DNA confirms: Found bones are the remains of Delphine Aussaguel

Villeneuve-sur-Vère – 20 July 2026: The bone remains found in a field in the north of the Tarn department have been conclusively identified through DNA analysis as Delphine Aussaguel. The Public Prosecutor General’s Office in Toulouse confirmed this on Sunday, 19 July. For the family of the mother who had been missing since December 2020, the identification ends years of uncertainty. However, the crucial question of the exact circumstances of her death remains unanswered.

The site where the remains were found had been shown to investigators by Cédric Jubillar. There, gendarmes discovered human remains during targeted searches on Thursday, 16 July. The finds were then taken to the Institut de recherche criminelle de la gendarmerie nationale, the gendarmerie’s criminal research institute in Pontoise near Paris. The DNA examination has now provided certainty about the identity of the deceased.

Delphine Aussaguel, who became publicly known under her married name, Jubillar, disappeared from her home in Cagnac-les-Mines on the night of 15 to 16 December 2020. She was 33 at the time and worked as a nurse. Extensive searches, interviews and forensic investigations had failed for years to locate her body. This absence had made the case particularly distressing for relatives and investigators.

With the identification, another technically challenging phase of the investigation now begins. Specialists must determine what the remaining bones can still reveal about a possible cause of death, injuries or the time of death. The condition of the remains limits the possibilities for forensic medicine. Authorities have therefore not yet released any confirmed explanation of how Delphine Aussaguel died.

In October 2025, Cédric Jubillar was sentenced by the Tarn Assize Court to 30 years in prison for the murder of his wife. The new discoveries do not automatically alter the legal assessment, but they may be significant for further proceedings and for clarifying what happened. Statements about individual events must still be reviewed by the courts and through forensic expert reports.

For her relatives, the DNA finding brings both relief and renewed pain. After more than five and a half years, there is certainty that Delphine Aussaguel is dead. What happened on that December night, however, remains unclear in key respects. Investigators now face the task of developing a reliable reconstruction from only a few traces.

The Toulouse Public Prosecutor General’s Office and the investigating authorities intend to await the results of the ongoing expert analyses. Only then will it become clear whether the remains provide new objective clues about the cause of death and the course of the crime. Until then, the identity has been established, but the final circumstances of Delphine Aussaguel’s death have not.