Bodies found in the Seine: one month after their discovery, the investigation continues. Who were the victims?

Two of the bodies found had injuries "suggestive of strangulation," and a third had "suspicious marks whose origin" could not be "determined," the Créteil prosecutor's office said in August. One of the victims was discovered with her lower body "naked," and another with her pants "lowered to the ankles." At the end of August, the prosecutor's office confirmed that the place where the bodies were discovered was known to be a "place for casual homosexual encounters," without specifying what leads were being explored regarding the motive for these crimes.

The STOP Homophobie association, suspecting a "possible homophobic motive," has filed a civil suit and launched a call for witnesses, with limited results so far, to try to learn more about the victims and the circumstances of their deaths. It regularly organizes patrols on the banks of the Seine in Choisy-le-Roi, which have so far yielded nothing "concrete other than their first names" for three of them, reports Terrence Khatchadourian, secretary general of STOP Homophobie. The association will organize a tribute to these victims next week.

Two homeless youths

A link exists between the victims and these places, the prosecutor's office explained at the end of August. Not far from there is "an abandoned technical room, frequented by homeless people." This concrete building, strewn with rubbish, appears to be inhabited, a journalist noted. Mattresses, blankets, and a chair are installed there. Two of the victims, who were homeless, frequented the place: a 21-year-old Algerian and a 26-year-old Tunisian, Abdallah and Amir, according to testimonies collected by STOP Homophobie, who have been missing since July 26 and 31 respectively.

"These young people, homeless and in an irregular situation, were not just anonymous faces," explains on its website a telephone platform that fights social exclusion, Assistance, Support and Social Action for the Population (ASasp), based in Choisy-le-Roi. Without giving their first names or other biographical details, ASasp indicates that these young people were "disarmingly kind, exemplary in their courtesy, and naively young." They had arrived "by illegally crossing the Mediterranean" to "have a chance" in France, the organization assures.

Only the identity of the 48-year-old French victim, Frantz D., could be confirmed. "I last saw Frantz on August 11, he came to bring me travel souvenirs," confided his mother Nadine (who wished to remain anonymous), deeply moved. She said she reported him missing two days later, "very worried" at not receiving a response to her text messages. Born in Créteil to a Martinican father and a Pied-Noir mother, Frantz D. was an advisor at France Travail. He was "very good-natured, friendly, he loved people," emphasizes his mother. "His life was his job, his friends, his travels, and his cat," she sighs. He liked to walk around Paris, especially at the Louvre Museum. According to her, he was seeing a partner at the time of his disappearance.

Sami, another face of immigration

The fourth victim, a 21-year-old Algerian living in Choisy-le-Roi, is named Sami, according to STOP Homophobie. His disappearance was reported on August 7. The young man worked in construction, according to the daily newspaper "Le Parisien." Recently arrived in France, according to the newspaper, he had also come to "try his luck" in the Paris region.