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The Sun
28-06-2025
- The Sun
Locals fear Brit mum's murder in French village was professional hit as children break silence on unsolved killing
FEARS are growing that Brit mum Karen Carter was killed in a professional hit - as the unsolved killing continues to stump police. Her children have now broken their silence for the first time since she was stabbed to death in a "frenzied attack" two months ago outside her home in France. 11 11 Police investigating her death in the sleepy village of Trémolat, Dordogne, said her brutal murder was "planned and exceptionally violent". Cops suspect that Karen's killer may have harboured a grudge against her, or taken issue with the secret affair she had struck up with local villager Jean-Francois Guerrier, 74 They also identified a love triangle including another local named Marie Laure Autefort - who was reportedly "madly in love" with Guerrier. Guerrier and Autefort were previously arrested by police and questioned - but both of them were released without charge. Karen had also been married to Alan Carter, 65, for 30 years, further complicating the love triangle. But the married couple had been estranged and Alan was living in South Africa at the time her death. Autefort's brother Philippe Monribot admitted his sister had fallen in love with Guerrier, whom she called "the tall one", but insisted she was innocent. He is convinced the murder was a "professional hit", and said that police were "wasting their time" by interrogating him for four hours last week, The Times reported. Karen was found by Guerrier dying from multiple stab wounds in her driveway at 10pm on April 29. She was a beloved member of the local community and a married mum-of-four. Moment Brit mum is seen dancing with secret lover months was stabbed to death Guerrier had followed Karen home at a discreet distance after hosting a wine-tasting at his Trémolat farmhouse - just a 10 minute drive from the Brit mum's property. He then found Karen on the floor by her car and desperately tried to save her - but it was too late. After prosecutors confirmed that Karen's affair was the focus of the investigation, her husband Alan said his shock was compounded with a sense of betrayal. Karen's daughter Liz, an engineering student in the US, said: "I keep thinking about what her last moments would have been like. "The colour in my life has washed away." She added that her mum's killer was clearly a "deeply disturbed individual who had nothing going for them". "They saw my mother's beautiful life and, for whatever reason, chose to extinguish her light," she said. Karen's other daughter Katy, 30, who lives in the UK, said her mum had been "so excited about her life in France and growing old in Trémolat". Meanwhile, her son from her first marriage Nick Sachs said of his mum's death: "It's a hole in our lives that we can't fill." 11 11 And his brother Jonathan, who works in Australia, said he felt "aimless" since his mum's murder and even prepared for the prospect that the killer would never be found. He said: "I've come to realise that there is a possibility that the culprit may never be identified and we as a family will need to learn and accept that." The mayor of Trémolat Éric Chassagne was one of the last people to see Karen alive, as he had also been at the small gathering at Guerrier's property. Chassagne, who has been mayor for 30 years, feared that suspicion was "weighing on the village" of around 600 residents. He suggested the killer might still be in town. He said: "The most probable [lines of inquiry] involve people we know. It's the most obvious." Since his release after questioning, Guerrier, originally from Paris, has kept a low profile. He previously spent some years working in England as an IT executive. The woman who had fallen in love with him, 69-year-old retired carer Autefort, has not been seen in Trémolat since her two days of questioning. Cops are said to have taken statements from over 200 people and scoured fields and woods near the Carter home for clues as well as the murder weapon. 11 11 11 Karen also reportedly told fellow ex-pat pal Beverley Needham she was sealing a divorce from Alan - just one day before her murder. Beverley told The Telegraph that, over dinner the night before the murder, she asked Karen: "Have you served the papers?", to which she replied: "Yes, I gave him the papers." The friend continued: '[Karen] told me the relationship was over and said: 'I'm done' [...] That was her words. She said: 'I'm done.'' Beverley, who was brokering the sale of a cottage to Karen, said the estranged couple saw each other only occasionally, but that the toll of the divorce seemed to weigh heavily on her friend. Alan was said to have denied that he and Karen were divorcing, but said his wife's secret romance with Guerrier left him with "a sense of betrayal". Karen was found in her driveway dying from eight injuries to her 'chest, groin, arm and leg'. An autopsy revealed the mum was killed "as she tried to defend herself from a frenzied attack". Another theory amongst the village is that an escaped inmate from a prison 7.5 miles away, which houses mentally ill patients, could have randomly ambushed Karen. The cold-blooded murder has rocked the tight-knit village community - who all appear dumbfounded. 11 Emma Rathbone, 45, said: 'She was absolutely lovely. She was at the centre of the village. Everybody knew her. "If you were new to the village she would be the first who would make you feel welcome. 