Woman killed in France finally identified after 20 years and murder suspect arrested

A woman whose body was discovered in France more than 20 years ago has been identified – and a suspect in her murder arrested.

Hakima Boukerouis is the fifth woman to be named through an international police campaign called Operation Identify Me.

Her body, tied up and wrapped in bin bags, was discovered in a rainwater barrel in Saint-Quirin, a village in northeastern France, on January 7, 2005.

The barrel was seen in October 2004, floating in the Red Saar, a river about two miles north of the village, according to an Interpol ‘black notice’.

But the breakthrough came when the victim was identified using familial DNA searching, Interpol said yesterday.

Interpol said Boukerouis was aged between 35 and 47, though French news outlet TF1 says she was a 34-year-old from Algeria.

Suspect is victim’s ‘ex-husband’, French media says

Boukerouis’s four children had long assumed that their mother had abandoned them, their family lawyer, Alexandre Bouthier, said.

They were minors at the time of her disappearance, Bouthier told Radio France.

He said: ‘More than 20 years later, they come knocking on their door to tell them, “Listen, now we have the explanation: your mother is dead. She was found in a barrel and hadn’t been identified.

‘”In other words, we were aware of a body, but we couldn’t identify it at the time.”‘

Boukerouis’s husband was reportedly arrested in June 2025 on suspicion of ordering her killing.

Bouthier continued: ‘”Today, we’ve been able to do so through DNA, and it is indeed your mother and your father appears to be involved in this murder.”‘

He was released under judicial supervision three months later due to his age and health. Prosecutors declined to give an update.

With police unable to ID her, Boukerouis became known as ‘The woman with the Richmond dental crown’ because of her expensive dental work.

Detectives had long suspected she was from Eastern Europe or Russia, ‘due to the many young Russian women who were present in the area at the time’, the Interpol notice said.

Operation Identity Me seeks to find the names of women who have been murdered or died in suspicious or unexplained circumstances.

Interpol secretary general Valdecy Urquiza said: ‘This identification underscores how important it is to keep investigating unresolved cold cases. 

‘As part of the Identify Me campaign, the efforts of the French authorities have helped identify a murder victim whose case had remained open for many years.’

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