Turquin Case: what we know

♦ The facts

During the night of Friday till Saturday, at around 22:30 PM, one or several individuals broke into the home of Jean-Louis Turquin in Mont Vernon 2. His lifeless body was discovered by his wife after midnight when she arrives home. The victim is in the bedroom and sustained a gunshot on his back. The medical examiner noticed the gunshot wound but the bullet remained in the body.

Two cartridge cases were found in the bedroom.

The wife alerts the neighbors and the police officers arrive on the scene at 00:50 AM.

Several rooms, bedrooms, were searched.

♦ The hypotheses considered

For now, investigators remain cautious about the motive. "All the hypotheses are being considered", they say. Was it a robbery that went wrong? The case is made more delicate by the victim's legal history. Jean-Louis Turquin had been sentenced in 1997 in Nice to twenty years in prison for the murder of his son, Charles-Edouard. "It is still much too early to know if it is related or not with his past", says the Deputy Prosecutor of Saint Martin, Michaël Ohayon who went to the scene of the crime Friday evening.

♦ The past of the victim

In March 1991, Charles-Edouard Turquin, a seven-year-old boy is missing. His father, Jean-Louis, will be accused of killing him. He is denounced by his wife, Michèle Ballanger, and mother of the boy, to whom he would have made a confession. At the time, the couple was separated. However, he will go back to his confessions and denied having killed his son whose body will never be found.

In May 2016, Jean-Louis Turquin gave an interview to the Parisien in which he stated that he had discovered that his son’s death had never been recorded by the civil registry; he also had all kinds of hopes that his Charles-Edouard was still alive.

♦ His life in Saint Martin

The loss of Jean-Louis Turquin moved the local public opinion, in particular his customers. He moved to Saint Martin in 2010 and practiced his profession of veterinarian from his home. He had arrived on the island with his second wife that he met during his time in prison in France.

He was released four years earlier.

His first wife passed away in 2014.

♦ The resources deployed

The investigation is entrusted to the Research Section posted in Saint Martin. A dozen investigators are mobilized. It should soon be entrusted to the Criminal Division of Pointe-à-Pitre in order to initiate a judicial inquiry.

The body of the victim will be autopsied this Friday in Saint Martin by two medical examiners who will come specially from Pointe-à-Pitre.