Overview
- The trial of 79‑year‑old Marie‑Thérèse Garcia known as "Ma Dalton" opened Tuesday at the cour d'assises de Versailles on charges of kidnapping, sequestration and the 1995 murder of Corinne Di Dio.
- Investigators recovered Di Dio's body in a metal trunk in the Seine in June 1995 and identified it by DNA in 1997 after repeated delays in the inquiry.
- Forensic reports describe extreme mutilation including decapitation and fourteen stab wounds, and prosecutors point to hairs from the trunk whose mitochondrial profile matches Garcia or a maternal relative.
- Garcia, who denies guilt, was arrested after the case was reopened in 2012 following new leads and phone intercepts; an alleged co‑accused, Antonio Gomez Marquez, remains at large and will be tried in absentia.
- The proceedings revisit two earlier non‑lieux rulings from the 2000s and will likely shape how French courts use late forensic and testimonial evidence in cold cases, with a verdict set for July 3.