Suspect held over attack at French retired missionaries' home

25 November 2016 Europe

A former soldier, suspected of stabbing a woman to death in a retirement home for former missionaries, has been arrested in France.

The suspect used to work at the home, near Montpellier, a source close to the investigation told AFP news agency.

Prosecutor Christophe Barret said the motive was not clear but it was not linked to "Islamist terrorism".

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The suspect, 47, was arrested near his home, about 10 miles (15km) from Montferrier-sur-Lez, the town where the attack was carried out.

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Suspect in Fatal Stabbing at French Missionary Home Arrested

By ELAINE GANLEY, ASSOCIATED PRESS PARIS — Nov 25, 2016, 2:47 PM ET

Police on Friday arrested a suspect in the fatal knife attack on a woman at a retirement home for Catholic missionaries in southern France after a vast manhunt, authorities said.

The 47-year-old suspect — with no apparent links to Islamist extremism — was arrested about 100 meters (yards) from his home in a town not far from the scene of the attack on Thursday night, a gendarmerie press official said.

The official said reports that the suspect was a former member of the French military had not yet been confirmed, adding that investigators had uncovered information that contradicted a past military link. The suspect was not identified by name in keeping with French custom.

A masked intruder tied up two women at the retirement home for former missionaries in Africa. One of the women managed to call police, who found the victim, a 54-year-old employee, bound and tied up outside the building with three stab wounds, prosecutor Christophe Barret told a news conference before the arrest.

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