Dominique Pelicot, who drugged and raped his then wife Gisèle and recruited dozens of men to abuse her over almost a decade, has been questioned over two other attacks dating back to the 1990s.
The 72-year-old Frenchman, who was jailed for 20 years in December, is being investigated over the alleged rape and murder of property agent Sophie Narme in Paris on 4 December 1991. He denies the offence.
Investigators also quizzed him about the attempted rape of another young property agent, known by the pseudonym Marion, in a suburb of the capital on 11 May 1999.
During his trial, Pelicot admitted to that offence after DNA evidence taken from blood found on Marion’s shoe was linked to him.
However, when he was asked about Sophie Narme during the same trial, he said he had “nothing to do” with the killing.
Investigators have previously pointed to similarities between the two cases.
In the 1991 murder, the victim was attacked by a man who used a false name to book a viewing for an apartment. Detectives say Pelicot did the same in 1999.
The smell of the anaesthetic drug ether was detected by police at the 1991 crime scene. Police say it was also used in the 1999 attack do subdue the victim.
The two cases were grouped together in September 2022 and have been investigated by a team which specialises in unsolved cases and serial crimes.
Pelicot was placed under formal investigation in October 2022 over both crimes.
The criminal case against Pelicot and the 49 other men accused of raping Gisèle lasted for three months and was France’s largest ever rape trial.
By the time it ended, she had become a national figure and was met by crowds of hundreds of people chanting her name outside court.
Her decision to make the trial public has generated renewed conversations around rape, consent and gender violence in France.
