Ex-French police officer held in Portugal over killing of two women

A 42-year-old former French police officer is suspected of killing two women whose bodies were found buried in the Serra da Nogueira, in Bragança, on Wednesday. The victims are the suspect’s former partner and current partner, and he was arrested in Portugal.

Cédric Prizzon had been wanted by the French authorities for four days when he was stopped on Tuesday during a GNR roadside check on the Estrada Nacional 102, in Mêda, in the district of Guarda. He was ultimately arrested on charges of document forgery and illegal possession of a firearm.

Also travelling in the vehicle were the suspect’s two young children, aged 13 and 18 months, who were found safe and taken into care.

After Prizzon was taken into custody, GNR officers discovered, by running his name, that he was being sought by the French authorities on suspicion of abducting his children, his former partner and his current partner.

“Following the operation, and in the course of subsequent enquiries carried out by the same officers, it was established that the detainee was listed as a suspect in serious offences, namely abduction and other very serious criminal acts, including suspected homicide. In this context, the Judicial Police were immediately contacted,” the GNR said in a statement.

According to the French news agency AFP, the two women were reported missing last Friday in Aveyron, in the south of France. The alarm was raised by a relative of Cédric Prizzon’s former partner, who found it strange that she had not gone to work and that the child had not turned up at school, and that neither of them could be reached.

Eldest son of suspect is believed to have provided information

It was reportedly the former French police officer’s eldest son who provided information that led the Portuguese authorities to the Serra da Nogueira, in Bragança, where the bodies were buried, SIC (source in Portuguese) reported. The women had been buried more than 150 kilometres from the spot where the suspect was stopped by the GNR.

Sources quoted by AFP indicated that officers from the Toulouse gendarmerie – the French military police force based in the city of Toulouse – could travel to Portugal in the coming hours. The investigation is being led by the Montpellier public prosecutor’s office.

The suspect was unemployed, according to French media, and as well as being a former police officer he was also a rugby player. It is known that he had lost custody of his children and that, in 2021, he had already travelled illegally to Spain with his eldest son, where they stayed for several weeks. He has also been convicted of domestic violence against his former partner.

On social media, Cédric Prizzon described himself as a content creator and frequently claimed that his eldest son was in danger.

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