Fatal impulse: the Clélia Médina case | Enquêtes criminelles | W9

It’s 8:45 on Sunday February 17 2008 when a person out walking discovers the lifeless body of a young woman, half-submerged in the Deûle, a stream near Lambersart in the Nord department. The victim, Clélia Médina, 18, was strangled before being subjected to a hail of extremely violent blows to the face from a blunt object. The police quickly discover that the young woman had spent the previous evening at the “Buccaneer”, a well-known discotheque in Lille. And her friends said that Clélia left with her ex-boyfriend, Julien Sailly. According to several witnesses the couple had a violent quarrel because Clélia apparently discovered that her boyfriend was in a relationship with another girl. Did that quarrel turn into something worse? Did Julien beat Clélia to death before disposing of her body on the banks of the Deûle? Everything points in that direction, especially as when the police dragged the canal they found a car jack, which turns out to have been the murder weapon. A jack of the same model as that of the young man’s Twingo. When questioned Julien Sailly vehemently denies having killed Clélia. And his lawyers point to shortcomings in the investigation. In particular it appears that a paper handkerchief was not fully taken into account. And yet, on this tissue was the DNA of a man whom certain witnesses claim to have seen along the canal that very night.