The disembodied murder trial that shocked France ended with 38-year-old painter and decorator Cédric Jubillar being convicted of his wife’s murder.
Jubillar maintained his innocence during the four-week trial, but a jury found him guilty and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
During four weeks of hearings in the southern city of Albi, the defense argued that his wife Delphine’s body was never found, and it was not certain that a crime had been committed.
But a jury of six civilians and three magistrates ruled that even without the body there was enough circumstantial evidence to conclude that Jubillar was guilty of murder.
Prosecutors had sought a 30-year sentence, and Jubillar’s lawyers said they would appeal.
“We respect the jury’s decision,” said defense attorney Alexandre Martin. “Of course we are disappointed, but we knew there would be a second battle and we would come back to this appeal.
“Delphine was killed by her husband’s hands,” said Laurent Boguet, who plays the couple’s two children. Now Jubillar had to “tell where his wife’s remains are and return them to the family.”
Jubillar’s lawyers Alexandre Martin (L) and Emmanuelle Franck were shocked by the verdict [LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP]
The central mystery of his wife’s missing body has kept the case hotly followed in the news and on social media since it broke five years ago. Internet sleuths abounded, much to the chagrin of police and families, spreading theories about what happened.
That night from 2020 December 15 on the 16th, in the middle of the Covid pandemic, 33-year-old Delphine Jubillar disappeared from the house in Cagnac-les-Mines, where the couple lived with their two children, aged six and 18 months.
Cédric Jubillar contacted the police at around 04:00 on December 16 and reported that he was awakened by the crying of his younger child and discovered that his wife was missing.
Police and neighbors conducted an extensive search of the local area, including a number of abandoned mines, but the body was never found.
The court heard during the trial how Cédric and Delphine’s relationship had soured. She filed for divorce and started an affair with a man she met on chat line.
According to the prosecution, on the night of her disappearance, she told Cédric Jubillar for the first time that she had taken a lover. This led to an argument during which the neighbor heard Delphine’s screams and then killed her, probably by strangulation.
Jubillar was then told that her body was dumped somewhere in a nearby village that he knew well.
A poster of Delphine Jubillar was displayed on the wall some time after her death [CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP]
The main piece of evidence was that Delphine’s car was parked on the street outside facing the opposite way she normally parked, indicating that he used it at night.
Other key elements were:
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broken Delphine glasses in living room
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The lack of steps recorded on Jubillar’s phone’s pedometer, although he said he was looking for his wife
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and their son Louis’ statement about his parents’ argument taking place “between the couch and the Christmas tree”.
Psychological evaluations showed that Jubillar is a reckless character with a difficult childhood who smoked marijuana daily, worked hard and only thought about personal satisfaction.
He is said to have shown little concern about Delphine’s disappearance – for example, withdrawing money from her bank account some time later.
Cédric Jubillar’s mother, who recalled him telling her when she first heard Delphine wanted a divorce, said: “I’ve had enough. I’ll kill her and bury her and they’ll never find her.”
Jubillar’s defense attorney, Emmanuelle Franck, said that this was nothing more than speculation and that the defendant’s habits and attitude could not be considered as signs of criminal responsibility.
“Courts don’t convict bad actors. They convict the guilty,” she said.
According to the defense, there were alternative explanations for all the circumstantial evidence. They said witnesses were coached by investigators to support a theory of guilt.
They argued that in any ordinary crime of passion, tell-tale signs of blood or evidence of cleansing were left at the scene. However, all this was not in the Jubilee House.
His lawyers said all the details of Cédric Jubillar’s behavior told in court were irrelevant: his use of pornography, the panda pajamas with ears and tail he was wearing when the police arrived and his son Louis sitting on Lego blocks as punishment.
“Or [Cédric] is a criminal genius or he’s a bit of an idiot – it’s up to you to decide,” said Emmanuelle Franck.
The defense offered no alternative explanation for Delphine’s disappearance.
Convictions for murder without a body are rare because it is difficult to prove the existence of a crime. However, this happens because many jurisdictions conclude that circumstantial evidence alone can constitute evidence.
In France, jurors must have an “intimate belief” that a crime has been committed in order to convict, a concept that is vague in the law. If more than two of the nine jurors disagree, the defendant is found not guilty.