Father Seeks Release in 1987 Cold Case Murder of 4-Year-Old Daughter Found on A10 Highway

After an unsuccessful first attempt a few months ago, Ahmed Touloub yesterday requested his release before the investigation chamber of the Orléans Court of Appeal. The 65-year-old is the father of Inass, the 4-year-old girl whose mutilated and lifeless body was discovered on August 11, 1987. He and his wife Halima, 67, were arrested on June 12, 2018 and placed in custody. The couple was then indicted, in particular for "concealment of a corpse and habitual violence against a minor under 15 years of age," reports La République du Centre.

Last December 13, as part of his request for release before the Orléans Court of Appeal during a closed-door hearing, the sexagenarian had declared "to have lived in hell with his wife, who was violent with him and his three daughters." An argument that the court did not take into account in keeping him in prison.

Indeed, Ahmed Touloub claims that on August 10, 1987, he discovered Inass’s lifeless body at his home. The next morning, while the family was going on vacation to Morocco, "out of cowardice," he agreed to get rid of the child’s body, wrapped in a blanket, in a ditch along the motorway. "The unfortunate victim, whose face was swollen, bore traces of bites and burns from an iron," the media describes.

At the end of 2016, the arrest of Inass’s brother, involved in a case of violence, revealed that his DNA showed obvious common signs with the genetic fingerprints found on the child’s clothes. This allowed the investigators to identify the girl’s parents and apprehend them.

The same source reports that despite this progress, the investigation is ongoing and it is not obvious that "the trial of Halima and Ahmed Touloub will not take place for many months."