'You can see how beautiful the village is. It's like heaven. You don't expect something like that to happen to somebody so lovely.' Charity worker Adrian Carter, who has had a house in the village for a decade, said: 'She was really, really lovely. She was bubbly and a friendly to everyone - both French and English and any other nationalities who were here. 'I was shocked, really really shocked. Genuinely, you would say it's safe. 'Knowing that someone has now been arrested make me feel a little bit safer. 'It's such a sleepy place. It's not like a Midsomer Murders sort of place.' Karen's husband Alan, who remains at the couple's home in East London, South Africa, expressed shock and surprise at revelations that his wife had "started a relationship" with another man. Karen and Alan had owned their holiday home in Trémolat for 15 years, splitting time between France and South Africa, where Alan still works. Speaking from their home in South Africa, Carter said he learned of his wife's death via a Facebook post read by a cousin who also lives in Trémolat. "She phoned me [...] to say she's sorry to tell me and that she thinks Karen has died. That was the first I heard about it," he said. "No one had got in touch with me at all to let me know what had happened. I found out through my cousin who happened to see it on a Facebook page." The former London Stock Exchange worker, 65, described her as "such a decent, lovely person", and told of the family's shock. He said his wife of 30 years was an outgoing, friendly person who "wouldn't hurt a fly", and said her death has been "traumatic" for his family. Karen had lived in Trémolat for more than a decade, where she ran two holiday rental homes. She volunteered at Village Café alongside Guerrier and Autefort, which now hangs a photograph of the late mum and wife while her killer remains at large.
Times
27-06-2025
- Times
Who killed our beautiful mum? Hunt for Karen Carter's murderer goes on
The long summer evenings of the Dordogne are in full swing. In Trémolat, music drifts down narrow streets from the terrace of the reopened Café Village. Life has returned to the village where, as the sun sets, holidaymakers and locals dance into the night. Inside the café, a photograph now hangs at the wood-panelled bar. Karen Carter, 65, volunteered there at the café before she was stabbed to death at her home nearby two months ago. Her killer is still at large, and the photo of the smiling Carter is the only hint that the café, festooned with lights and bunting, and the village, remain a focus of the murder hunt. Investigators have a working theory: that the killer harboured a personal grudge against Carter, a married mother with four adult children, or a problem with the relationship she had struck up with Jean-Francois Guerrier, with whom she helped to run the bar at Café Village. He and another volunteer, Marie-Laure Autefort, who made public her infatuation with Guerrier, were both arrested and released without charge. Today, as Trémolat moves uneasily towards its peak tourist season, Carter's adult children have spoken for the first time about their mother's murder, which police said was 'planned and exceptionally violent'. Guerrier, 74, found Carter dying from multiple stab wounds in her driveway at 10pm on April 29, after she had left his farmhouse on the edge of Trémolat where he had hosted a wine-tasting event. He had followed her at a discreet distance to spend the night at her converted barn. Guerrier tried to revive her as he called the emergency services, but she was beyond help. 'I keep thinking about what her last moments would have been like,' said Liz Carter, 29, an engineering student in the United States. 'The colour in my life has washed away'. She learnt of the death after a call from her father, Alan. From South Africa, he had to break the news to all four children — two daughters and two sons — scattered between Britain, the US and Australia. The family later reunited in Trémolat, where they had spent many holidays, to visit their property, which is now a crime scene, and hold a funeral. The prosecutor's confirmation that his wife's affair was the investigation's focus, Alan Carter said, compounded the shock with a sense of betrayal. The couple, married for 30 years and dual British and South African citizens, had spent years renovating Les Chouettes, an old cottage and barn that Karen ran as gîtes. The couple had disagreed about how to divide their time, with Karen keen to live in France permanently. Katy Carter, 30, who lives in Britain, said her mother had been 'so excited about her life in France and growing old in Trémolat'. After spending most of her life in South Africa worrying about crime, Karen Carter often spent months alone in Trémolat, leaving doors unlocked, her family said. Her murder was the most violent crime anyone can remember in the Périgord region. It is believed her killer lay in wait and lunged from the shadows as she got out of her car, stabbing her eight times from the front. The first blow, to the heart, was fatal, according to the post-mortem examination. Liz Carter imagines the killer 'was a deeply disturbed individual who had nothing going for them. They saw my mother's beautiful life and, for whatever reason, chose to extinguish her light'. Widespread coverage of the murder has concerned Éric Chassagne, Trémolat's mayor for 30 years. He feared it would put visitors off and keep the locals at home. Instead, the village is buzzing, even if the unsolved murder is 'causing suspicion to weigh on the village', with concerns that the killer is likely to be in their midst. More than 200 people are thought to have made statements to police, and multiple searches have been made in the fields and woods surrounding the Carter property for clues and the murder weapon. 