France's Oldest Female Detainee, Marie-Thérèse Garcia, Faces Murder Trial in Versailles
Marie-Thérèse Garcia, France's oldest female detainee, is currently standing trial in Versailles on charges of kidnapping and murdering her former sister-in-law, Corinne Di Dio. The case revolves around the discovery of Di Dio's dismembered body in the River Seine over three decades ago.
Di Dio vanished in June 1995 at the age of 37. Days later, a metal trunk containing a torso – notably lacking a head and hands – was found floating in the Seine, west of Paris. The body was identified as Di Dio's in 1997, but the missing body parts have never been located.
Garcia was an early suspect, yet the investigation was closed twice due to insufficient evidence. A significant breakthrough came recently through advanced DNA technology, which linked two hairs found in the metal trunk to either Garcia or a matrilineal descendant. This led to Garcia's imprisonment in 2023, with repeated requests for conditional release based on age and health being denied.
Known as 'Ma Dalton' by the French press, Garcia maintains her innocence, describing the prosecution's case as “built on sand”. Her lawyer argues that the methods used in the killing – dismemberment and the removal of head and hands – are indicative of organised crime, not a woman with no prior criminal record.
Both Garcia and Di Dio had connections to the criminal underworld. Di Dio was involved with Antonio Marquez-Gomez, a known figure in the drug trade, with whom she had a son, Romain. Garcia herself was in a relationship with Marquez-Gomez's brother, Francisco.
Prosecutors contend that Garcia lured Di Dio to her home, where she was fatally stabbed and dismembered. The alleged motive centres on a pact between Garcia and Marquez-Gomez to remove Romain, then 10, from his mother's care, compounded by Garcia's supposed resentment over Di Dio's affair with Francisco. Marquez-Gomez, also accused of murder, is currently untraceable, believed to be in Colombia.
Further evidence expected at the three-week trial includes testimony from Garcia's daughter, who in 2004 claimed to have overheard her mother discussing murder shortly before Di Dio's disappearance. Police also noted Garcia's comments during a tapped phone conversation in 2022, concerning the disappearance of a relative, where she was heard threatening to “cut them up and put the pieces in a suitcase”.
