A FRENCHWOMAN has admitted killing her partner, a retired chef, and preserving his body in a freezer for two years in France’s gastronomic capital, Lyon.
Guylene Collober, 51, confessed to fatally punching her 71-year-old companion Jean-Francois Poinard, in November 2008, prosecutor Marc Desert told a news conference today.
She had earlier claimed that her boyfriend could have been killed by racketeers. Mr Desert described Ms Collober as a person with “pathological tendencies, narcissistic, possessive and violent”. “She isolated her partner from his friends, his family, the neighbours,” he said, adding that the victim was often seen in the neighbourhood sporting bruises and other marks.
Poinard – who has been described by food critics as one of the “great names” in gastronomy – was found in the foetal position, covered with plastic bags. Mr Desert said that he died after “an altercation turned awry”. Ms Collober, who has been placed under custody, reportedly left his body in the bath for a few days before acquiring a freezer where she dumped his body.
Ms Collober, 51, allegedly told her daughter “something unfortunate” had happened to him. She is said to have made the revelation to her daughter during a night out. Her daughter told police, who subsequently found the chef’s body at the apartment. Ms Collober is alleged to have collapsed in tears when officers arrived, saying: “I think you’ll find what you’re looking for.”
A police spokesman said an autopsy was due to take place to establish the cause of the famed chef’s death. “An initial examination suggests the body could have been there for up to two years,” the spokesman said. Ms Collober was taken into custody and charged with hiding a body. Possible further charges depend on the autopsy findings, the spokesman said.
Poinard was a famous chef in the 1970s and 80s and ran a series of restaurants in Lyon.
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