Story By: Ernest Bio Bogore, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency:  Newsflash

A man has been arrested in France and confessed to murder 20 days after the discovery of the body of an 18-year-old communications student in a river.

Ludovic Bertin, 25, the presumed suspect, has been charged with “murder preceded by attempted rape”.

The suspect, who local media reported admitted having killed Victorine Dartois, said he had killed her after an argument, and rejected that there was any sexual motive to the crime.

According to his statements in police custody at the Grenoble research section, in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of southeastern France, Bertin said he met her “by chance” in the car park of the Stade de la Prairie in Villefontaine at around 7 pm on Saturday 26th September.

The young woman was walking home from a shopping spree with friends after missing her bus and he said he had bumped into her, causing a violent argument.

Boris Duffau, the Deputy Public Prosecutor in Grenoble, summed it the man’s story saying: “He panicked very quickly and twice grabbed [Victorine] by the neck and squeezed her very tightly”.

The autopsy confirmed traces of strangulation on the neck of Victorine, who nevertheless died by drowning.

The suspect, who has a car company and lived with a partner and child, then allegedly dumped Victorine’s lifeless body in a nearby stream, which was difficult to access, in order to conceal it.

He denies attempted rape of the student. However, the investigators and the public prosecutor’s office strongly doubt this version.

The victim’s jeans were found removed and lying next to the body. This explains why the judges at this stage retained the sex crime.

Kelly Monteiro, the lawyer for Victorine’s family, says: “Ludovic Bertin has not told us everything.”

According to Le Dauphine Libere, once the murder had been committed, Ludovic Bertin returned home, less than a kilometre away, and put his clothes in a rubbish bag before going out to throw them into a container.

Le Parisien reports that Ludovic had already been convicted about ten times for drug-related offences or theft.

He was also involved with various individuals known to the gendarmerie for break-ins and violence.

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