After 39 years, trial begins over death of 4-year-old found mutilated in France; parents face life imprisonment

The parents of Inass Touloub have appeared in court in Blois, France, 39 years after their 4-year-old daughter was found dead and mutilated near a highway in 1987. The case is among the longest-running investigations into an unsolved crime in French history.

The girl’s mother, Halima El Bakhti, 72, is charged with torture and acts of barbarity that caused her death. Her father, Ahmed Touloub, 74, is charged with complicity. Both face life imprisonment.

The defendants arrived at the courthouse separately: El Bakhti had covered her face with a scarf, while Touloub used a cane to climb the steps. Outside the building, activists from the Mouv’Enfants collective displayed photographs of Inass and banners calling for “Justice for Inass.”

On August 11, 1987, workers on the A10 highway discovered the girl’s body in a ditch near Suèvres, between Orléans and Tours. The many signs of violence, including burns and bite marks, led the media to call her “the little martyr of the A10.”

Because no one had reported her missing, the French gendarmerie launched a wide-ranging search. Information about the girl and her description were distributed in more than 30 countries, while her photograph was displayed in 65,000 schools and 30,000 town halls. Nevertheless, the investigation produced no results, and the case was closed first in 1991 and again in 1997.

The breakthrough came in 2018, during an investigation into another rape case. DNA from the victim’s brother showed a complete genetic match with traces found on the 4-year-old’s clothes and the blanket in which she had been wrapped. Investigators were thus able to identify the girl as Inass Touloub and arrested her parents in June of that year.

During questioning, both parents denied responsibility for the violence that killed their daughter and blamed each other. Legal appeals delayed the proceedings for several years, until the Court of Cassation finally cleared the way for the trial in September 2024.

Raphael Pilleboue, the former mayor of Suèvres, said this was the long-awaited day to seek justice for the girl who had suffered so much. Inass is buried in Suèvres, where residents regularly place flowers on her grave.

The trial in Blois is expected to continue until November 18.