Single pubic hair leads to murder suspect 17 years later
DNA illustration.
Image by: Gallo Images/Thinkstock
Image by: Gallo Images/Thinkstock
A single pubic hair found at the scene of a fatal strangling 17 years ago has led to French police arresting a gendarme on suspicion of murder, police sources say.
The 39-year-old officer has been in custody since Thursday in connection with the murder of Stephanie Fauviaux, an 18-year-old student who was found strangled in the bath in her flat in the northern city of Lille in May 1995.
The only significant clue in a case that had baffled detectives was the solitary hair recovered from a bath robe which did not come from the victim.
At the request of Fauviaux's family, the hair was recently reexamined using new forensic techniques and the DNA traces it contained enabled the police to place the suspect at the scene of the crime.
The gendarme, who knew the victim, was arrested in the Riviera city of Nice and was expected to be transferred to Lille and indicted for murder later Friday.
SHARE YOUR OPINION
If you have an opinion you would like to share on this article, please send us an e-mail to the Times LIVE iLIVE team. In the mean time, click here to view the Times LIVE iLIVE section.