Possible Human Bones Found in Tarn After Jubillar Confession

Mailhoc – 16 July 2026: Investigators in the Tarn have found bone remains at a location that Cedric Jubillar is said to have identified as the place where he disposed of the body of his wife, Delphine Aussaguel. The prosecutor general at the Toulouse Court of Appeal, Nicolas Jacquet, said on Thursday that they could be human bones. The identity of the remains has not yet been established; forensic analyses are still pending.

The search began after Jubillar was questioned again on Wednesday, according to the public prosecutor’s office. During the questioning, he admitted responsibility for the death of Delphine Aussaguel and agreed to lead investigators to the suspected location. The gendarmerie then searched an area near Mailhoc, around ten kilometres from Cagnac-les-Mines.

The discovery is of considerable importance for a case in which the central unanswered question for years has been the whereabouts of the missing woman. Delphine Aussaguel, then 33 and a nurse by profession, disappeared during the night of 15 to 16 December 2020 from the couple’s shared home in Cagnac-les-Mines. Despite extensive searches involving the gendarmerie, tracking dogs, divers and specialists, her body remained undiscovered.

Cedric Jubillar was charged in connection with his wife’s disappearance and is currently in appeal proceedings. However, the statements now made do not automatically alter the evidentiary situation. Only a forensic examination can establish whether the recovered bones are human, whether they can be attributed to Delphine Aussaguel, and whether they may provide information about the time or cause of death.

For the criminal justice system, the distinction is crucial: a confession is a piece of evidence, but its credibility must be assessed and compared with objective findings. Investigators will therefore carefully preserve the site, soil samples and any possible traces. A precise reconstruction of Jubillar’s statements is also likely to be decisive, as it must be compared with earlier investigative findings and the results of the planned analyses.

The public prosecutor’s office has so far avoided making a final assessment. Nicolas Jacquet explicitly referred only to bone remains that may be of human origin. Statements about an identification or the definitive discovery of the body would therefore be premature. For Delphine Aussaguel’s relatives, however, the examination could open a new phase in proceedings that have been marked by uncertainty for more than five and a half years.

According to currently known information, the appeal proceedings against Cedric Jubillar are scheduled to begin in Toulouse on 21 September 2026. Whether the new discoveries will affect the date, scope of the taking of evidence or the trial strategy of those involved remains open. For now, the focus is on the forensic and medico-legal examination of the remains secured on Thursday.