Murder of British mother in France investigated as grudge killing

NZ Herald

04-05-2025

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, local time, a squad of nine gendarmes and a plain-clothed officer were seen scouring for a potential murder weapon in a coppice almost a kilometre from Carter's farmhouse.
A 69-year-old woman from the village was arrested on Thursday, local time, 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 head teacher of the local school while embarking on a serial-killing spree of young women in the village.
On the sun-baked gravel outside 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 hint at the life she had enjoyed in the Dordogne region.
Demain, nous jouerons pour toi 🩷 👑 ⚽️... Posted by Les Reines du Foot on Friday 2 May 2025
Carter was an amateur footballer for Les Reines du Foot (The Queens of Football), a local team for women aged over 50.
Today, the club's Instagram account released a collage of pictures in tribute to Carter, who wore the No 12 jersey and played in midfield.
'Today, we are playing for you,' the club said in a statement.
Guerrier is still deeply affected by 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 Carter, who had been married to her South African husband Alan for 30 years, was in a romantic relationship with Guerrier.
The English-speaking woman, who declined to give her name, was parked near the murder scene this 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 Guerrier's relationship with 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 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', 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 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 [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 have 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.'