French police have detained a woman in her 50s after the bodies of two newborn babies were discovered in a freezer at a home in eastern France, sources close to the investigation told AFP on Thursday.
The case is the latest suspected instance of infanticide to surface in the country in recent years.
According to a source, a man alerted authorities on Tuesday after finding the body of a newborn in a freezer at his home in the town of Aillevillers-et-Lyaumont. When officers arrived, they discovered the body of a second infant inside the appliance.
Investigators quickly turned their attention to the children’s mother, who had reportedly left the home without explanation. She was arrested on Wednesday in Boulogne-Billancourt, a western suburb of Paris.
The suspect is believed to be the mother of nine children from two relationships.
An AFP photographer at the scene in Aillevillers-et-Lyaumont observed police seals affixed to the shutters of a light-coloured, single-storey house with its gate left open.
The town’s mayor, Jean-Claude Tramesel, expressed shock over the discovery.
“It’s a small village of 1,500 inhabitants. With news stories like this, you always think it happens somewhere else,” he said. “We’re stunned.”
Tramesel noted that the couple had lived in the town for about 20 years but did not work locally, describing them as “people who keep to themselves.”
France has recorded several similar cases in recent years. In 2022, two newborn babies were found in a woman’s freezer in southern France, with prosecutors stating that the deaths were “not natural in origin.”
In 2015, five infant bodies were discovered in a comparable case, which resulted in the mother receiving an eight-year prison sentence.
One of the most high-profile cases remains that of Veronique Courjault, who was sentenced in 2009 to eight years in prison for killing three of her newborn children.
