Swiss authorities have arrested a Moroccan national suspected of murdering a 19-year-old university student, whose body was found in a forest near Paris, according to officials.
The suspect, a 22-year-old Moroccan, had previously been convicted of rape and was under an order to leave France, as reported by a source familiar with the case who spoke to AFP.
The victim’s body was discovered in the Bois de Boulogne, a forest located in western Paris, close to Paris-Dauphine University, where she was a student.
French officials confirmed on Tuesday that the suspect was apprehended in Switzerland.
The Paris prosecutor’s office stated on Tuesday that the suspect had been identified and “arrested today in the Canton of Geneva.”
A request for extradition will be sent to Swiss authorities, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The suspect had been convicted of rape in 2021 for an incident that occurred in 2019 when he was still a minor. He was released in June 2024 after serving his sentence and had been living in France illegally.
Authorities have only released the first name of the victim, Philippine. She was last seen at the university on Friday.
According to a police source, witnesses reported seeing a man carrying an axe.
The killing is likely to intensify political tensions in France, where newly appointed Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has vowed to strengthen law and order, tighten immigration laws, and expedite the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of crimes.
