The location where the four bodies were found in the Seine, at Choisy-le-Roi in the southeastern Paris suburbs, on August 14, 2025. BERTRAND GUAY/AFP
One week after the discovery, on August 13, of four bodies in the Seine River at Choisy-le-Roi in the Paris suburbs, the investigation took a significant step forward with the arrest of a suspect on Wednesday, August 20. "A man was taken into custody this morning on suspicion for multiple murders at the headquarters of the criminal brigade of the Paris judicial police," the Créteil prosecutor's office told Le Monde. The arrest was first reported by Le Parisien.
The charge for which the suspect was taken into custody, "multiple murders," means that the suspect is suspected of having committed several separate murders in succession, without being convicted of one in between – in which case it would be considered recidivism. The maximum length of custody in these cases is 96 hours. The Créteil prosecutor's office, which stated that it "will not comment further on this case at this time," did not disclose how many murders the suspect was being questioned for.
The arrest marked a significant breakthrough in what had been a mysterious criminal investigation. On Wednesday, August 13, a passerby saw a body floating near the Choisy-le-Roi bridge and immediately alerted emergency services. While inspecting the area, police, firefighters and the river police discovered four submerged bodies.
