France - Karen Carter, 65, stabbed to death, Dordogne, 29 April 2025

[Charlot123]

... and JMO. My money's on neither Mme Autefort nor Karen's husband as the perpetrator here.
Not J-F. Mme Autefort's been naive; Alan Carter's feeling wounded, angry and hurt.

I wonder if another person was watching her, and she was perhaps unaware of this.

I, too, have the same feeling. KC lived in Tremolat for 15 years. A beautiful woman, and many men, I am sure, might have hit on her.

Some people can't stand rejection.

My biggest concern is, how can we rule out all the guests staying in the barn? All you really need is one nutter passing as sane.

 

[Mayb]

Karen came across in reports as an attractive personable lady, and discreet.

Re someone's possible rejection: an earlier poster surmised that general knowledge of the new relationship with J-F was possibly the trigger for this horror event.

 

[Kemug]

I don't know what to think. This attack seems to be so full of terrible hatred and viciousness. By someone that was just full of hate and rage. Karen was apparently completely caught unaware, and had no chance to defend herself. So why did her attacker keep on stabbing and stabbing? It must have been very personal, or the attacker is actually insane, IMO. I just can't see either of the 2 men in the case acting like that. Or the neighbour lady. Or a hired hit man. Or an escaped prisoner, they would surely want to get away as fast as possible - anyway, we would know if one was at large.
So as far as I can see (which isn't far), it was someone that we know nothing about, or someone very like Bryan Kohberger. I hope LE has more information than we do.

 

[FromGermany1]

I'm reminded of the case "Teacher Sharon Edwards NSW" somehow. MOO

 

[MollyHarps]

Just caught up on this case - how sad.

I feel this has to be somebody that knew her plans for that evening - it seems there was such a short window between her being attacked and the new partner checking on her.

I can’t get out of my head this being a potential ‘targeted hit’ mainly due to her relationship situation.

 

[Dotta]

There is always someone who notices something.

Well,
according to a famous Aussie detective,
who also coined a phrase that
the perp is almost always in the first case file (referring to cold cases)

Aaaaargh, I forgot his name

Anyway,
(taking this Aussie detective's point of view into consideration)
Somebody knows the perp and what possibly happened
but it is anyone's guess
if this person informs Police.

JMO

 

[Sarahlou]

I wonder if Google street maps from certain days could be helpful?

Around the time of the crime? Street maps are not updated very often.

 

[Dotta]

There is always someone who notices something.

Well,
according to a famous Aussie detective,
who also coined a phrase that
the perp is almost always in the first case file (referring to cold cases)

Aaaaargh, I forgot his name

Anyway,
(taking this Aussie detective's point of view into consideration)
Somebody knows the perp and what possibly happened
but it is anyone's guess
if this person informs Police.

JMO

I found his name!!!!
Ron Iddles

" 'I've always said
there is someone in the community
who knows the answer to just about every unsolved homicide',
he says."

An old-school copper learns the new tricks of the true crime genre

Retired detective Ron Iddles revisits six unsolved murders.

www.smh.com.au

And this:

"What does a murderer look like?

Victorian detective Ron Iddles learnt early in his career at Homicide that
wherever there are humans,
there are disagreements, grudges, jealousies and murder
and neither geography nor any amount of fresh country air
can change that.

'Sometimes the motive for murder is revenge,
sometimes it is lust,
sometimes it is broken relationships,
sometimes it’s over finances',

Iddles says.

Regardless of motive,
Ron says murder is ultimately about
'man’s inhumanity to man'.
It’s that simple.

'I often get asked what does a murderer look like'.

'I reply,
They look like you or me.

But they’ve made a bad choice'.”

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/books-magazines/books/book-extract-homocide-detective-ron-iddles-really-has-seen-it-all/news-story/ab9d5cb4518c5ea1b2294c64e6e58525

 

[slowpoke]

I wonder what physical evidence the police were able to obtain from the crime scene, or on Karen’s person.

Any:
Shoe prints?
Skin fragments or blood under Karen’s fingernails of her attacker?
Hair from the assailant?
Getaway tracks from a vehicle?

Also, I wonder how many detectives and other resources are being assigned to solving this murder.

Just thoughts, as we are now coming up on two weeks since Karen was murdered.

 

[Dotta]

I wonder what physical evidence the police were able to obtain from the crime scene, or on Karen’s person.

Any:
Shoe prints?
Skin fragments or blood under Karen’s fingernails of her attacker?
Hair from the assailant?
Getaway tracks from a vehicle?

Also, I wonder how many detectives and other resources are being assigned to solving this murder.

Just thoughts, as we are now coming up on two weeks since Karen was murdered.

It seems to me
Police have only gossip/rumours to help.

I mean,
the 70 year old woman!!!
was arrested (and released)
solely
b/c she drew attention to herself
as being allegedly "crazy in love" with, again,
alleged "lover" of the victim.

"Alleged" being key word for me.

C'mon!

JMO

 

[HongKongPhooey]

It seems to me
Police have only gossip/rumours to help.

I mean,
the 70 year old woman!!!
was arrested (and released)
solely b/c she drew attention to herself
as being allegedly "crazy in love" with, again, alleged 'lover" of the victim.

Alleged being key word for me.

C'mon!

JMO

Do we know that’s why she was arrested?

 

[Dotta]

Do we know that’s why she was arrested?

Was she charged with anything?
Nope.
Was she released?
Yep.

JMO

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Was she charged with anything?
Nope.
Was she released?
Yep.

