Jérôme Barella indicted for murder and rape of 11-year-old Lyhanna after body found in silo

Jérôme Barella, the 41-year-old temporary worker arrested the day after Lyhanna's disappearance in late May, was indicted on 15 July 2026 for the rape and murder of the 11-year-old schoolgirl. The new charges, confirmed by the Agen public prosecutor's office, replace the earlier indictment of 1 June for abduction and sequestration of a minor.

Disappearance and discovery

Lyhanna, an 11-year-old schoolgirl, disappeared on 29 May 2026 in the Gers department. Her body was found nearly a week later, on 4 June, inside a disused agricultural silo at Puycasquier near Fleurance. By then Barella had already been arrested, on the day after her disappearance.

Suspect's route to custody

On 1 June, before the body was found, Barella was brought before an examining magistrate in Agen and formally investigated for kidnapping and sequestration. He remained silent during that hearing. Since then he has been held in isolation at Mont-de-Marsan prison in the Landes, under heightened supervision because of a suicide risk, with cell rounds every half-hour.

Autopsy and new evidence

The autopsy, whose results were made known on 24 June, could not determine the exact cause of death but confirmed that Lyhanna had been raped. According to Franceinfo, Barella's DNA was found on the girl. Her wrists had been tied, and bruises were noted that forensic experts say were inflicted before death because blood no longer circulates after death to cause such ecchymoses. On 6 July, investigators searched Barella's home in Montestruc-sur-Gers in his presence and seized items that may be connected to the death.

The hearing of 15 July

Extracted from Mont-de-Marsan prison during the morning, Barella was presented to the examining magistrate in Agen for the first time since the body was found. The hearing began around 9:30 a.m. and resumed in the early afternoon after a lunch break. By the end of the day, he was formally charged with the murder and rape of a minor under 15. The prosecutor of Agen, Olivier Naboulet, had requested the additional counts in a supplementary indictment following the autopsy results.

What the suspect said in custody

During his police custody, Barella was far more talkative than in front of the judge, Franceinfo has reported. He repeatedly suggested Lyhanna may have run away. He admitted picking her up at 3 p.m. from school on 29 May and claimed he dropped her at the swimming pool, which was closed that day.

I dropped her off at the swimming pool.

He said he was "shocked" by her disappearance and that he returned home after dropping her. He also told investigators that he had been "touched by several people" during his own childhood.