THE BEAUGENDRE CASE : THE MYSTERIOUS LETTERS OF MADAM G. | Enquêtes criminelles | W9

Just four days before Christmas, on December 20 2012, the lives of three children were turned upside down. In the Breton village of Val D’Izié, when the siblings awake and go down to their kitchen, they are met with a horrifying sight. Their mother, Aurélie Barbot, 29, lies dead in the doorway, shot point blank in the face. Neighbors, alerted by the children’s screams, immediately call the emergency services. The news stuns the tiny community of 2,000.Very quickly, Aurélie’s ex-husband, Sébastien Beaugendre, is in the investigators’ sights. Ever since they were divorced, after 15 years together, Sébastien had found it difficult to accept the idea of being separated from his three children. Could the father, driven to despair, have committed the irreparable act? According to those close to Aurélie, there’s not the slightest doubt. According to them, Sébastien Beaugendre was violent; on several occasions he had threatened to kill his ex-partner. And that’s not all. The man was spying on his ex-wife. After the young mother met another man, he had, unknown to her, placed a tracking device under the hood of her car.For investigators in charge of the case, everything points to the ex-husband. Especially as samples taken during his questioning reveal traces of gunpowder on this hands…Except that the man swears to the investigators that he did not commit this crime. If there’s gunpowder on his hands, he explains that it is because he owns a starting pistol for self-defense. And then, on the morning of the crime, he was in a shopping center buying a Christmas present for his daughter. How can anybody imagine that this loving father could have killed Aurélie and then gone off to buy Christmas presents, leaving his children to discover the horror when they woke up? Even more troubling: the eldest son says that around 7 o’clock that morning he heard a woman’s voice shouting death threats at his mother… So, who is this mysterious woman? And why was she threatening Aurélie? However, a huge twist will throw the investigators into confusion. A mysterious writer will proclaim herself guilty of the murder and sign her letters with an enigmatic Madame G.”…”