevin Trompat, 21, both disappeared on the night of November 25 to 26, 2022, were indeed murdered. While their disappearance had been regularly in the headlines for three months, the investigation suddenly accelerated at the end of February/beginning of March, thanks to new confidences made by one of the suspects now placed in pre-trial detention, namely Tom T. The young man with whom Leslie and Kevin were to sleep the night of their disappearance led the investigators to two other men now also indicted and remanded in custody.
The bodies of the two lovers were found on Friday March 3 and Saturday March 4 in the towns of Puyravault and Virson, in Charente-Maritime. According to the public prosecutor of Poitiers, who gave a press conference on Tuesday March 7, the bodies of Kevin and Leslie have been almost formally identified thanks to their tattoos. As for the conclusions of the autopsies, they will be returned this Thursday, March 9. Nevertheless, the autopsies, which began on Sunday, had already been able, on Tuesday, to reveal some details about the circumstances of the death of Leslie and Kevin, such as the fact that they died after being beaten with “a blunt object”, and this , shortly after their disappearance. “The facts seem to have taken place in a reduced time frame”, had also indicated the prosecutor. In addition, it was specified, again on Tuesday, that the two remains were found dressed and that no trace of sexual abuse was discovered on the young woman.
Note that in addition to the chronology of events, many gray areas still hover over this case, starting with the motive for the crime. While three suspects have been indicted, two of them for “murder”, the investigators have yet to clarify the reasons which led the attackers to commit the irreparable and the tracks of drug trafficking and disillusionment in love seem to cross.
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.
What is the motive of the suspects for the murder of Leslie and Kevin?
If three people – Tom Trouillet, Nathan B. and Enzo C. – were indicted, all would not have played the same role in this affair and they could have been motivated by different reasons. Tom Trouillet, a close friend of Leslie and Kevin and the first suspect arrested, seems to have mainly served to provide information on the course of the evening of the couple to the attackers. The young man exchanged with the young woman throughout the evening, being the last person to have been in contact with Leslie, in addition to having joined the lovers at Nicolas R. during dinner. As for the mobile of the young man, the investigators are still considering the sentimental track. Tom Trouillet would have played the matchmaker in spite of himself between Leslie and Kevin, who had become a couple only three weeks before their disappearance, even though he had romantic but unrequited feelings for Leslie. A certain jealousy towards Kevin, would she have pushed Tom to want to get rid of him?
The two other suspects, present in Prahecq on the night of November 25 to 26, could be the attackers of Leslie and Kevin according to the investigators. Guided by Tom Trouillet, they would have seized the moment to attack the couple, or rather Kevin. The young man was known as a cocaine trafficker in electro parties and the attackers, including Nathan B. who is known to the police for drug cases, could have contracted financial debts with the dealer. It remains to be seen whether the suspects voluntarily wanted to kill the couple or whether it was intimidation that went wrong? One thing, however, is certain for the police: Leslie would be a collateral victim.
Tom Trouillet, indicted and imprisoned on March 2 “kidnapping and forcible confinement”, 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 has been named several times in the inquest into the lovers’ disappearance 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.
Suspect, the young man gave different versions of his schedule for the evening of November 25 to 26, but the investigators finally discovered that Tom had contact by message and in the presence of the couple, during dinner at Nicolas R. He wouldn’t have joined electro parties until later. A cocaine trafficker in the circle of partygoers, like Kevin, Tom could have been jealous of his friend because he was in love with Leslie.
Nathan B. is the second man indicted on Friday March 3 in the case of the disappearance of Kevin and Leslie. Also placed in pre-trial detention, he is prosecuted for murder, kidnapping and kidnapping without voluntary release before the seventh day and modification of the inventory of a crime to obstruct the manifestation of the truth.
Arrested on March 1 in Puyravault, near La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime), the 22-year-old young man is described on the “margin” by neighbors to South West and works 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 Le Relais container where Leslie and Kevin’s personal effects were found. The suspect could be one of the couple’s attackers and could have got rid of the cases found on December 8.
On March 2, a third suspect was arrested and taken into custody in the case of the disappearance of Leslie and Kevin before being indicted on March 4 for murder, modifying a crime scene to obstruct to the manifestation of the truth, and kidnapping and sequestration without voluntary release before the 7th day. Named Enzo C. and 23 years old, he would be “in connection with Tom Trouille” according to the public prosecutor. The young man has a clean criminal record but could have exhibited disruptive, “rowdy” behavior, according to testimonies from South West. He grew up in Surgères (Charente-Maritime) barely ten kilometers from the places where the bodies of Leslie and Kevin were found.
The death of Leslie and Kevin would be partly linked to “a dispute over narcotics” according to the statements made by the suspect Tom Trouillet while in police custody and reported by The Parisian. The track becomes clearer. Kevin would have been known as a trafficker and the suspects could have had financial debts in connection with the purchase of drugs.
The drug trade, however, would only concern Kevin. Cassandra, a friend of Leslie who testified to TF1 was adamant: Leslie was not part of 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.
The trail of drug trafficking was considered before Tom’s statements because of the 10,000 euros that Kevin had on him the evening of his disappearance, an amount that his mother-in-law had brought him to buy a car. , according to her. But Kevin not having the license the explanation was flawed. This transaction may actually relate to drug trafficking. 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 to 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”.
During the evening, Leslie, Kevin and their loved ones increased their trips and 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 latter’s request. 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.
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 any trace 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…”