While the French authorities are investigating the case, their Swiss counterparts have been asked for information
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The body of an 81-year-old Swiss citizen has been found in a field on the Swiss-French border. His head was next to his body. The investigating authorities are not ruling anything out.
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A municipal worker responsible for clearing the area discovered the decapitated man on Wednesday at the bottom of a ditch in the French municipality of Ferney-Voltaire, which borders Geneva.
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“He had definitely been there a while – the body was in an advanced state of putrefaction, partially mummified,” the public prosecutor told the AFP news agency. “The head was found next to the body but we’re not excluding the possibility that it was the work of an animal.”
A notable detail was that the man was missing both his trousers and underwear. The prosecutor thought it was possible that, given his age, the isolated location and the fact that he had money on him, the man was relieving himself when he had a medical problem.
The deceased, identified from identity papers found among his clothes, had been missing since June 2.
The remains have been sent to a morgue in Lyon to try to determine the cause of death. The Swiss authorities have also been asked for information about the man.
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