The sleepy Amiens suburb of Pont-de-Metz in Northern France was rocked this week by the gruesome killing of a local man, who was reportedly mutilated and disembowelled.
Police arrested a 27-year-old suspect on Tuesday in connection with the alleged murder of a 32-year-old man who is said to have been a “native of the country” who lived in the area near his family, per local sources cited by Le Parisien.
After two days of interrogation, the suspect reportedly admitted guilt and has been placed in pre-trial detention.
Identified only as “Nicholas D.”, the suspect is said to have told police that he did not know the victim and had been taken over by a bout of “madness”, according to the local Picard Courrier.
The manner of the alleged murder has caused particular shock, with the victim having been stabbed multiple times in his neck, back and abdomen, leading to his disembowelment.
Additionally, police sources claimed that his body appeared to be positioned in the shape of the Cross as if the perpetrator had intended to “stage” the scene. However, prosecutors later said that this was unlikely.
Pont-de-Metz Mayor Loïc Bulant expressed shock that such a horrific killing could take place in his small town of just a couple of thousand people.
“This affair will create a certain fear, obviously… Things like that don’t happen here,” he said.
While the town, like many others in the region, has seen an uptick in drug trafficking, there is no evidence of the victim having been involved with such activity.
According to Le Parisien, the last time Pont-de-Metz saw a murder was back in 2011, when a man killed himself and his family in a murder-suicide over an issue surrounding debt.
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