Remains found in France belong to woman missing since 2020: prosecutor

A blurred police car in the background behind yellow crime scene tape.

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Human remains found in France last week belong to a woman missing since 2020, a prosecutor said on Sunday, after her husband confessed to killing her and hiding her body.

In a case that has gripped France since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cedric Jubillar, 38, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in October for murdering Delphine Jubillar, 33.

Her body had never been found and Jubillar had always maintained his innocence, including during the trial.

But in a dramatic about-turn earlier this month ahead of his appeal trial, Jubillar confessed for the first time to his involvement and pledged to lead investigators to where the body was concealed, according to his legal team.

This led to intensive searches last week over two days on agricultural land in Mailhoc in the Tarn department in southern France some 10 kilometres from the couple’s former house.

Human remains were found there and they have now been confirmed to belong to Delphine Jubillar after DNA analysis at a laboratory outside Paris, said Toulouse prosecutor Nicolas Jacquet.

The victim’s body was likely scattered accidentally during agricultural work.

Jubillar was convicted on the basis of a string of corroborating evidence, despite the lack of a body or any DNA evidence linking him to the crime. The trial heard Delphine had asked for a divorce and had been seeking to start a new life with another man.

The couple had two children whose lawyers hope can now find some closure after their father’s revelations.

Commentators have suggested Cedric Jubillar is looking to change his strategy ahead of his appeal trial by admitting the killing of Delphine but portraying it as an accident during a domestic dispute, in the hope of being given a lesser sentence.