79‑Year‑old French Woman Faces Murder Trial in Cold‑case Mystery

Marie‑Thérèse Garcia, 79, is being tried at a courthouse in Versailles for the 1995 murder of her former sister‑in‑law, Corinne Di Dio. The case, a cold‑case that spanned three decades, centers on a dismembered body discovered in a metal trunk floating on the Seine.

Di Dio vanished in June 1995, a month after she disappeared. Two days later a metal trunk bound by a chain was found in the river west of Paris. Inside, the remains of a woman—without head or hands—were eventually identified as Di Dio in 1997. The missing body parts remain undiscovered.

Garcia was initially suspected, but earlier investigations were closed due to insufficient evidence. A breakthrough came when DNA testing linked two hairs retrieved from the trunk to someone in Garcia’s matrilineal line. The renewed evidence has enabled prosecutors to file new claims against her.

Garcia, who lives in the suburbs of Paris, has been held in pre‑trial custody since 2023. She has repeatedly requested conditional release citing her age and health; the requests have been denied. The French press, naming her “Ma Dalton” after the Guardian’s Lucky Luke grandmother, portrays her as stern to foes yet generous to friends.

Disputed evidence presented at trial will include testimony from Garcia’s daughter, Nancy, who in 2004 told police she overheard her mother discussing a murder call shortly before Di Dio’s disappearance. The prosecution also alleges that Garcia lured Di Dio to a home near Rambouillet where she was stabbed, dismembered, and hidden in the trunk. They argue a pact between Garcia and Antonio Marquez‑Gomez sought to secure custody of Di Dio’s son, Romain, who was then 10.

Marquez‑Gomez, the victim’s former lover, is also implicated in a separate murder case and is believed to reside in Colombia. Romain recently recounted his early‑life shock in Spain and the language barrier that followed, highlighting the case’s touchpoints with criminal networks.

Video of the trunk’s discovery, forensic reports, and the DNA linkage will be central to the proceedings. The jury will assess whether the pieces of circumstantial evidence truly form a solid case or if it indeed “is built on sand” as Garcia claims.