A man has been arrested and charged with the murder of Cathy Dubois (47), a Walloon restaurant owner whose body was found in the Scheldt River after she went missing over the Easter weekend.
The man, born in 1983 and originally from Lessines (Hainaut province), was charged and placed under arrest warrant on Tuesday morning, the Mons-Tournai Public Prosecutor's Office said. The charges against him are theft, with murder as an aggravating circumstance.
Dubois, owner and chef of her restaurant 'Une P'tite Envie' in the centre of Tournai, was killed during the Easter weekend. Her body was found in the waters of the Scheldt River just before the Kain lock.
The suspect, who was arrested on Sunday, confessed to some of the facts. He said that he did mean to kill her, but the investigating judge considered that there was enough evidence to say that the death was caused voluntarily.
Reclassified as murder
The investigation initially found that Dubois had received numerous blows, and suffered several head injuries as well as a broken nose. The autopsy revealed she had been "the victim of serious violence, which led to her death."
The suspect, who suffers from drug addiction, is known to the authorities: he had previously been arrested by the police for acts of violence. He had also previously been incarcerated and was released from prison in 2022.
According to the Public Prosecutor, the suspect came across his victim by chance, after spotting what he called "a wealthy person." He allegedly followed Dubois by car until the victim's vehicle stopped and robbed her. Afterwards, he threw Dubois' unconscious body into the Scheldt River.
While the initial investigation classified the case as manslaughter last week, the authorities reclassified it as murder after details of the violent attack came to light.
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On Tuesday, the Public Prosecutor indicated that the suspect is not homeless (as Francophone media previously reported) but has a "fixed residence in the Lessines region, where he has a job as well."
He also underlined the speed of the investigation, which led to the rapid arrest of the suspect, mainly thanks to images from urban cameras and cameras from local businesses. "Cathy Dubois unfortunately found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Without a change, the procedure must end in the Assize Court," he stressed, but also added that the procedure is far from over. "Many grey areas must be clarified. We are in for weeks or even months of investigation. There will be a reconstruction to see if the suspect's statements correspond to the elements collected by the police."
