A village café that may hold the key to finding the killer of a British woman in south west France has reopened – exactly a month after the savage murder.
Karen Carter, 65 and a married mother of four, was found dead outside her home in Trémolat, east of Bordeaux, following a night out with friends on April 29th.
The Café Village, where she worked part time behind the bar along with an alleged secret lover, was immediately ‘shut indefinitely’.
Investigators leading the investigation feared that someone who held a grudge against Ms Carter – or ‘the new couple’ she was forming with Jean-François Guerrier, 74 – may have come to know her at the hugely popular social centre.
Yet – despite the killer not being caught and locals fearing he or she may have ‘strong connections’ with the café – it was back in business last week.
‘Regular opening’ resumed on May 28th, according to management, with events including pop music concerts and quiz nights.
Mr Guerrier, who was president of the community association which ran the Café Village, was arrested and questioned at length following the murder, before being released without charge.
It was Mr Guerrier who found Ms Carter outside her home, covered with stab wounds, before failing to revive her.
He confirmed Ms Carter had spent the night at a ‘wine tasting evening’ at his house, but failed to telephone him when she got home, and so he went to investigate.
In December, Ms Carter was filming dancing with Mr Guerrier at the Café Village, to Gloria Gaynor’s disco anthem, I Will Survive.
In turn, Ms Carter’s 65-year-old husband, Alan Carter, who spends most of his time in South Africa, said he was unaware of their relationship.
He said he knew nothing about it until it was publicly announced by the French authorities, saying he had ‘a feeling of complete betrayal.’
Despite the enquiry into Ms Carter’s death being upgraded to a full-blown murder enquiry earlier this month, there is a still no sign of the killer – or the murder weapon used.
This has led prosecutors to believe that it was a meticulously planned crime, carried out by someone who knew Ms Carter.
He or she lay in wait, they believe, and took care to avoid leaving forensic evidence, before using ‘unspeakable violence’ against the defenceless Ms Carter, according an investigating source.
‘It certainly could have been someone who knew the victim from the Café Village, or a contract killer acting on their behalf,’ the source added.
Despite searches in the area, and two arrests including of Mr Guerrier, no serious suspect has yet emerged.
Bergerac prosecutors opened the initial investigation, without focusing on a single motive.
They confirmed that Ms Carter suffered eight severe stab wounds, and said she could have died because of ‘a grudge’ against her and Mr Guerrier, motivated by their secret affair.
Frustrated with the lack of progress, prosecutors announced in early May that a ‘judicial investigation into murder’ was being opened.
This meant that an instructing judge in Périgueux had stronger powers to interview people, to request documents, and to liaise with overseas authorities.
Ms Carter had British and South African nationality, and her husband was at their home in East London, South Africa, at the time of the killing.
He arrived in Trémolat soon afterwards, and visited the scene of the suspected murder, before organising his wife’s funeral, which took place in Bergerac earlier this month.
Mr Guerrier has meanwhile declined to speak at length, saying: ‘Karen was a lovely lady, but I can’t answer any more questions at the moment.’
He has confirmed hosting a party at his converted farmhouse, close to the village, just before Ms Carter’s death.
She left the wind-tasting evening at 10pm, and had promised to phone Mr Guerrier when she got home.
Concerned when he heard nothing, Mr Guerrier, a former managing director of Fujitsu Services who worked in Britain at one point, drove to check on her, and found her body sprawled on the driveway of the property she ran as a rental business.
Despite attempts to save her, Ms Carter died from severe blood loss, after being stabbed in the chest, groin, arm and leg, according to an autopsy.
Police also initially arrested a neighbour of Mrs Carter, 69-year-old Marie Laure Autefort, but released her when she was able to provide an alibi.
Her brother, Philippe Monribot, said she was infatuated with Mr Guerrier – but he insisted she was not capable of killing Mrs Carter.
‘My sister is innocent. She is devastated by what has happened,’ said Mr Monribot.
Ms Carter had lived in the Dordogne for more than a decade, and was a member of a women’s over-50s football team called the Queens of Football (Reines du Foot)
Joëlle Mayer, who worked part time with Ms Carter at the Café Village, said: ‘She was a charming, relaxed person, happy to be alive, smiling, and loved by everyone here.
‘The town has a very active community life, and she was part of it. She participated in all the activities of the community café.’
Ms Mayer added that her friend was ‘secretive and reserved about her private life.’