French police on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of killing his wife and four children in the early hours of Christmas Day, according to a report. Reuters. The bodies were found this Monday evening in an apartment in the town of Meaux, 40 km northeast of Paris.
Local prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier said the mother and two daughters were stabbed so many times that it was impossible to determine how many times they were stabbed. The two youngest children in the family apparently suffocated or drowned.
Police detained the 33-year-old father of the children at home in a nearby town this Monday evening. The prosecutor’s office opened a murder case.
The children ranged in age from 9 months to 10 years. Neighbors told investigators they heard screams early on Christmas morning. The alarm was raised at the end of the day without receiving a response from the family.
According to the prosecutor, the husband had a mental illness. In 2019, he attacked his wife with a knife. She did not press charges and the case was dropped.