French authorities have arrested a couple after the bodies of five infants were discovered in cardboard boxes in their home in Orange, a town in the southeastern Provence region. The discovery was made on Monday.
The day before the bodies were found, the 32-year-old woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy at home. She was subsequently taken to a hospital. According to local media reports, this was the third time the woman had denied being pregnant. However, after experiencing abdominal pain, she sought medical attention.
While the woman was at the hospital, her husband reportedly discovered the five infant bodies inside cardboard boxes that the couple had been arguing about. An investigating source described the remains as decomposing and having been there for a considerable time. The husband then contacted the police.
The couple, who have not been named for legal reasons, also have two children aged eight and nine, who have been placed with relatives. The newborn infant was taken into the care of social services, the prosecutor's office stated. Medical examinations are expected to determine the exact nature of the remains and the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
Neighbors described the couple as "charming people" who had moved into the building approximately two years prior. They noted that the woman would pick up her children from school for lunch and that the man worked a regular job.
This case has drawn comparisons to the Dominique Cottrez case. In 2015, Cottrez was convicted of infanticide for killing eight of her newborn children and hiding their bodies over nearly two decades. She was sentenced to nine years in prison. More recently, in March, a woman was jailed for 25 years for the deaths of two of her newborns, whose bodies were found in a family freezer. In 2018, another woman received an eight-year sentence for drowning five of her newborns and freezing their bodies.
