A gruesome discovery of bones beneath a concrete terrace in Liège province has pushed a woman to confess to the killing of her husband eight years ago.
Farid B. lived with his wife, Éloïse, and their four-year-old son in their home in Cheratte, in the municipality of Visé, Liège province, when he first disappeared in 2018.
The Basse-Meuse police zone was informed of his disappearance, and the theory at the time was that B., who had grown up in Belgium with a German mother, had left Belgium for Algeria to reconnect with his father's roots.
No public search notice was issued, and as the years passed, there was no sign of B. or his whereabouts; his family was left without answers about what had exactly happened.
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When the file arrived at the cold case unit of Liège's Federal Judicial Police (PFJ), it was re-examined like other older cold cases that can now benefit from advances in forensic and scientific methods.
Then, on 3 July, things took a major turn when detectives searched the property in Visé, where B.'s partner and son had continued to live.
Human remains were discovered when the concrete slabs behind the house were lifted, believed to form part of the foundations of the terrace.
Forensic examinations subsequently confirmed the remains were those of B. They have since been returned to his family.
According to Sudinfo, detectives learned that construction work on the concrete had been carried out at the property around the same time B. disappeared, prompting them to search beneath.
Police detained and questioned Éloïse after the discovery. She allegedly confessed to killing her husband but denied it had been premeditated. Until today, it remains unclear how B. was killed.
The Liège council chamber has confirmed that Éloïse is now placed in pre-trial detention; her lawyer refused to comment to Sudinfo while the investigation is ongoing.
His family's lawyers told Sudinfo that the discovery had come as a major shock to B.'s relatives, but had also brought some relief after years of not knowing what happened to him.
Numerous investigative steps remain underway as police seek to establish the circumstances surrounding B.'s death.
