Cédric Jubillar denies killing wife in case that captivated France

 

Cédric Jubillar, 38, went on trial in France on September 22, 2025, accused of murdering his wife, Delphine, who disappeared in December 2020. He has denied the accusations, and his lawyers claim the investigation was prejudiced due to a lack of physical evidence.

He denied causing any harm to his wife, Delphine, a nurse, whose body has never been found, in a mystery that has rarely been far from the headlines, almost five years after her disappearance in rural southern France.

The trial, expected to last four weeks, got underway in front of a heavy media presence, with the defendant present in the glass-fronted dock dressed in a tracksuit top and jeans.

“There are all the ingredients for this to be of interest to everyone,” said Alexandre Martin, one of Cedric Jubillar’s two lawyers, pointing to “a nurse who disappears in the middle of the Covid crisis… the mystery, the absence of a body”.

For Delphine’s family members, the upcoming trial is generating “a lot of apprehension,” said Mourad Battikh, who represents five of the nurse’s relatives.

He said he hopes that the trial “will allow some sort of truth to emerge, or at least push the accused to his limits in the face of his contradict.

Jubillar, a painter and plasterer held in detention since 2021, is accused of murdering his wife and mother of their two children in the town of Cagnac-les-Mines because he could not tolerate her leaving him for another man.

Throughout the probe, he denied killing Delphine, with his lawyers denouncing a “prejudiced investigation”.

Investigating magistrates sent Jubillar to trial, maintaining Delphine Jubillar had been killed during a dispute with her husband.

A pair of Delphine’s glasses found broken and the testimony of the couple’s young son as well as screams heard by neighbours showed that an argument broke out, they said.

Cedric Jubillar’s behaviour reinforced the investigators’ suspicions — he barely participated in the search for his missing wife and made threatening remarks in front of witnesses about what he might do to his wife if she were to leave him.

But investigators found no evidence of the murder itself, no traces of blood, no crime scene, and no body.

Cédric's lawyers have called the prosecution's case a "prejudiced investigation". They argue that it would have been nearly impossible for him to commit the "perfect crime" without leaving a single trace or being seen, especially given his seemingly un-sophisticated nature.

Seeking the truth: The trial, which is expected to last four weeks, is generating a lot of apprehension for Delphine's family. Her relatives hope it will bring some form of truth to light.