A police officer is facing trial for the fatal shooting of his estranged British wife along with her partner in an idyllic French village, according to authorities.
The body of Alison Erb, 49, was found with Loreto Di Salvatore, 51, at their flat in Roppentzwiller, near the Swiss border.
Her husband Olivier Erb, 50, a serving French police officer, was immediately treated as the prime suspect for the 2023 slayings but there was ‘no material evidence of his involvement’ found at the scene.
He was later charged with the double murder following a wide-ranging investigation by eight dedicated officers.
Erb and his wife were in the process of divorcing at the time of the deaths and he had been investigated on two previous occasions on suspicion of abusing and harassing his wife, according to reports in French media.
He was formally charged in April last year but details have only emerged now as criminal enquiries are officially carried out in secret in France.
His trial is expected to start later this year and he is being held on remand in a maximum security prison near Strasbourg. He is isolated from other inmates due to his status as a former police officer.
Firefighters are reported to have found the bodies of Mrs Erb and Mr Di Salvatore on May 25, 2023, after they got into the flat from a balcony when neighbours raised the alarm following incessant barking of dogs in the building.
Both had been shot three times and a small calibre revolver was found at the scene.
The source said: ‘The killer was well disguised and very careful to avoid his face being caught on camera.’
Erb was detained but then freed without charge, having only admitted to ‘some kind of involvement in the lives of the couple but not their killings’.