'The most probable [lines of inquiry] involve people we know. It's the most obvious,' the mayor said. Chassagne was one of the last people to see Carter alive at the small gathering at Guerrier's home, to taste new wines that he and Carter had chosen to stock Café Village. The venue was set up in a vacant village shop at the end of the pandemic as an attempt to bring a social focus to Tremolat's jumble of old blue-collar families, such as Autefort's, the retired city professionals, including Guerrier, and expat holiday-home owners with their limited French. Organisers announced its 'indefinite' closure after the murder, and its revival feels too soon for some regulars who feel the merriment beneath Carter's portrait is disrespectful and premature, while her murder remains unsolved. The mayor, however, believes life should not be paused. 'I was in complete agreement with the reopening. It had to reopen eventually … Trémolat must get on with life and carry on welcoming people from everywhere,' Chassagne said. Guerrier, originally from Paris and who spent some years in England as an IT executive, has kept a low profile. Autefort, a 69-year-old retired carer, has not been seen in the village since her release after two days of police questioning. Her brother Philippe Monribot, who was a fireman for 42 years, was questioned by investigators for four hours last week, he told The Times. He has lived in Trémolat his whole life and said he had been asked by the gendarmes to show them spots where the killer might have dumped their weapon in the woods which surround the properties belonging to the Carters, him and his sister. 'They're wasting their time,' said Monribot, who is convinced the murder was a professional hit, though he understood why his sister, Autefort, fell under suspicion. She had been in love with Guerrier, whom she called 'the tall one', Monribot said, adding that Guerrier had once demanded she divorce her husband to be free, but then spurned her. A police source said they did not consider the crime to be a contract killing. Nick Sachs, Carter's son from her first marriage, who lives in London, said the family all struggled to imagine the future without her. 'It's a hole in our lives that we can't fill.' His brother, Jonathan, who works in construction in Australia, said he had felt 'aimless' since his mother's death and was prepared that the killer might never be caught. 'I've come to realise that there is a possibility that the culprit may never be identified and we as a family will need to learn and accept that,' he said.
Telegraph
06-05-2025
- Telegraph
My sister did not murder Dordogne love rival
A French pensioner detained over the suspected murder of a British mother in the Dordogne was 'wrongly accused', her brother has told The Telegraph. Philippe Monribot said his sister had fallen in love with a man who was thought to be having an affair with Karen Carter. Mrs Carter was found stabbed to death outside her guest house in Trémolat a week ago. Mr Monribot explained how police targeted his sibling because she had told everyone in the village she was in love with Jean-François Guerrier, who volunteered at a café with Mrs Carter. 'She went around Trémolat saying, 'I'm in love, I don't have a husband any more. I'm in love',' her brother said. Marie Laure Autefort, a 69-year-old retired carer and amateur genealogist, was detained by the French authorities and later released. She has since left the village of Trémolat, east of Bordeaux. 'All I know is that she's in a very, very bad way and won't get over this accusation,' Mr Monribot said. 'She was easy prey, for the journalists, for the prosecutor, it was easy. She told everyone in Trémolat, 'I love Jean-François. 'They destroyed her, destroyed her, the family is destroyed. 'She couldn't say anything when she got out (of questioning). It was like coming out of Guantanamo.' Mrs Carter, a 65-year-old mother of four, was found sprawled on the ground next to her car on April 29 with eight stab wounds to her 'chest, groin, arm and leg'. Her body was discovered by Mr Guerrier, a 74-year-old retired Fujitsu executive from the village with whom she had allegedly been having an affair for several weeks. Ms Autefort was released the day after she was detained when detectives examined her schedule. She has now fled to Paris to escape the 'bad atmosphere' of the village, Mr Monribot said. Over a café au lait outside the village's pizzeria, Mr Monribot said his sister was 'very, very far away in Paris... because she was wrongly accused'. Gesturing to the cobbled streets and the medieval church opposite, he said: 'She was beautiful, she was like France.' French prosecutors leading the murder investigation said Mrs Carter had been in a relationship with Mr Guerrier for several weeks at the time of her death. Mrs Carter's husband, Alan Carter, who is travelling to Trémolat from his home in South Africa, said he was unaware of the relationship until it was publicly announced by French authorities and has described 'a feeling of complete betrayal'. Police are pursuing the theory that the killer may have harboured a grudge against either the couple or Mrs Carter herself. Mrs Carter and Mr Guerrier had previously been filmed dancing with each other at parties hosted at the Café Village, an eatery and community hub in Trémolat where they both regularly volunteered.
