Skeletal remains found in the Tarn are being examined at the Gendarmerie’s criminal research institute

Mailhoc – 17 July 2026: The search continues in a field near Mailhoc, in the Tarn department, while bone fragments discovered on Thursday are being handed over to forensic specialists. The Institut de recherche criminelle de la gendarmerie nationale, the criminal research institute of the French Gendarmerie, must first determine whether the findings are of human origin.

Only then can genetic and anthropological analyses be carried out to determine whether there is a connection to Delphine Aussaguel. The nurse disappeared from Cagnac-les-Mines during the night of 15 to 16 December 2020. On Friday, no identification had yet been explicitly announced. The fragments secured so far also do not allow reliable conclusions to be drawn about the possible circumstances of death.

According to Nicolas Jacquet, attorney general at the Toulouse Court of Appeal, the findings were made at a location that Cédric Jubillar had indicated to investigators. The site is in a rural area, difficult to see, north of Albi and about 15 kilometres from Cagnac-les-Mines. Gendarmes continue to search the area.

The new measures followed a hearing of Cédric Jubillar on 15 July in Toulouse. According to the prosecution, he told the court that he was responsible for his wife’s death and offered to give investigators information about where the body had been placed. His statements and the findings will now be independently examined using forensic techniques.

For Delphine Aussaguel’s relatives, the discovery above all represents a new phase of waiting. For more than five and a half years, there has been no confirmed trace of the woman, who was 33 at the time. The case had drawn attention far beyond Tarn because the investigation continued for a long time without a body and many questions remained unanswered.

The examination at the Gendarmerie’s institute is therefore more than a technical interim step. Forensic specialists can assess, among other things, the type, age condition and possible DNA traces of the fragments. However, only laboratory analyses will determine whether there is sufficient usable material. The authorities have not yet given a date for the results.

The criminal assessment also remains dependent on the experts’ findings. The appeal hearing scheduled for 21 September 2026 in Toulouse could be affected by new investigative assignments. Until there is a scientifically confirmed identification, the following applies: the bone fragments found in Mailhoc constitute a significant investigative lead, but not yet conclusive proof of their origin.