Five hours. Five hours full of questions that have remained unanswered despite four years of investigation and 27 volumes of findings, searches, interrogations, depositions and expert reports. One question stands out in particular: Where is the body of Delphine Jubillar, 33, who disappeared from her home at 19 Rue Yves-Montand, in the southern French town of Cagnac-les-Mines, on the night of December 15, 2020, between 11 pm and 4 am?

The trial of Cédric Jubillar, who stands accused of murdering his wife, is set to open on Monday, September 22, before the criminal court in the nearby city of Albi. How much will the weight of those five missing hours, this irreducible unknown quantity, bear down on Jubillar, who has proclaimed his innocence though all the evidence appears to point toward him?

On December 16, at 4:09 am, Jubillar dialed the emergency police number. "Hello, I don't know where my wife has gone." – "And this lady, what is her name?" – "Uh, for the moment, it's Mrs. Jubillar, Delphine." – "Is there a particular problem? Did you have an argument?" – "Ah, no, no, no! We are in the process of divorcing, that's one thing, but otherwise, things are fine." Forty minutes later, two female gendarmes arrived at the couple's dilapidated house and, while peering through the kitchen's glass door, saw Jubillar, wearing sweatpants and a panda pajama top, complete with ears and a tail, putting laundry into the washing machine.

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