The French public prosecutor indicated on Tuesday that "the police arrested a man suspected of killing his wife and four children with a knife on Christmas Day." The bodies of the victims were found Monday evening in a blood-spattered apartment in the town of Meaux, located 40 kilometers northeast of Paris. Local prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier stated: "The mother and two daughters were stabbed multiple times, to the extent that it is impossible to determine the number of stab wounds they received. It appears that the two younger children may have been suffocated or drowned." The prosecutor mentioned that "the husband has a history of mental illness. In 2019, he attacked his wife with a knife. No charges were pressed against him, and the case was dismissed due to his mental health at that time."
The prosecutor further added that "investigators found documents and prescriptions for antidepressants in the family apartment." The police arrested the children’s father (33 years old) at his home in a neighboring town on Monday evening. A murder investigation has been opened. The ages of the children ranged from nine months to ten years. Neighbors told investigators that they heard screaming in the early hours of Christmas Day. The alarm was raised later in the day after neighbors failed to get a response from the family.
