The Versailles courthouse has opened its doors for the three‑week trial of 79‑year‑old Marie‑Thérèse Garcia, who faces murder charges linked to the disappearance of her former sister‑in‑law, Corinne Di Dio, in June 1995.
Di Dio vanished when she was 37, and a few days later a metal trunk bound with a chain floated in the Seine. Inside the sealed container lay the dismembered body of a woman – head and hands missing – that was identified only in 1997. The missing parts have never been recovered, leaving investigators to explore an over‑two‑decade‑long mystery.
Initial police showed Garcia – who had previously lived with Di Dio and cared for her son – as a suspect, but two earlier investigations were closed for lack of evidence. New DNA testing has now identified two hair strands from the trunk that belong either to Garcia or a female relative, raising the case back to court and leading to Garcia’s incarceration in 2023 awaiting trial.
The prosecution alleges that Garcia lured Di Dio to a house near Rambouillet, where the woman was stabbed, dismembered, and hidden in the trunk. They further suggest a motive based on a pact with Antonio Marquez‑Gomez, a Spanish drug‑trade figure, to remove Di Dio’s son Romain from his mother and a grudge over Di Dio’s affair with Marquez‑Gomez’s brother, Francisco.
Defence lawyer Najwa El Haïté emphasizes the unlikeliness that an elderly, non‑criminal defendant could have committed such a methodical murder, while citing the “sand‑based” nature of the case against her. Garcia herself has repeatedly denied the charges, describing the line of evidence as circumstantial and expressing that “no-one knows what happened.”
Both defendants had historic ties to a criminal network that included the notorious brothers Jean‑Jacques and Philippe Maurice, who were once linked to under‑world crimes. Philippe Maurice’s eventual clemency in the 1970s remains a striking footnote to this case.
Additional biographical details may surface during the trial, including testimony from Garcia’s daughter Nancy, who in 2004 reported overhearing conversations about a murder on the phone. The court will also examine testimony from Romain, who recounts being taken to Madrid by his father shortly after the disappearance.
The case illustrates how new forensic methods can rekindle cold cases and how the intersection of age, familial ties, and alleged criminal associations can complicate judicial proceedings. The verdict will ultimately determine whether history, science and the law can reconcile in a decades‑old mystery.
