While the Grenoble prosecutor announced last year that the murder of Michèle and Christine Marinescu had been solved 28 years later, the lawyers for the indicted continue to deny the involvement of their client.
The announcement of the resolution of this double murder, last year, had shocked the entourage of the victims. Twenty-eight years after the assassination of Michèle Marinescu and her daughter Christine, near Grenoble, the public prosecutor Éric Vaillant declared that the “cold case” had finally been cleared up, with the arrest of a suspect who The husband and father of the two victims were different.
But in the eyes of the latter’s lawyers, the evidence gathered does not allow us to say that the case has been resolved, they testify in The Parisian. Contacted by BFMTV.com this Friday, one of them, Me Solange Doumic, believes that if “the investigation was poorly done 28 years ago, it does not mean that it should be closed if rapidly”.
The track of the father first ruled out
In January 1993, Michèle Marinescu and her 13-year-old daughter Christine were found dead, savagely killed by several stab wounds to the throat at their home in Sassenage, in Isère, resting in their respective bedrooms.
Quickly, the trail of a crime committed by the father of the family, Marian Marinescu, is dismissed: he was in Romania with his youngest son at the time of the murder, which several people confirm.
Investigators broadcast calls for witnesses to find the trace of the killer. For a time, they suspect the boyfriend of the family housekeeper, with whom the mother had had a dispute, of being involved in the story, as well as her brother, explains Me Solange Doumic to BFMTV.com. “But the track is quickly abandoned,” she continues.
An indictment, 28 years later
For twenty-eight years, the investigation continues without revelation. The case passes through the hands of five different investigating judges, without the investigators managing to get their hands on a credible suspect.
On June 16, 2021, a dramatic turn of events: the public prosecutor of Grenoble, Éric Vaillant, publicly announced that, thanks to advances in science, he had been indicted and remanded in custody Marian Marinescu, father of Christine and husband of Michèle, for the murder of his wife and daughter, as well as for the latter’s rape.
“Today, we can discover DNA in much finer traces,” he explained during a press conference.
The schedule of the suspect in question
The evidence in question is a fine trace of sperm belonging to Marian Marinescu found on the pants of his daughter Christine. The element does not convince the lawyers of the one who finds himself in police custody, immediately after this discovery.
According to them, the trace could date from before the murder, and the girl’s pants must have been washed in the meantime, which would explain why the sperm was found in such a small quantity.
The fact remains that the suspect was in Romania at the time of the events. In this regard, the investigators establish the existence of a possible gap of 48 hours in his schedule, a period during which he could have returned to France and committed the murder, before returning to Romania.
“Forty-eight hours are not enough to make the round trip between France and Romania”, maintains Me Solange Doumic. “The investigation showed that he did not fly or cross a border,” she adds.
“Unless Mr. Marinescu has a gift of ubiquity…”, ironically the lawyer.
‘Worstest guess’
Since his indictment, Marian Marinescu has been in detention in Lyon-Corbas prison, without ever having confessed to the charges against him. With his colleagues Me Antoine Vey and Me Eric Andrieu, Me Solange Doumic has filed several requests for release with the judge, unsuccessful so far. A new request is in progress.
“It is the worst hypothesis for a family to realize, after decades, that the track retained by justice is that of the husband”, is content to comment, this Friday, Me Hervé Gerbi, who represents the sister by Michèle Marinescu, from BFMTV.com.
The lawyer and his client are waiting to know the court’s decision concerning Marian Marinescu’s request to speak, he finally specifies.
