A French murder trial that opened Monday has transfixed the public because of the mystery at its core: where is the victim's body?
Cédric Jubillar, a 38-year-old painter-decorator, is accused of killing his wife Delphine nearly five years ago in a fit of jealous rage.
He has always denied the charges and, other than circumstantial evidence, investigators have struggled to build a case. There is no body, no blood, no confession, and no witness.
With its unexplained central fact and its cast of characters from small-town southern France, the affair has become a social media sensation.
Self-declared investigators have set up countless chat groups where they swap theories and share testimony – much to the irritation of police and families.
These groups are the equivalent of the bistro counter – but with more people, said psychoanalyst Patrick Avrane, author of a book on attitudes to crime.
Everyone constructs the theory that suits him or her the best.
The Jubillar mystery began at the height of Covid lockdown when – in the early hours on December 16, 2020 – Cédric Jubillar contacted the gendarmes to report that his wife had gone missing.
Delphine, then 33, was a night nurse in a clinic near their home in Cagnac-les-Mines in the Occitania region. The couple had two children, aged six and 18 months.
Police discovered that the Jubillars did not have a happy relationship. Cédric was a habitual cannabis user and struggled to hold down a job, while Delphine had started seeing another man online and the couple was discussing divorce.
Extensive searches were conducted in the surrounding countryside, including efforts from potholers exploring disused mines, but Delphine's body was never found.
Gradually, a case against Cédric formed and by mid-2021 he was placed under investigation and detained.
The prosecution will argue that Cédric had a clear motive for the alleged murder due to their impending separation. They will reference his suspicious behavior the night of the disappearance, signs of a scuffle, and a neighbor's claim of hearing a woman scream.
Witnesses will testify about Cédric's threatening words toward Delphine and his apparent indifference following her disappearance. Two acquaintances, a former cellmate and a girlfriend, will allege he confessed to the murder and revealed the location of her body.
However, as investigations continued, no body was found, leading the defense to challenge the credibility of those testimonies.
Cédric Jubillar maintains his innocence, asserting that there is a lack of concrete evidence linking him to the crime. The trial is projected to last four weeks, featuring 65 witnesses and 11 experts, alongside 16,000 pages of evidence.
Writer Thibault de Montaigu likened the case's intrigue to a novel by Georges Simenon, examining how a seemingly unremarkable individual could orchestrate such an intricate crime.
The court will ultimately decide Cédric's fate amidst a narrative filled with speculation, societal intrigue, and the fundamental questions of guilt and justice in a high-stakes legal theater.
