France’s oldest female detainee goes on trial for in‑law's grisly murder
Marie‑Thérèse Garcia, aged 79, faces the press in Versailles after 31 years of mystery surrounding a dismembered body found in a metal trunk floating on the River Seine.
The victim, 37‑year‑old Corinne Di Dio, went missing in June 1995. Two days later, investigators discovered the trunk, which contained a body without head and hands – only identified as Di Dio’s in 1997. The missing parts have never been recovered.
Garcia was suspected early on, but earlier inquiries closed due to lack of evidence. Recent DNA work inside the trunk found hair fragments that matched either Garcia herself or a relative, offering a new lead.
After being jailed in 2023, Garcia has pleaded for conditional release on the basis of age and health, all of which have been denied. Known in the press as Ma Dalton, she maintains that the case is “built on sand.”
Her lawyer, Najwa El Haïté, argues that the brutal technique used – dismemberment resembling organized crime – contradicts a woman without a criminal record. Yet both Garcia and Di Dio were deeply entangled in the criminal underworld; Di Dio had connections to Spanish drug trafficker Antonio Marquez‑Gomez and their son, Romain, now 41.
Prosecution claims Garcia lured Di Dio to her home near Rambouillet, where the victim was stabbed, dismembered, and sealed in the trunk. Motive theories involve a financial pact with Marquez‑Gomez to eliminate Di Dio due to her affair with Manila‑resident Francisco, a family friend.
Additional evidence will include testimony from Garcia’s daughter, Nancy, who said in 2004 her mother had spoken of murder moments before Di Dio’s disappearance, and a police‑secreted telephone tap in which Garcia threatened to “cut them up and put the pieces in a suitcase.”
Air‑waves quotes lie at the heart of the drama: “No one knows what happened. And if you do not know, you can’t convict.” Garcia insists the hairs found were brown, while she herself has had black hair, covering her claims of innocence.
Outlook: The trial will last three weeks, with court proceedings intertwining decades of intrigue, DNA revelations and the enduring impact of an old-aged defendant in a country where the law can never silence the past.
