French man to face trial after admitting to killing student

A convicted rapist will stand trial in France from Monday for the murder of a student he allegedly accidentally killed but who investigators believe was lured to her death.

Sophie Le Tan disappeared on her 20th birthday after failing to return from an alleged visit to a rental apartment outside the eastern city of Strasbourg on September 8, 2018. She was described by her loved ones as a serious and likeable young woman.

Her dismembered body was found by hikers in a forest in October 2019.

Jean-Marc Reiser, now 61, was arrested a week after her disappearance and tracked down by police using phone records. If convicted, he could face a life sentence.

After speaking to other students who responded to the same real estate ad only to be stood up, investigators believe Reiser used it to lure young women and watched the arranged meeting point to see if they came alone.

A search of his home found large bloodstains that had been carefully removed, and Le Tan's DNA on a saw in the basement, according to court documents.

For two years, Reiser denied any involvement in Le Tan's death before claiming in January 2021 that she died in a fall after he hit her.

After the discovery of her remains, court documents said it was no longer possible to determine her cause of death or whether she had suffered sexual violence.

Reiser was convicted of rape in 2003 and has served several prison terms. In 2001 he was acquitted for lack of evidence in connection with another enforced disappearance from 1987.

Reiser was raised in eastern France by an alcoholic father and held various jobs.

"He had fantasies of omnipotence," says lawyer Jean-Pierre Degeneve, who had defended the accused in previous cases.

Reiser is "extremely authoritarian" but also "very polite," Degeneve added, calling him an "odd personality."

In May, the suspect was convicted of witness tampering in connection with a former girlfriend who described his tantrums and physical violence during their time together.

When the court hears from his former partners and others close to him, Reiser himself will be cross-examined on Friday