Telegraph
06-05-2025
- Telegraph
Sister of woman arrested over Dordogne murder says she was wrong accused
A French pensioner detained over the suspected murder of a British mother in the Dordogne was 'wrongly accused', her brother has told The Telegraph. Philippe Monribot said his sister had fallen in love with a man who was thought to be having an affair with Karen Carter, found dead outside her guest house in the Dordogne He explained how police targeted his sibling because she had told everyone in the village she was in love with Jean-François Guerrier, who volunteered at a café with Mrs Carter. 'She went around Trémolat saying, 'I'm in love, I don't have a husband any more. I'm in love,' Mr Monribot said. Marie Laure Autefort, a 69-year-old retired carer and amateur genealogist, was detained by the French authorities and later released. She has since left the village of Trémolat, east of Bordeaux. 'All I know is that she's in a very, very bad way and won't get over this accusation,' Mr Monribot said. 'She was easy prey, for the journalists, for the prosecutor, it was easy. She told everyone in Trémolat, 'I love Jean-François. 'They destroyed her, destroyed her, the family is destroyed. 'Like coming out of Guantanamo' 'She couldn't say anything when she got out (of questioning). It was like coming out of Guantanamo.' Mrs Carter, a 65-year-old mother of four, was found sprawled on the ground next to her car on April 29 with eight stab wounds to her 'chest, groin, arm and leg'. Her body was discovered by Mr Guerrier, a 74-year-old retired Fujitsu executive from the village with whom she had allegedly been having an affair for several weeks. Ms Autefort was released the day after she was detained when detectives examined her schedule. She has now fled to Paris to escape the 'bad atmosphere' of the village, Mr Monribot said. Over a café au lait outside the village's pizzeria, Mr Monribot said his sister was 'very, very far away in Paris... because she was wrongly accused'. Gesturing to the cobbled streets and the medieval church opposite, he said: 'She was beautiful, she was like France.' French prosecutors leading the murder investigation said Mrs Carter had been in a relationship with Mr Guerrier for several weeks at the time of her death. Mrs Carter's husband, Alan Carter, who is travelling to Tremolat from his home in South Africa, said he was unaware of the relationship until it was publicly announced by French authorities and has described 'a feeling of complete betrayal'. Police are pursuing the theory that the killer may have harboured a grudge against either the couple or Mrs Carter herself. Mrs Carter and Mr Guerrier had previously been filmed dancing with each other at parties hosted at the Café Village, an eatery and community hub in Trémolat where they both regularly volunteered.
