Convicted ’Horror Mason’ Killer Dies in French Prison at 44

Incarcerated in Lannemezan, Fouad Sellam fell ill following the Covid-19 vaccination. Subjected to tests, he was diagnosed with cancer (adenocarcinoma) which took him away two weeks later. His remains were repatriated to Morocco where he was buried, according to La Dépêche. The Moroccan was serving a heavy sentence as co-author of the murder of Jocelyne Fernandez (59) and Jean-Claude Saint-Aubert (62), a retired couple, which occurred in April 2008 in Argeliers.

The couple from Moselle had acquired a house in the city and were in the process of renovating it. They had called on the services of Jean Barthélémy Rathqueber, a mason, who is the employer of Fouad Sellam. On April 4, 2008, the two convicted men kidnapped the couple to extort money from them, before murdering them. The husband was killed by five gunshots and blows with stones, in Cruzy in the Hérault. His body was found with a shattered skull. His wife, on the other hand, was killed with blows from a shovel, then beheaded, a little further away.

Nicknamed the "horror masons", Jean-Barthélémy Rathqueber and Fouad Sellam were convicted on January 19, 2012 by the Aude Assize Court for the kidnapping, sequestration, and murder of the two retirees. During the hearing, the defendants mutually blamed each other, but the court was able to distinguish a principal offender and a co-author. Thus, Jean-Barthélémy Rathqueber, 36, was sentenced to life imprisonment with 22 years of security, and his employee and co-author, Fouad Sellam, 34, to 30 years in prison, including 18 years of security.

Fouad Sellam, the father of a child, was an alcoholic and on parole at the time of the events. During his detention in Lannemezan, he adopted a new lifestyle. "This man has made a long journey in detention," explains Maître Poilpré of the Montpellier bar. "He was sober and expressed his deep regrets towards the family. He became aware of the suffering and understood the pain of the victims’ loved ones. He said he felt what he had done by thinking of his own father. On several occasions, he said he was shocked. He was traumatized," his lawyer, Me Poilpré of the Montpellier bar, confided.