Six arrests for death of Colette Deromme

The body of Colette Deromme was found on a remote country road close to idyllic Lake Sainte Croix. © Xavier Devroey

It's been almost a year since 50-year-old Deromme, went missing, shrouded by suspicious circumstances, from her home in Lorgues on 15th April 2011. Tragically, it was over a month before her body was discovered by hikers walking in the Aups region (Verdon National Park) in May.

Yesterday's arrests were done in two separate waves: three people were taken into custody in the Var at Deromme's home town of Lorgues, while three people from the same family were simultaneously arrested in Mayenne, north-west France.

Among them is the woman's ex-sister in law (sister to Deromme's first husband), Sylviane, with whom she had worked with since 2008. The day that Deromme disappeared, she was supposed to have had a management meeting with Sylviane but failed to show. Her daughter reported her missing that night.

According to national media Le Figaro, police have uncovered a 100,000 euro loan linked with the building society where both women worked. It is hoped that this may shed some light on the disappearance of the mother of four.

Friends have said that she lived a quiet, normal life with her children following her divorce, and the disappearance was completely unprecedented.

The cause of death remains unknown; Deromme's body was in such a decomposed state that her family may never know how she died.

When the 50 year old first went missing, it was feared that it might have been linked to Xavier Dupont de Ligonnés, the man who massacred his entire family in a killing spree last year. Deromme and Dupont de Ligonnés had been neighbours in the early 90s when he and his young family lived in the Var village of Lorgues. Still on the run, a European warrant has been issued for his arrest but any connections with the Deromme case were severed with the latest arrests.

Elsa Carpenter