France Opens Historic Trial in 1987 Murder of Four-Year-Old Inas Touloub
France has opened the trial for the 1987 murder of four-year-old Inas Touloub, known as the Little Martyr of the A10. Her parents stand trial nearly four decades after her dismembered body was found.
France has opened a landmark trial aimed at delivering delayed justice for Inas Touloub, a four-year-old girl found dead and dismembered alongside a highway in 1987. The case remained an unsolved mystery for over 30 years until her identity and parents were unmasked. The parents, Halima El Bakhti and Ahmed Touloub, appeared in court nearly four decades after the crime. The trial is scheduled to run through November 18, closing one of France's oldest and most haunting murder mysteries.
Inas Touloub became known as the "Little Martyr of the A10" after her body was discovered on August 11, 1987, by highway maintenance workers in a ditch along the motorway connecting Paris to Bordeaux. Her body bore numerous signs of severe abuse, including iron burns and human bite marks. Because no one reported her missing at the time, investigators struggled for decades to establish her identity, eventually launching the largest public appeal for witnesses in French history.
The breakthrough came in 2018 when DNA from the victim's brother matched genetic material recovered from Inas's clothing and blanket via the national DNA database. The parents were arrested in June 2018. Halima El Bakhti faces charges of acts of torture and barbarity leading to death without the intent to kill, while Ahmed Touloub is tried for complicity. If convicted, both face life imprisonment.
