In October 2022, Dominique P. was taken from his cell in the Baumettes prison in Marseille. The pensioner had been in pre-trial detention for two years, as part of the investigation into the dozens of rapes committed against his wife, by him or by unknown men, after he had drugged her. Two investigators from the criminal investigation department had come from Paris to question him, at the request of an investigating judge from the brand-new "cold cases" unit in Nanterre. In the mass of unsolved cases she had inherited, she noted that the DNA found on the shoe of a woman, the victim of an attempted rape in 1999, was that of Dominique P.
Estella B. was a young estate agent in Seine-et-Marne, north of Paris, at the time. On May 11, 1999, in the town of Villeparisis, while showing an apartment to a man who had come to the agency the same day, he choked her, placed a knife under her neck, forced her to lie on her stomach, tied her hands behind her back, put a compress soaked in ether over her mouth to put her to sleep, took off her shoes and pulled down her pants. The unconscious victim then came to, managed to free herself and scared off her assailant.
In Marseille, in October 2022, Dominique P. was confronted by investigators from the criminal investigation department. During the second interrogation, the police pointed out that his DNA had been found on one of the victim's shoes and on the carpet of the Villeparisis apartment, but he persisted in denying it. "I'm going to tell you the truth," he announced at the very start of the third interrogation. "In relation to this young woman who must have grown up and is wondering. That's me."
'I can't tell you'
Dominique P., who was 46 at the time, said he had "an impulse" when he passed the estate agency where Estella B. worked. But he did not agree it was attempted rape.
"What would have happened if she hadn't got free?" he was asked.
"I don't know."
"You were well on your way to raping her."
"I can't tell you."
Later, he told the investigating judge he "had no intention of having relations with her," claiming that he had "just intended to immobilize her (...), perhaps to look at her." This did not prevent him from being charged with attempted rape with a weapon.
Investigators then linked this case to an even older one: the rape and murder of Sophie Narme on December 4, 1991, in Paris, in circumstances that had disturbing similarities with the Estella B. case. Firstly, the choice of victim: Narme was also a young real estate agent. Secondly, the modus operandi: The young woman was raped and killed while showing an apartment to a man who introduced himself under a false name, choked her, placed her on her stomach, tied her hands behind her back, made her inhale ether and used a bladed weapon. Narme suffered stab wounds.
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