Alexia Daval (29) was reported missing by her husband Jonathann on October 28, 2017. He said the previous evening she’d gone out jogging, as she usually did, and hadn’t come back.
Jonathann Daval was the poster image of the distraught husband. He gave tearful speeches in front of the cameras, flanked by Alexia’s concerned parents, begged whoever had taken his wife to come forward and organized searches for her. France was gripped by the tragedy, joining Jonathann in his grief over his missing wife.
The search didn’t go on for long. On October 30, Alexia’s body was found in the woods near her home in Gray-la-ville, a commune in eastern France. Her identity had to be confirmed through DNA, because the body had been badly burned. An autopsy showed it was likely she had been beaten and strangled, and burned to hide evidence.
After an exhaustive investigation and over 200 people questioned, police felt sure enough that despite his tears, Jonathann was behind the murder. When he’d reported Alexia missing, invesigators had noticed the scratches and bite marks in his hands. He admitted that before going jogging, he and Alexia had a violent argument. Eventually, he confessed to the murder, saying it had been an accident and he hadn’t meant to kill her. He left her body in the woods, but denied burning the body, so some people suspect he didn’t act alone, although he has insisted he did. Alexia’s parents, for instance, were saying they wanted a DNA comparison to a man who killed himself in January, thinking he might be involved.
Jonathann’s defense lawyer tried to subtly place the blame on the victim, acknowledging there were “strong tensions” in the relationship and that his client had suffered “verbal violence” from his wife. He said: “Alexia had an overbearing personality, so he felt diminished, stifled.” He added these things had made it unable for him to control himself during their final, fatal fight.
This statement enraged the minister for gender equality in France, Marlene Schiappa, who wisely said: “By saying that, you legitimise femicide, you legitimise the fact that every three days, a woman is killed by her partner, and I find it extremely dangerous to relay that. It’s not a row, it’s not a crime of passion, it’s a murder. We must stop playing down conjugal violence, stop trying to find excuses. Nothing, nothing justifies beating one’s wife or partner.”