JMO

Respectfully, that doesn’t mean that’s why she was arrested. I thought maybe you had a link confirming that was the reason?

 

[Dotta]

Respectfully, that doesn’t mean that’s why she was arrested. I thought maybe you had a link confirming that was the reason?

She has ALIBI.

So
It seems she was arrested b/c of rumours,
not facts.

She was somewhere else when the attack happened.

According to her "work schedule" Police checked.

She is free.

JMO

 

[AcbMurders]

Interesting words used by police (if reported correctly in the article):

Carter had flown in after being told of his wife’s death, the motive for which, prosecutors said, was linked to a grudge against her or “the couple” she had recently formed with a man who lives in the village.

What ‘grudge’? It makes it sound like police know the motive

Karen Carter’s killing stirs fear and gossip in the Dordogne

Betrayal and buried secrets are emerging in the sleepy French village of Trémolat after the death, which police have linked to ‘a grudge’

www.thetimes.com

 

[miss marble]

Interesting words used by police (if reported correctly in the article):

Carter had flown in after being told of his wife’s death, the motive for which, prosecutors said, was linked to a grudge against her or “the couple” she had recently formed with a man who lives in the village.

What ‘grudge’? It makes it sound like police know the motive

Karen Carter’s killing stirs fear and gossip in the Dordogne

Betrayal and buried secrets are emerging in the sleepy French village of Trémolat after the death, which police have linked to ‘a grudge’

www.thetimes.com

Also interesting from this article is the bit about Aurefort's brother who comes across as someone who would hold a grudge IMO :-

"Autefort has not been seen in the village since her release, although her brother, Philippe Monribot, who lives on the far side of the woods from the Carters, offered a strong defence of her innocence to The Times, unprompted. “I have nothing to do with it, my family has nothing to do with it … I will only tell you one thing and that is my sister, we don’t know where she is and that no one has seen her. We’ve got nothing to do with this,” Monribot, a former fireman in his sixties, said outside his house"

Anyone else get 'methinks he doth protest too much" vibes?

No mention about how sad/awful that this has happened in their quiet village or how lovely a person Karen was (which everyone else seems to mention)?

 

[ch_13]

Also interesting from this article is the bit about Aurefort's brother who comes across as someone who would hold a grudge IMO :-

"Autefort has not been seen in the village since her release, although her brother, Philippe Monribot, who lives on the far side of the woods from the Carters, offered a strong defence of her innocence to The Times, unprompted. “I have nothing to do with it, my family has nothing to do with it … I will only tell you one thing and that is my sister, we don’t know where she is and that no one has seen her. We’ve got nothing to do with this,” Monribot, a former fireman in his sixties, said outside his house"

Anyone else get 'methinks he doth protest too much" vibes?

No mention about how sad/awful that this has happened in their quiet village or how lovely a person Karen was (which everyone else seems to mention)?

I don't blame his for his testiness. It says he spoke to the reporter "outside his house," which sounds like he was ambushed as he was leaving or returning home. If the reporter was skulking around his home hoping for an interview, then I'd say the article has a lot of gall to call his statement "unprompted."

As for what he did or didn't say about Karen, I doubt the article provided his full statement, just a small bit of it. At the very least, I'd imagine he read the reporter the riot act for invading his privacy, but that's not mentioned in the article either.

In any case, I doubt he did it unless there's more to his relationship with Karen. Killing someone just because they are the romantic interest of your sister's unrequited love would be a truly bizarre motive.

 

[kiwi50]

Also interesting from this article is the bit about Aurefort's brother who comes across as someone who would hold a grudge IMO :-

"Autefort has not been seen in the village since her release, although her brother, Philippe Monribot, who lives on the far side of the woods from the Carters, offered a strong defence of her innocence to The Times, unprompted. “I have nothing to do with it, my family has nothing to do with it … I will only tell you one thing and that is my sister, we don’t know where she is and that no one has seen her. We’ve got nothing to do with this,” Monribot, a former fireman in his sixties, said outside his house"

Anyone else get 'methinks he doth protest too much" vibes?

No mention about how sad/awful that this has happened in their quiet village or how lovely a person Karen was (which everyone else seems to mention)?

Totally agree with your post, after all that has happened surprising he has no idea where she is, has he even seen her since the killing?
How far away from Karen did this guy live, can you walk through the woods to the other side?

 

[Cedars]

So why did her attacker keep on stabbing and stabbing? It must have been very personal, or the attacker is actually insane... someone very like Bryan Kohberger.

While Karen was certainly attractive, I think age does count in whether such a woman would likely be the same kind of target as very young women often are: such as the 21 year olds Kohberger was stalking, that men collect bikini pics of, who used to be called pinups...

And while romantic rejection hurts, I can't believe it was the first time anyone in this age cohort had been rejected in a love affair - especially one that hadn't progressed to any form of commitment.

I think it's possible the multiple stab wounds could have been to ensure she wouldn't survive...

Jmo

 

[Mayb]

I wonder what physical evidence the police were able to obtain from the crime scene, or on Karen’s person.

Any:
Shoe prints?
Skin fragments or blood under Karen’s fingernails of her attacker?
Hair from the assailant?
Getaway tracks from a vehicle?

Also, I wonder how many detectives and other resources are being assigned to solving this murder.

Just thoughts, as we are now coming up on two weeks since Karen was murdered.

Police can't divulge what was picked up at the crime scene ... they'll avoid encouraging someone to do a runner. Airports etc will be on alert. Fingers crossed this is solved soon.