Nathalie Debaillie died on the monring of May 27, 2019, after her former partner killed her with a box cutter, minutes after being kidnapped by three accomplices in the parking lot of the bank where she worked in Lille, northern France. Jérôme Tonneau, 53, could not accept that this 47-year-old woman, with whom he had been in a relationship for two years, ended their it a few months earlier. For this premeditated murder, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in July 2024.

In the three months leading up to her murder, Debaillie had gone to the police station four times to report the harassment and death threats her ex-partner sent her, in what now seems like the story of a foretold murder.

She filed the first police report on February 11, 2019. Debaillie explained to the police that Tonneau did not accept the breakup, persisted in contacting her and told her of his intention to break into her home. On March 5, 2019, a second police report was filed. Tonneau had gone to her office parking lot to wait for her and followed her to the elevator. She managed to push him away. On March 9, 2019, she filed a complaint for death threats. The day before, two friends of Tonneau's had warned her that he planned to lock her in a car trunk and kill her. "He's going to kill you, I'm dead serious," one of them said.

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