Cagnac-les-Mines (France) (AFP) – After the surprise confession of Cédric Jubillar who admitted at the beginning of July to having killed his wife Delphine Aussaguel, justice will proceed on Friday in Tarn with a new reconstruction of the night of the events, put in the necessary situation for the appeal trial in the spring.

Published on: 09/30/2026 - 1:18 p.m.

Ordered by the investigating judge appointed to carry out the additional information following the confessions of the 39-year-old accused, this new act of investigation aims "to verify whether his new statements are compatible with the elements of the file", declared to AFP Chantal Ferreira, first president of the court of appeal of Toulouse.

After five and a half years of denials, the painter-plasterer finally admitted at the beginning of the summer to having killed his wife, nine months after being sentenced on October 17, 2025 to 30 years of criminal imprisonment by the Tarn Assize Court for a murder that he still denied.

He admitted to the courts that he had strangled her during an argument that occurred in their house in Cagnac-les-Mines (Tarn), the night of December 15 to 16, 2020.

He subsequently told investigators that he had hidden the body on the edge of a field about ten kilometers from their home and searches led to the discovery of bones, the analysis of which confirmed that they were indeed those of the missing woman, a 33-year-old nurse.

Excavations resumed Wednesday morning in the same area to try to find other bones.

Friday, from 9:30 a.m., the reconstruction must first lead the investigating judge and the investigators to the Jubillar home, where the accused will have to explain and show in situ how he killed his wife.

This will involve trying to answer the questions: “Is he really telling the truth when he says that the scene happened in the kitchen, standing up?” and “is it consistent with the material elements of the file?”, detailed Ms. Ferreira.

In front of the unfinished house, the scene of the crime, the brush and tall grass which had invaded the garden below the house were recently cut down to facilitate circulation on Friday, an AFP journalist noted at the start of the week.

The investigators will then take the road to reach the place where Mr. Jubillar declared having hidden the body of Delphine Aussaguel, a plot of field located in the commune of Mailhoc. He claimed that he remembered on the night of the murder having seen "as part of a construction site", "mounds of soil" in this place, and having then decided to hide his wife's body there.

For the purposes of reconstruction, piles of soil were placed on this plot near the trees which line one of its sides, while red and white plastic tape, attached to barriers, demarcates the area, we can see on site.

The Tarn gendarmerie indicated that it had mobilized around 150 agents, including two squadrons of mobile gendarmes, to “secure” this second reconstitution, the first having taken place on December 13, 2022.

Spontaneous or premeditated gesture?

The main issue for the latter, now that Cédric Jubillar has admitted his guilt, is to try to determine whether his action was spontaneous or prepared, to enlighten the jurors on his sentence at the end of his appeal trial scheduled in Toulouse from April 30 to May 14. He faces life imprisonment.

Mr. Jubillar's lawyers could not be contacted when contacted. On the side of the civil parties, "the Aussaguel family takes note of the holding of a reconstruction which indeed seems necessary to move towards the truth", declared to AFP Me Laurent de Caunes, lawyer for Delphine's brothers and sister.

“She remains vigilant and trusts Justice” and “counts on the respect due to Delphine’s memory,” he added.

Questioned by AFP, Me Philippe Pressecq, lawyer for a cousin of the victim, for his part regrets that the reconstruction is done during the day, believing that "what happened outside must be done at night, that's obvious."

“Jubillar and his lawyers believe that the file has disappeared and that there is nothing left but the confessions,” he said, judging that, even if they help to establish his guilt, they do not correspond to the findings of the investigators.

For the lawyer, Cédric Jubillar therefore continues to tell “lies” about what happened on the night of the tragedy and he must be confronted about it.

© 2026 AFP

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