Overview
- Early on Wednesday May 20, emergency teams found the bodies of a 38-year-old mother and three of her children at the base of a 13th-floor block in the Pontcarral district of Toulon.
- The public prosecutor opened an inquiry for 'meurtres par ascendant' to establish the precise circumstances and has sent the bodies to the Marseille forensic institute for autopsy and toxicology tests.
- Investigators say initial evidence points to the mother having jumped with the three children and that there is currently no sign of third-party involvement; the suicide hypothesis is being favoured.
- Authorities report the mother may have recently shown psychiatric or depressive symptoms, a detail described by the prosecutor as unconfirmed pending medical and forensic results.
- The four older children were placed in care and are receiving psychological support, and local officials have set up a neighbourhood listening cell as residents and services respond to the trauma and call for clearer social safeguards.