Murder of Vanesa in Tonneins: the profile of the main suspect

This Friday, November 18, a 14-year-old child, named Vanesa, was kidnapped, raped and killed in Tonneins in Lot-et-Garonne. His alleged attacker, Romain C., was quickly apprehended by the police thanks to the identification of his vehicle in which the tragedy would have taken place, as reported by Le Parisien.

Placed in police custody this weekend, the main suspect confessed to the facts, and was cooperative with the gendarmes. As soon as he was arrested, he would have confessed: “I know why you are here”, he said, opening his door to the police who came to apprehend him at his home on Friday evening. The motive for the crime would be sexual in nature, but his actions would not have been premeditated. He would have dragged all afternoon around the college of Vanesa before succumbing to a “pulsion”, according to his words. He would have killed his victim by strangulation to hide his crime.

This is not the first time the main suspect has committed acts of sexual violence. In 2008, when he was 15, he was convicted of sexual assault on minors, which earned him 15 days of suspended imprisonment, coupled with a probation of 2 years. However, he was not registered in the file of perpetrators of sexual offenses, according to our colleagues from BFMTV.

The alleged predator is a father, living with his partner and their one-month-old child. They had been living together in Marmande since 2021. The 31-year-old temporary worker would have raised questions among his friends or ex-colleagues, who today claim for some to have felt the existence of a “shadow part” in Romain C .