A very sad update to this morning’s story of the Frenchman arrested in Portugal following the kidnapping of his former wife, current partner and both their children: the bodies of the missing women have been discovered.
According to BFMTV, the two bodies were discovered in Portugal. Subsequent updates have suggested “an isolated spot, close to the Spanish border”. It is understood that both women will have been ‘asphyxiated’.
BFMTV has also given the location (missing this morning) where former policeman Cédric Prizzon was arrested: Mêda, in Guarda – roughly an hour’s drive from the Spanish border.
Further details will come (see below), but it is looking certain that Prizzon, 42, will face additional charges to the one of “possession of an offensive weapon”, for which he was arrested last night.
The two women and their children went missing on December 20 from the French region of Aveyron, in southern France.
The children, found safe and well, were in the company of their father when he was arrested.
UPDATES:
Portuguese news outlets report this evening that Prizzon was arrested following a routine police stop in Longroiva, Mêda. Agents suspected that the documents he showed them were false, and when they searched the vehicle, they discovered a series of licence plates, a shotgun and 17,000 euros in cash. It was at this point that Prizzon was arrested for the possession of a weapon.
Once police returned to the local police station, and started researching Prizzon’s name, they discovered the context in which he had arrived in Portugal.
Questions about the whereabouts of the two missing women were answered by Prizzon’s young son, Élio, who is understood to have led police this morning to the area of Serra de Nogueira, Bragança, where the bodies of his mother and his father’s partner were buried.
The boy’s statement has been recorded ‘for future memory’ – meaning he will not have to be ‘recalled’ to testify before a court, if this is what transpires.
The child, and his younger sibling, are in the charge of child protection services, and will be receiving psychological support.
A number of questions remain, however: it is still unclear, or certainly unexplained, how, and indeed where, the two women lost their lives. If their bodies were transported by Prizzon in the vehicle, this will have added another layer of horror to the ordeal that the children suffered.
This evening, those questions remain unanswered. It may be that more information comes tomorrow. Certainly, the women’s bodies will require an autopsy to determine causes of death.
Source: BMTV/ SIC Notícias
