French police investigating the murder of a British woman who was found with eight stab wounds have taken DNA samples from the mayor of the town she lived in, along with 14 others.
Karen Carter, 65 and a married mother of four, was found dead outside her home in Trémolat, east of Bordeaux, following a night out with friends on April 29.
Just a few hours before her death, she had attended a wine tasting hosted by Jean-François Guerrier, her 75-year-old lover.
In attendance were 15 others, including Eric Chassagne, the mayor of Trémolat.
Chassagne told local media: ‘I believe that everyone who may have met Karen during the day and evening of April 29th has been sampled.
‘They [the police] want to close off certain lines of enquiry. The idea is to eliminate possibilities and move forward.’
According to local media, investigators are hoping to match at least one person’s DNA to samples found on the victim’s car.
Karen’s case has seen cops interview dozens of people and arrest, and subsqeuently release, two people.
Karen Carter, 65 and a married mother of four, (pictured) was found dead outside her home in Trémolat, east of Bordeaux, following a night out with friends on April 29
She was found dead on the ground next to her car in the rural village of Trémolat, where she and her husband owned holiday properties
In attendance at the wine tastingwere 15 others, including Eric Chassagne (pictured), the mayor of Trémolat
Both Guerrier and neighbour Marie-Laure Autefort, who was said to have been passionately in love with the 75-year-old, were questioned in the days after Karen’s body was found.
But both were quickly released without charge.
Karen left the wind-tasting evening at 10pm, and had promised to phone Mr Guerrier when she got home.
Concerned when he heard nothing, Mr Guerrier, a former managing director of Fujitsu Services who worked in Britain at one point, drove to check on her, and found her body sprawled on the driveway of the property she ran as a rental business.
Despite attempts to save her, Ms Carter died from severe blood loss, after being stabbed in the chest, groin, arm and leg, according to an autopsy.
As cops continue to investigate, a village café that may hold the key to finding Karen’s killer has since reopened – exactly a month after the savage murder.
The Café Village, where she worked part time behind the bar along with an alleged secret lover, was immediately ‘shut indefinitely’ following the killing.
Investigators leading the investigation feared that someone who held a grudge against Ms Carter – or ‘the new couple’ she was forming with Jean-François Guerrier, 74 – may have come to know her at the hugely popular social centre.
The 65-year-old woman was found lying near her vehicle with five deep wounds caused by a blunt object at her home in the village of Tremolat in the Dordogne
Carter had been dating retired businessman Jean-François Guerrier (pictured) who has a farmhouse close to the Carters’ holiday home
Yet – despite the killer not being caught and locals fearing he or she may have ‘strong connections’ with the café – it was back in business just a few weeks later.
‘Regular opening’ resumed on May 28th, according to management, with events including pop music concerts and quiz nights.
In December, Ms Carter was filming dancing with Mr Guerrier at the Café Village, to Gloria Gaynor’s disco anthem, I Will Survive.
In turn, Ms Carter’s 65-year-old husband, Alan Carter, who spends most of his time in South Africa, said he was unaware of their relationship.
He said he knew nothing about it until it was publicly announced by the French authorities, saying he had ‘a feeling of complete betrayal.’
Prosecutors believe the murder was a meticulously planned crime, carried out by someone who knew Ms Carter.
He or she lay in wait, they believe, and took care to avoid leaving forensic evidence, before using ‘unspeakable violence’ against the defenceless Ms Carter, according an investigating source.
‘It certainly could have been someone who knew the victim from the Café Village, or a contract killer acting on their behalf,’ the source added.
Ms Carter had British and South African nationality, and her husband was at their home in East London, South Africa, at the time of the killing.
Karen Carter (pictured with husband Alan) was found dead on her property in the village of Trémolat, east of Bordeaux, after returning from a night out on Tuesday, April 29
The victim was the owner and manager of two guest houses in Trémolat, and both were frequently used by guests from the UK
The Café Village, where Ms Carter worked part time behind the bar along with an alleged secret lover, was immediately ‘shut indefinitely’
He arrived in Trémolat soon afterwards, and visited the scene of the suspected murder, before organising his wife’s funeral, which took place in Bergerac earlier this month.
Mr Guerrier has meanwhile declined to speak at length, saying: ‘Karen was a lovely lady, but I can’t answer any more questions at the moment.’
He confirmed hosting a party at his converted farmhouse, close to the village, just before Ms Carter’s death.
