Dordogne murder investigated as a grudge killing

Telegraph

03-05-2025

French authorities believe a killer with a grudge may be behind the savage murder of a British woman in a French medieval village.
Karen Carter, 65, was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack on Tuesday near the front porch of the gite she rented to holidaymakers in Tremolat.
The mother of four was found sprawled on the ground next to her car with eight serious stab wounds over her 'chest, groin, arm and leg' by a male friend with whom she had attended a wine-tasting only 10 minutes beforehand.
Jean-Francois Guerrier, a wealthy 74-year-old local businessman, who found Mrs Carter and was said to have been in a relationship with her in the weeks before the attack, was questioned by police but also quickly released without charge.
French authorities are focusing their efforts on anyone who intimately knew the pair and 'may have been after' either one or both of them, said Sylvie Martins-Guedes, the prosecutor leading the investigation.
On Saturday afternoon a squad of nine gendarmes and a plain-clothed officer were seen scouring for a potential murder weapon in a coppice approximately half-a-mile from Mrs Carter's farmhouse.
A 69-year-old woman from the village was arrested on Thursday but released without charge two days later after police examined her schedule.
The savagery of the attack in a commune of only 600 people that has seen no serious crime in nearly half a century has left friends and neighbours perplexed.
One neighbour highlighted the disturbing similarity between the events of this week and the plot of a 1970 psychological thriller titled 'The Butcher', which was filmed in Tremolat.
Written and directed by Claude Chabrol, the French New Wave film tells the story of a young butcher who falls in love with the headteacher of the local school while embarking on a serial-killing spree of young women in the village.
On the sun-baked gravel outside Mrs Carter's farmhouse on Route de Soulaleve, the bloodstains were still visible.
A blue-and-white football and a covered hot tub in the garden hints at the life she had enjoyed in the Dordogne.
Mrs Carter was an amateur footballer for Les Reines du Foot (The Queens of Football), a local team for women aged over 50.
On Saturday, the club's Instagram account released a collage of pictures in tribute to Mrs Carter, who wore the number 12 jersey and played in midfield.
'Today we are playing for you,' they said in a statement.
Mr Guerrier is still deeply affected by Mrs Carter's death, according to those who know him. 'He does not want to say anything, but is fine,' said a young British woman living at his home.
A close friend of the victim adamantly rejected suggestions that Mrs Carter, who had been married to her South African husband Alan for 30 years, was in a romantic relationship with Mr Guerrier.
The English-speaking woman, who declined to give her name, was parked near the murder scene on Saturday morning.
Speaking through the driver's window, she told journalists: 'Karen was a wonderful person, she was one of my best friends, and it's just horrific and nobody knows why or whatever.
'She had no feud with anybody. Everybody loved Karen, she was fantastic.'
When asked about the extent of Mr Guerrier's relationship with Mrs Carter, she curtly replied 'they were just friends' and drove off declining to answer further questions.
But a British expatriate, originally from Kent, who did not wish to be named, said that he believed that Mrs Carter had started a new relationship.
'I have known Karen for a while, she seemed to be fully in control of her life, a strong businesswoman who had an air of authority about her.'
He added that 'by all accounts' Mrs Carter was very happy in her new relationship but kept it quiet and was very modest.
'Crime of passion'
Martine, a retired Belgian expatriate who lives a few doors away from Mrs Carter, said the murder could have been a 'crime of passion'.
Speaking just outside her farmhouse as her husband carried out repair work in the background, said: 'A tragedy for her [Mrs Carter]. A love story. It's a crime of passion.'
Asked if it was possibly a burglary gone wrong, she puffed out her cheeks and replied 'no'.
'From one o'clock in the afternoon [yesterday] until eight o'clock, the road was blocked, the five or six gendarmes were carrying out a crime reconstruction with the magistrate,' she added.
Neighbours and business owners are uncowed by the prospect of a killer still at large.
'I'm not afraid at all,' Jean-Francois remarked as he stood in the front garden while his son played behind him.
'There is never any crime, this is the first time in 45 years.'
Another woman, who gave her name as Sylvie, guffawed with laughter when asked if Tremolat had a crime problem.
'Not to my knowledge, this is the first, I hope.'
Estelle Lepers, co-owner of Le Vieux Logis, a Michelin-starred restaurant and hotel in the centre of the village, said: 'You could leave your bag in a field and three days later it will still be there.
Gesturing to the chateau's panelled doors, which has welcomed British chefs Keith Floyd and Rick Stein, she said: 'My door is still open.
'It hasn't changed this is really so incredible that this kind of thing has happened. You cannot stop living your life.
'It's so safe here, too safe, so we can't imagine that kind of thing happening. People are just waiting for the end of this story, that's it.'