Overview
- The 28-year-old, arrested in Indre-et-Loire, had his DNA matched during custody, admitted the assault, was placed under formal investigation for attempted murder and rape, and was remanded in pre-trial detention.
- The June 23, 2015 attack in Poitiers left a 25-year-old jogger stabbed with a screwdriver, raped and strangled before she survived and alerted residents.
- After years without a hit in France’s national DNA file, the cold-case pole (PCSNE) issued a June 2025 international rogatory for U.S. comparisons using genealogy databases.
- U.S. analysis conducted with FBI cooperation identified familial matches from consumer DNA sites, allowing investigators to build a family tree that led to the suspect, who was a minor at the time of the crime.
- The breakthrough is feeding a policy debate, with Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin backing legislation to let magistrates authorize tightly supervised use of genetic genealogy in investigations.