French authorities have arrested a woman in her fifties after two newborn babies were discovered dead in a freezer in eastern France, AFP reported on Thursday. The incident, which occurred in the town of Aillevillers-et-Lyaumont, is the latest suspected case of infanticide in the country.
Police were alerted on Tuesday by a man who found the body of a newborn in his freezer. Upon arriving at the scene, officers discovered a second infant. Suspicion quickly fell on the mother, who had left the home without warning. She was later apprehended on Wednesday in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb west of Paris.
The woman is believed to have nine children from two different relationships. In the eastern town, an AFP photographer observed seals placed on the shutters of a single-storey home with an open gate.
Mayor Jean-Claude Tramesel expressed shock at the discovery, describing the 1,500-inhabitant village as “stunned” by the news. He noted that the couple involved had lived in the town for around 20 years but were not employed locally and generally kept to themselves.
This is not the first such case in France. In 2022, two newborns were found in a freezer in southern France, with prosecutors ruling the deaths as unnatural. In 2015, a mother was sentenced to eight years in prison after five newborns were discovered dead, and in 2009, Veronique Courjault received an eight-year jail term for killing three of her children.
