Death of Olivier Marleix: Justice confirms suicide theory

The investigation into the tragic death of Olivier Marleix has concluded. "Overall, the findings, forensic examinations, interviews and analysis of the mobile phone allow us to understand the cause of [his] death: it was suicide," wrote the Chartes prosecutor's office in a press release published on Wednesday, July 30.

The 54-year-old man was found dead at his home in Anet on July 7. Since then, investigators from the Orléans Research Section and the Dreux Research Brigade have been trying to shed light on the circumstances of his death. Family, relatives, friends... In total, around ten interviews have been conducted. "No one suspected that Mr. Marleix could end his life like this," the prosecutor's office emphasizes.

The Republican elected official was certainly going through "a period of depression, with multiple causes - sentimental, intimate and professional -; he had been consulting a psychiatrist for several months," the prosecution stated in its press release. But, in several respects, his action surprised the justice system. To begin with, he had taken up running - something unusual for him. "He also had plans, that of writing a book, the completed manuscript of which was found in his car, and that of becoming a lawyer at the Paris bar," the prosecution continued.

What would have made his decision? "What we can understand is that, in this gloomy context, the trigger for the act of autolysis [suicide, editor's note] was a last conversation he had with his partner, and found during the use of [his] mobile phone," the same source wrote. No "toxic, medicinal or narcotic substance" was found in his body by the toxicology expert.

This Wednesday morning, his family members were able to attend a meeting organized by the Chartres prosecutor to learn about the conclusions of the investigation.

On Friday, July 11, nearly a thousand people, including many national and local politicians, paid their last respects to Olivier Marleix at the church in Anet. At the beginning of the ceremony, his daughter Anna spoke: "It is better to be alive in a dead body than dead in a living body."