Police in the no-go suburbs of Paris are on the hunt for a migrant believed to be a suspect in the murder of a French pro-migrant activist and medical intern.
Audrey Coignard, 27, died on Monday September 16th after being stabbed a dozen times in her home in the commune of Saint-Ouen, part of the heavily migrant populated and crime-ridden Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, France 3 reports.
An intern at the Jean Verdier Hospital in Bondy, Ms Coignard was also a member of the Movement of the Caen Youth while she was studying medicine at Caen University, the young woman having demonstrated against the expulsions of migrants from France.
According to reports, investigators are currently searching for Coignard’s ex-boyfriend, believing him to be a possible suspect in the case.
French newspaper Le Parisien has claimed that one of the suspects, possibly the same man, regularly stayed in the medical intern’s house and some of his belongings were also found there following the murder.
A witness described the man as “of foreign origin in his thirties”, with the woman adding that she had seen him before in a “bad state” singing to himself.
Neighbours of the victim say that they never heard shouting between Coignard and the suspect saying the only time the residence was loud was when he had friends over and she was often not there during those times.
The case is just the latest in which a migrant is suspected of murdering a Frenchwoman this year.
In June, a Pakistani man was arrested after the body of a 23-year-old student was discovered in the trunk of her own car in the commune of Valenton a month prior. The victim had been suffocated to death, according to investigators.
A month later, a Syrian migrant was taken into police custody in connection with the death of 24-year-old young mother Johanna Blanes who was found dead in a small pedestrian tunnel.
A source close to the investigation indicated that the 24-year-old, who had a slight mental disability, was also raped during the incident.