A woman in her fifties has been taken into custody following the discovery of two dead newborn infants inside a freezer at a home in eastern France, investigative sources said Thursday.
The grim find came to light Tuesday when a man contacted authorities after uncovering the remains of a newborn child in a freezer at his residence in Aillevillers-et-Lyaumont, a town in France’s eastern region, one source said. Officers responding to the report found a second infant’s body at the property.
Investigators turned their focus to the woman, who had departed the home abruptly. She was apprehended Wednesday in Boulogne-Billancourt, a community on the western edge of Paris.
Authorities believe the detained woman is the mother of nine children born from two separate relationships. Police have not released the identities of those involved or detailed the timeline of events that led to the infants’ deaths.
At the residence in Aillevillers-et-Lyaumont, an AFP photographer observed official seals affixed to the shutters of a pale-colored, ground-floor dwelling with its gate left open. The property showed no other outward signs of the investigation taking place inside.
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Jean-Claude Tramesel, who serves as mayor of the town, said he was deeply shaken upon learning what investigators had found. “It’s a small village of 1,500 inhabitants. When it comes to news stories like this, you always think it happens somewhere else,” he told AFP. “We’re stunned.”
The mayor said the couple had been residents for roughly two decades but held no employment within the community. “They are people who keep to themselves,” he added.
The incident represents another suspected infanticide case to surface in France following several others in recent years. In 2022, authorities in the country’s southern region discovered two newborn bodies stored in a freezer belonging to a woman. Prosecutors in that matter concluded the deaths were “not natural in origin.”
A separate case in 2015 involved the discovery of five bodies under comparable circumstances. The woman responsible was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.
Among the most prominent such cases in French legal history was that of Veronique Courjault, who received an eight-year prison term in 2009 after being convicted of killing three of her newborn children. Courjault’s trial drew sustained public attention and sparked broader conversations about concealed pregnancies and the psychological factors that may accompany such acts.
Under French criminal law, infanticide carries severe penalties and is prosecuted as a category of homicide. Courts may consider evidence of psychological distress or psychiatric conditions during sentencing, though such factors do not absolve defendants of legal responsibility.
Medical and forensic specialists recognize a phenomenon known as pregnancy denial, in which individuals do not consciously acknowledge their pregnancies. The condition has been documented across multiple studies but remains insufficiently understood within both medical and legal communities.
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French authorities have not disclosed whether the woman will face formal charges or specified what criminal counts prosecutors may bring. Under the country’s procedural rules, individuals in custody can be held for questioning for a defined period before they must either be charged with an offense or released.
Police in Aillevillers-et-Lyaumont are conducting the inquiry in partnership with regional prosecutors. Officials have not confirmed whether post-mortem examinations have been completed on the infants or if forensic specialists have established a cause of death in either case.
Aillevillers-et-Lyaumont sits within the Haute-Saône department, part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region that borders Switzerland to the east. The surrounding area is predominantly agricultural, characterized by small settlements and modest infrastructure.
France does not maintain comprehensive national data on infanticide cases, complicating efforts to determine trends or compare the country’s rate of such incidents with those of other nations. Legal scholars note that numerous cases likely remain undiscovered or come to light only after considerable time has elapsed.
The detained woman remains in police custody. Prosecutors have not indicated when a decision on potential charges will be made or outlined what further investigative measures might be necessary before proceeding.