Daily Mail
06-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Divorced 'love rival', 69, of Brit expat found brutally murdered in French village is 'innocent' and 'devastated' by the crime, her brother insists after she was arrested then released without charge
This is the first picture of a 69-year-old woman arrested over the murder of a British expat at her holiday home in France. Marie-Laure Autefort was quizzed by detectives over the killing of mother-of-four Karen Carter, who was found brutally stabbed to death last week in the pretty Dordogne village of Trémolat. Ms Autefort's home was searched by police but she was able to provide them with an alibi and was released without charge. She has yet to return to the house, which is less than a mile from the crime scene, but a relative says she is entirely innocent. The body of Mrs Carter was found on Tuesday evening sprawled on the driveway close to her car, thought to be a Dacia Duster. She had just left a wine-tasting event at the home of a local businessman Jean-Francois Guerriere, who she had recently started a relationship with. Despite the best efforts of medics, she died at the scene from severe blood loss having been stabbed eight times in her chest, groin, arm and leg. Mr Guerrier was initially taken in for questioning but later released as police turned their attentions to Ms Autefort. She too was freed when she was able to prove to them that she was elsewhere during the murder. Today, Ms Autefort's brother claimed his sister 'was in love' with Mr Guerrier and that was the reason she was arrested. But he said she was not capable of murder. Speaking at a cafe in Trémolat, some 65-miles east of Bordeaux, Philippe Monribot said: 'My sister is innocent. She is devastated by what has happened. 'She was in love with Mr Guerrier - everyone knows it - but she didn't kill Karen Carter. She would never do anything like that, she isn't capable of it. 'My sister has not been home since her arrest and is currently in Paris. She doesn't want to return because there is an awful mood in the village at the moment.' French prosecutor, Sylvie Martins-Guedes, said the investigation was concentrating on the fact the killer almost certainly knew Mrs Carter and may have held a 'grudge' against her. Ms Autefort was vice president of Trémolat's General Assembly of which Mr Guerrier was the president. She was born in the village, where she has lived her whole life and brought up her children. She is understood to have written books about the history of the local area. Jean Clements, 73, from Kent has a holiday home in Trémolat and had coffee with Ms Autefort last summer. She said: 'I spoke with Marie for the best part of four hours when I came out on holiday last June. She seemed a nice lady. 'She told me that she'd recently got divorced and though her ex-husband had left her the house in the village, he didn't leave her much money and she was finding things tough financially. 'I haven't seen Marie recently. I flew out from England on Tuesday, the day of the murder. 'There were four police cars and a forensic unit at her property on the Friday evening just gone. 'The gendarmes were looking in vegetation around the house and on the track leading to her property. They were there for a few hours.' The local committee of which Ms Autefort was vice president is based at a bar and community hub in Trémolat called Café Village. Mrs Carter - a dual British and South African national - volunteered regularly to work behind the bar, often closely with 74-year-old Mr Guerrier. In a video that emerged yesterday , the pair were seen dancing closely together at a social event held at Cafe Village last December. Mrs Carter was seen throwing an arm in the air to Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive as she playfully bumped hips with Mr Guerrier on a packed dance-floor. Her husband was expected to arrive in Trémolat from his home in East London, South Africa this afternoon having spoken of a 'betrayal' at his wife's dalliance with Mr Guerrier, a former managing director at Fujitsu Services. The couple owned a converted barn and farmhouse called Les Chouettes which sleeps 16 people and is on a road popular with British expats. Mrs Carter had travelled to Trémolat by herself last month and had been spending more time alone in the French countryside while her husband remained in South Africa. Mr Carter, 65, had been initially unaware of his wife's romantic relationship with Mr Guerrier, claiming she had just been 'good friends'. But he told The Times: 'What has come out of this investigation has confirmed a relationship I did not want to believe, and that had been denied to me repeatedly by [my] wife.' Despite being partners of 30 years, Mr Carter said he had suspected his wife of being unfaithful and raised concerns over the amount of time she had been spending with Mr Guerrier. The tensions came as the pair had been locking horns over where they should spend their later lives since purchasing their Trémolat home in 2009. Mrs Carter had become engrossed in village life and the pair grew more distant - spending most of their time on different continents. Speaking to the newspaper, Mr Carter added: 'It was so obvious that Jean-François had an affection for Karen, and I feel he took advantage of the time we were spending apart. 'I felt the Café Village attracted a lonely bunch of people who had nothing else to throw their lives into. I felt they were having a strong influence on Karen, and she really did not know that much about them.' Mr Carter was last with his wife three weeks ago, when she visited South Africa with Trémolat's over-fifties women's football team. He last spoke to her on the morning of her death and only learnt about it the next afternoon from a cousin who had read a post on Café Village's Facebook page. Mr Guerrier has not spoken since his lover's body was found. Speaking at his large gated compound in the hills above the village, a female relative, who spoke with an English accent, said briefly: 'He doesn't want to say anything but he's fine.'
