The body of a 31-year-old French woman has been discovered close to where a British expatriate was murdered in a frenzied knife attack in the Dordogne region of France. Floriane Roux was reported missing a week before her remains were found by a police dog on Monday, hidden in thick undergrowth in the village of Paunat.
The location is less than five miles from Trémolat, where Karen Carter, a 65-year-old British-South African mother of four, was stabbed repeatedly outside her home on 29 April. Ms Carter had been socialising with friends before she was attacked and died next to her car. Ms Roux had also been planning a night out with friends before her body was discovered near her Vauxhall Corsa.
Local prosecutors are investigating both deaths, supported by judicial police and gendarmes. An investigating source stated that Ms Roux's body was found at 4pm on Monday in a small shelter concealed by tall grass and plants, not far from her vehicle and the Dordogne River. The cause of death is not yet known, and no theories, including suicide, have been ruled out.
Ms Roux was supposed to meet a friend on the evening of 23 July, but the friend claims not to have seen her. An investigation into a 'disturbing disappearance' was opened last week by the Bergerac prosecutor's office. Those questioned include Ms Roux's boyfriend, with whom she lived in Montanceix.
In the case of Ms Carter, she had attended a wine tasting hosted by her 75-year-old lover, Jean-François Guerrier, before her death. Both Mr Guerrier and Marie-Laure Autefort, another Trémolat resident said to have been in love with him, were arrested but released without charge. Investigators believe the murder was meticulously planned and carried out by someone who knew Ms Carter, possibly holding a grudge against her or the new couple she was forming with Mr Guerrier.
