Karen Carter murder: woman, 70, formally investigated in Dordogne
Mrs Carter was stabbed eight times outside her home in 2025
A 70-year-old woman has been placed under formal investigation over the murder of British woman Karen Carter, who was stabbed to death outside her home in Trémolat (Dordogne) in April 2025.
The Périgueux prosecutor's office confirmed on July 22 that the Trémolat resident had been placed under formal investigation (mise en examen) for premeditated murder on July 2.
Under French law, being placed under formal investigation means an investigating judge has found sufficient indications that a suspect may have been involved in an offence, allowing the judicial investigation to proceed.
It is not equivalent to being charged in the UK or US legal systems and does not imply guilt. She has been placed under judicial supervision while the investigation continues.
Mrs Carter, 65, was found gravely wounded outside her home on April 29, 2025, after being stabbed eight times.
She had spent the evening at a wine tasting hosted by her new partner and was attacked minutes after returning home. After getting out of her car to take her newly adopted puppy inside, she was stabbed.
As The Connexion reported at the time, her partner discovered her body and alerted emergency services. He was placed in police custody in the hours that followed, along with another woman reportedly involved in a personal dispute involving Mrs Carter. Both were released without charge.
Investigators also took DNA samples from several dozen people, including local residents, but none matched material recovered from the scene.
Slow progress
The case appeared to stall in the months that followed.
A year after the murder, no suspect had been placed under formal investigation, with authorities citing France's rules on judicial secrecy, which restrict what investigators can disclose while a case is ongoing.
At that stage, lines of inquiry reportedly included her partner, her estranged husband in South Africa and a woman said to have been passed over in favour of Mrs Carter by her new partner.
The woman now under formal investigation had been questioned for 48 hours immediately after the killing before being released after investigators checked her movements at the time.
Local newspaper Dordogne Libre reports that she is understood to have had unrequited feelings for Mrs Carter's partner, suggesting a possible motive rooted in jealousy or romantic rivalry.
She and Mrs Carter were also said to frequent the same community café in the village of 600 residents.
Confirming the development, Périgueux prosecutor Jacques-Edouard Andrault said evidence gathered during the judicial investigation since the suspect's initial questioning had led the investigating judge to place her under formal investigation.
The judicial investigation remains ongoing, and it is not yet clear when a trial might take place.
