In the Jubillar case, statements and new discoveries converge again

Villeneuve-sur-Vere – 18 July 2026: Investigators have found bone remains on a remote site north of Albi. Whether they can be attributed to Delphine Aussaguel, born Jubillar, remains unclear. Forensic examinations are underway. The discovery was made at a location that Cedric Jubillar had himself identified, according to judicial authorities. For the relatives, this once again begins a period caught between hope for certainty and fear of final answers.

The 38-year-old was questioned by judicial authorities in Toulouse on 15 July. According to Attorney General Nicolas Jacquet, he admitted responsibility for his wife’s death and said he was willing to lead search teams to the place where the body had been disposed of. A day later, he was taken from prison to the Tarn area. Gendarmes searched the site and discovered the remains now being examined.

Delphine Aussaguel disappeared during the night of 15 to 16 December 2020 from the family home in Cagnac-les-Mines. The then 33-year-old nurse left behind her personal belongings and her two young children. For years, the gendarmerie, specialist units and volunteers searched for her. The case became one of France’s most high-profile missing-person and homicide cases – also because neither a body nor a clearly identifiable crime scene had been found.

Cedric Jubillar was sentenced by the Assize Court in Albi to 30 years in prison for murder in October 2025. He appealed, so the verdict is not final. Appeal proceedings before the Haute-Garonne Assize Court in Toulouse had been scheduled from 21 September to 16 October 2026. Whether the new state of the investigation will affect the course or date of the hearing has not yet been decided.

In addition to technical evidence, the long-running investigation focused on numerous statements: from people close to the couple, acquaintances and individuals in custody. Some accounts contradicted one another; others were challenged by the defence. In a case without the discovery site of the victim, such statements carried particular weight. Jubillar’s latest statements do not, however, replace forensic examination: only the analyses can establish whether the remains are human and to whom they belong.

Investigators from the Gendarmerie’s Criminal Research Institute in Pontoise are expected to secure DNA traces and compare them with existing reference samples. They may then examine whether the bone remains can provide clues about the circumstances of death. Experts warn, however, that identification – and above all reconstruction of possible violence – can be difficult when remains have been exposed outdoors for a long time.

For Delphine Aussaguel’s family, this is not merely about an additional file in criminal proceedings. After more than five and a half years of uncertainty, a place where farewell is possible may emerge for the first time. Until results are available, however, one point remains decisive: the bone remains found have not yet been identified, and judicial authorities continue to assess the new statements and all previous witness testimony as part of the ongoing investigation.