Suspect identified in French Héléna (21) disappearance case: “He admitted that he had done something stupid” | Abroad

Earlier, the French police reported that the name of the young woman was Eléna Cluyou, but according to various media sources and acquaintances of the woman, her name is not Eléna, but Héléna. The nursing student disappeared on the night of Saturday 28 to Sunday 29 January after partying with her friends at the nightclub ‘Le One’ on the occasion of her 21st birthday on February 1.

Héléna left the club around 5:20 am on Sunday morning and was supposed to walk to her grandmother’s house. According to the radio station France Info, a friend planned to accompany Héléna, but ultimately did not because she wanted to stay longer in the disco. At around 6:42 am, the 21-year-old student was filmed by a security camera. Since then, every trace has been missing. The police have been investigating the case for a week.

Meanwhile, investigators are said to have identified a suspect. It concerns a 36-year-old man from Brest. Attorney Camille Miansoni said he attempted suicide twice. Two relatives of the suspect, his brother and his partner, received a phone call from the man shortly before his first suicide attempt and hurried to his home. The thirty-year-old was still alive, but in very bad shape. Confused, he told his relatives that he had “done something stupid”, that “his life was over” and that “it was an accident”. When his brother asked what he was talking about, the man is said to have replied: “Don’t you know what people in Brest have been talking about for the last five days?” The suspect was later taken to hospital.

It was the suspect’s two relatives who informed the police about the possible connection between the “stupidity” and Héléna’s disappearance. Officers then went to visit the 36-year-old man in the hospital, but found him there with a “plastic bag over his head”: he had tried to take his own life a second time. The man is now in intensive care and fighting for his life.

The suspect works in the hospitality industry and has a clean criminal record. On February 2, the police also found his vehicle. The car was completely burnt out in a neighborhood close to the man’s home. “We have indications that this person was involved in the disappearance without being able to say how, with whom and under what circumstances,” Miansoni said at a press conference. According to the prosecutor, however, it is still too early to draw conclusions and the case is “still far from resolved”.