Bodies buried in a garden, traces of violent blows, suspect arrested in Calais… what we know about the young couple killed in Normandy

The suspect involved in the double homicide in Saint-Martin-aux-Chartrains, in Calvados, was arrested on the night of Friday 24 to Saturday 25 January 2025, in Pas-de-Calais. While trying to escape a police check, he crashed his vehicle into a wall. Here's an update.

His name and face have been on the Wanted Persons File (FPR) since Thursday, as has his vehicle registration.

A 34-year-old man from Normandy was actively sought by 160 gendarmes from Calvados and Seine-Maritime after the discovery of the buried bodies of a couple in the garden of the house he shares with his mother, in Saint-Martin-aux-Chartrains, a village in the Pays d’Auge located five kilometers north of Pont-l’Évêque.

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Suspect arrested in Calais

It was in Calais that he was finally arrested at 1:40 a.m. on the night of Friday to Saturday. According to Ouest-France, “he was driving with all his lights off in Coquelles, a sector of Pas-de-Calais frequented by illegal immigrants looking for a truck to cross into England”.

On seeing a border police patrol, the driver suddenly turned around, a maneuver that attracted the attention of the officers, who gave chase.

A few hundred meters further on, “he lost control of his vehicle, which hit a wall”, indicates the prosecutor of the Caen Republic, Joël Garrigue, in a press release. “Intoxicated and seriously injured, he was taken into custody in hospital.”

The weapon used has not yet been found

The suspect's condition being compatible with an interrogation, investigators from the Caen Research Section were able to question him at the end of the afternoon. Other police officers inspected his car, but the weapon he allegedly used in Calvados was not found, according to information from our colleagues.

“At the end of his police custody, he will be the subject of an arrest warrant in order to organize his appearance before the investigating judge […] depending on how his state of health develops”, specified the prosecutor of Caen, who had opened a judicial investigation for murder.

The couple found buried in the suspect's garden

The investigation is continuing to elucidate the circumstances of the double homicide against Maëva Gazé and Martin Delamare, a young couple aged 20 from Trouville. The autopsy carried out on 24 January 2025 revealed “traces of violent blows to the face” and a gunshot wound to the young man's head.

The body of his partner also showed traces of blows. The couple was found partially buried in the garden of the suspect, who was known for a history of violence and heavy drug use.