“What happened to Victorine is the anxiety, the fear, the phobia of many young women and their parents.” Here is how his death was summarized by a journalist from Le Figaro in an M6 documentary broadcast last September, Victorine, death at the end of the road. From this Monday, and until December 6, the Isère Assize Court will judge Ludovic Bertin for the murder, preceded by an attempted rape, of Victorine. The young woman was 18 years old and her body was found in a stream in Villefontaine, in Isère, on September 28, 2020.
The disturbing disappearance of Victorine
Two days earlier, on Saturday September 26, 2020, Victorine, a communications student at Saint-Priest, spent the day with her friends at the Villefontaine Brand Village. Around 6 p.m., the group decided to return. To reach the family home, in the Fougères district, Victorine has to take two buses and misses her connection. She then decides to walk home, because waiting for the next bus will take her as long as walking home, around 25 minutes.
On the way, she calls her big sister to warn her. It is 6:55 p.m. and Victorine is at the Stade de la Prairie, located 2 km from her home. Around 9:30 p.m., her loved ones were no longer able to contact her and were worried. They alert the gendarmerie, specifying that the young woman is not the type to run away. An investigation is opened by the Villefontaine territorial brigade. At the same time, his family is launching calls for witnesses on social networks.
The next day, Sunday the 27th, more than 300 people gathered together as well as 130 gendarmes, dog teams, helicopters and divers to try to find her. In vain. It was not until Monday afternoon, almost 48 hours after her disappearance, that Victorine’s body was found in a stream.
A white march to pay tribute to him
The young woman was found on her stomach, arms and legs crossed. Her personal effects, such as her handbag, her sneakers and also her jeans, were found next to her body. The autopsy revealed that she died of drowning “by the intervention of a third party” and that she also had “multiple internal bruising”. But no sexual violence.
The following Sunday, the family organized a white march to pay tribute to her and to “finish the journey she was never able to finish”. In total, more than 6,000 people attended this march in this town of 20,000 inhabitants.
Best friend’s revelations
Two weeks after the discovery of the body, on October 10, a man went to the gendarmerie and announced that he knew the young woman’s murderer. He knows him well, he’s his best friend: Ludovic Bertin. This young father of a 6-month-old baby, aged 25 at the time, who launched his delivery company, has already been convicted ten times for “common law” offenses. He lives a few hundred meters from Victorine’s parents’ house, in the same Fougères district.
Ludovic Bertin was arrested three days later at a service station in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, he admitted the facts during his hearing while “disputing any sexual motive”, reports the Grenoble prosecutor’s office at the time. According to his version, he crossed paths with the young girl at 7 p.m., near the Villefontaine stadium while he was jogging. An argument then allegedly took place after an involuntary shove.
The suspect explains “having grabbed the neck” of the victim, “squeezing it very tightly”, then having placed Victorine’s body in the watercourse “to hide it”. He said he then returned home after abandoning the body, took a shower, then came out to throw his clothes in a container. Ludovic Bertin also assures that he did not undress Victorine. But faced with his inconsistencies and the findings of the investigators, he finally admitted to having “taken off his jeans”, as recounted Progress. Two days after his arrest, he was indicted for kidnapping, forcible confinement and murder preceded by attempted rape.
La confrontation
A year later, the investigating judge requested a confrontation with Ludovic Bertin and his best friend, still according to Progress. According to the latter, the suspect confided that he wanted to rape Victorine but had finally resigned himself. He told her that he had “prepared” for his outing, leaving his cell phone at home and leaving on foot to “look for prey”. On September 26, 2020, his cell phone was cut off between 6:04 p.m. and 7:38 p.m., according to telephone analyzes.
The friend was also surprised to hear Ludovic Bertin say that he was jogging that day. Because the young man is not athletic, especially since he was injured in a car accident.
Other inconsistencies and the rape of another woman
Another inconsistency: On the city’s video surveillance images, Ludovic Bertin is seen for the first time at 6:46 p.m., where he meets the young girl, without any “hustle” as he assures. Then three minutes later, at 6:49 p.m., he turned around and headed in the same direction as the latter.
In addition to the facts of “homicide” and “attempted rape” of Victorine, Ludovic Bertin will be tried for “rape” before the assizes. A woman filed a complaint, encouraged by those close to her, after seeing her face in the media. These facts date back to September 2018. The man allegedly forced him to have sex with her, strangling her and assuring her that he would not stop if she refused. The accused denies it, arguing that the report was consensual.
Source: www.20minutes.fr
