The 36-year-old man had made two suicide attempts and was in a coma. He is suspected of being linked to the disappearance of the 20-year-old on January 29. A charred body, “in all likelihood” his, was found.
Sylvain L., the main suspect in the disappearance of Héléna Cluyou on January 29 in Brest, Finistère, died Thursday, after a double suicide attempt, confirmed the Brest prosecutor’s office, while a charred body was found on Thursday.
The suspect said he had committed “a stupidity”
The 36-year-old suspect was in a coma and he died Thursday “at the end of the morning”, according to the public prosecutor of Brest Camille Miansoni.
The man had tried to end his life twice last week, after confiding to relatives “having done something stupid, that his life was over” and that “it was an accident”. His vehicle was found burned last week in a sensitive area of Brest.
This death occurs, while a charred body was also found Thursday in the town of Argol, in Finistère. It is “in all likelihood” that of the young Héléna Cluyou, according to the prosecutor.
Disappeared after leaving a nightclub
The disappearance of Héléna Cluyou had caused great emotion in Brest, with many calls for witnesses posted throughout the city. The latest CCTV image, taken at 6:42 a.m., showed her walking down a street, between the nightclub and her grandparents’ home where she lived.
The investigators of the judicial police (PJ) carried out extensive research to try to find her. On Thursday, the investigations accelerated with searches carried out by the police using drones south of Brest, in areas where the suspect’s phone had stopped. A team of the judicial police notably carried out research in Pont-de-Buis, not far from the town where the body was found, noted AFP journalists.
The PJ’s “tracking and tracing” work “made it possible to target a priority search area on which the big operation focused” on Thursday, detailed the prosecutor. “This mobilized around forty investigators made available by the zonal direction of the judicial police of Rennes.”
A borderline man
The autopsy and the investigation should make it possible to learn more about the course of events during the night of the tragedy. Without a criminal record, the suspect was described by his entourage as “borderline” and a heavy consumer of alcohol and narcotics, in particular cocaine.
The hypothesis of a traffic accident had been raised at first, after the statements of the suspect. “It’s a hypothesis but a hypothesis only”, had however warned the prosecutor, as of Sunday.
It was the suspect’s brother and his brother’s companion who had warned the investigators. The couple had traveled from Tours to help the young man, alerted by his state of psychological distress.
In view of his confession, they had accompanied him to the police station on Friday but the suspect could not be heard and had to be hospitalized.
