French police arrested a man suspected of murdering a mother and her four children discovered dead at home on Christmas Day, as per a law enforcement source on Tuesday.
The authorities found the bodies of the woman and her children—aged nine months, four, seven, and 10 years old—within their flat in Meaux, situated east of Paris, on Monday evening, the AFP reported.
This discovery followed concerned relatives raising an alarm, disclosed local prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier.
According to reports, police sources confirmed the main suspect’s detention in the nearby town of Sevran, noting that the flat showed no signs of forced entry, and the father of the child was not at home at the time of the incident.
The 35-year-old mother and her children were said to have been slain using “a cold weapon.” AFP, quoting an unnamed source, said that authorities had been seeking a 33-year-old man.
The Versailles judicial police service initiated an inquiry into “premeditated murder.”
Notably, the Paris region has witnessed a series of infanticides recently. Towards the end of November, a 41-year-old man admitted to the killing of his three daughters—aged four to 11—and surrendered himself.
Authorities discovered their deceased bodies within his residence in Alfortville, located in the southeastern outskirts of the capital.
In an incident a month earlier, in October, a gendarme murdered his three daughters before taking his own life at his dwelling in Vemars, northeast of the capital.
On average, France witnesses the killing of a woman every three days. Last year, approximately 118 women fell victim to homicide by their partner or former partner in France.
