A 93-year-old woman was found dead in her home in Toulouse, France, with a naked Sudanese migrant allegedly lying on top of her, after neighbours reported hearing shouting and loud noises. Police discovered Marie-Louise lying naked on her bathroom floor on Sunday after residents raised the alarm.
Neighbours raised the alarm
The pensioner, described by locals as the “neighbourhood grandmother”, had been left disabled after suffering a stroke earlier this year and was unable to leave her bed. French authorities suspect she was murdered and sexually assaulted.
Officers arrested a 34-year-old homeless man from Sudan at the address. He is said to be in France illegally and is due to appear in court.
Autopsy findings
An autopsy found the elderly woman had suffered “injuries suggestive of sexual violence” and “traumatic neck injuries consistent with asphyxiation”, according to Toulouse prosecutors. Authorities are investigating whether she was raped before or after her death, reported GB News.
Prosecutors have requested that the 34-year-old be remanded in custody.
Community in shock
The horror unfolded shortly before 5pm when neighbours reported hearing disturbing noises coming from inside Marie-Louise’s home in the Minimes district of Toulouse, where she had lived for several years.
One local resident said: “We could hear it so clearly that we thought he was right there - it didn’t occur to us that it could be coming from inside the house.” He added: “We heard shouts, insults - ‘f*** your mother’ - and then sounds of blows.”
When officers arrived, they found the floor and a mattress covered in blood after forcing their way into the property. Marie-Louise was eventually found dead on the bathroom floor. The arrested man was allegedly intoxicated and naked, lying on top of the pensioner’s body.
The 93-year-old is said to have routinely left her doors unlocked so carers and relatives could enter her home easily. Her death has shocked the Minimes community, with residents leaving flowers outside the property.
A man in his 30s who lived next door said: “It’s awful, she saw me born, we did her shopping for her.” A friend of the pensioner added: “She was already disabled, she didn’t need to end her days like this.”
The investigation remains ongoing as French authorities establish exactly what happened inside the property and the circumstances surrounding Marie-Louise’s death.
