Convicted Frenchman Admits Killing Wife and Offers to Lead Police to Remains

Cédric Jubillar, 38, has admitted in a letter to his lawyers that he killed his wife Delphine at their home in southern France in December 2020. He also promised to lead investigators to the location where he disposed of her remains. Jubillar was convicted of murder last year and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

His appeal had been scheduled to open in two months. Pierre Debuisson, who took over as his lawyer after the trial, said at a Monday news conference that Jubillar told him a few weeks earlier, "I need to tell you the truth. " Jubillar said he killed Delphine after another marital row and used his car to move the body that evening, Debuisson added.

The case began when Jubillar contacted police at 04:00 local time on 16 December 2020 to report his wife missing. Delphine, then 33 and a night nurse at a clinic near Cagnac-les-Mines in the Tarn department, had two children aged six and 18 months. The couple had discussed divorce, and Delphine was in a relationship with a man she met online.

Jubillar smoked cannabis daily and held few steady jobs. Police and residents searched the countryside around Cagnac-les-Mines, including disused mineshafts. Delphine's body was never found. Jubillar was placed under investigation and detained in mid-2021.

Malika Chmani, the lawyer representing the two children, said: "We are relieved for the children. Now he needs to tell us where the body is. I think that is what is going to happen now.