Credits: Pexels / Freerange Stock.
Questioned on July 15, 2026 in Toulouse, Cédric Jubillar admitted to having strangled Delphine Aussaguel on the night of December 15 to 16, 2020. His statements, followed by the discovery of part of the victim’s remains, led to the postponement of his appeal trial. Even so, they do not replace the expert analyses or the need to test his account against the evidence already entered in the case file.
Confessions Recorded In A Police Report
The document at the center of this latest legal turn is not available to the public. Franceinfo says it reviewed the report from the July 15 questioning. Le Parisien says it examined the same document, drawn up before a magistrate of the Toulouse Court of Appeals. Their excerpts agree on the essentials: Cédric Jubillar says there that he is admitting the facts. He says he grabbed his wife by the neck until she fell limp.
This acknowledgment comes after more than five years of denials. In October 2025, the Tarn assizes court sentenced him to 30 years in criminal prison for the murder of Delphine Aussaguel. Because the defendant appealed, the case must still be retried by an assizes court of appeal in Toulouse.
In his new version, Cédric Jubillar says he woke up around 1 a.m. He says he lost control during an argument. The words he attributes to Delphine Aussaguel are based solely on his own account. The same goes for the explanation of his act. These claims cannot be regarded as established facts or as a justification for the act itself.
A Corroborated Location, A Still-Disputed Timeline
Cédric Jubillar then says he put the body in a car. He says he left the home in Cagnac-les-Mines and drove to a construction site near the road to Cordes-sur-Ciel. He says he dug there with his bare hands in a mound of potting soil. According to him, he then returned home and threw several of Delphine Aussaguel’s personal belongings into a neighbor’s trash bin. These acts are known only through excerpts from the police report published on July 21.
The day after the questioning, bones were discovered in the Mailhoc area indicated to investigators. Part of the remains was identified as belonging to Delphine Aussaguel. This discovery gives material weight to the location Cédric Jubillar provided. It does not, however, confirm the whole timeline, the motive he claims, or the exact circumstances of death.
A first discrepancy already appears in the time of the events. According to Le Parisien, the account places the argument around 1 a.m. This version differs from the timeline argued at the first trial based on several witness statements. Phone data, statements gathered during the investigation, and on-site findings will therefore have to be compared with this new version.
The publicly released forensic information also remains limited. The exact cause of death and the completeness of the remains found are not yet known. The compatibility of the forensic findings with the confessions still has to be established. The defendant’s statements are now a central piece of the case file, not the end of the evidentiary work.
Premeditation Remains An Open Question
Me Malika Chmani, the children’s attorney, spoke to La Dépêche du Midi. She reminded readers that the charge of murder, not assassination, remains in place against Cédric Jubillar. Article 221-3 of the Penal Code specifies that a murder committed with premeditation or by lying in wait constitutes assassination. Yet Cédric Jubillar presents his act as a sudden reaction. He says he had no destination or plan when he left the house.
This claim will have to be compared with the inconsistencies noted in his new timeline and with the material evidence already debated at the first trial. The discovery of the bones does not settle this issue. It confirms a concealment site, without establishing when it was found or whether the murder had been planned.
The assizes court of appeal will therefore have to distinguish the verifiable confession from the defendant’s uncorroborated version. It will also have to determine what the investigations can objectively establish. Finally, it will assess the significance of five years of denials in light of a story given after a first conviction.
Where Does Cédric Jubillar’s Trial Stand?
The appeal trial will not begin on September 21, 2026 as planned. The Toulouse Court of Appeals has postponed it to the first half of 2027 to allow for additional investigative steps. This delay is also meant to ensure respect for the adversarial process. Each side will thus be able to review and discuss the new evidence. The court’s statement, reported on July 21 by La Dépêche du Midi, also mentions the need for a calm and thorough investigation.
On July 22, Chantal Ferreira, the first president of the Court of Appeals, spoke on ICI Occitanie. She mentioned new searches, a reenactment of the facts, and psychological evaluations. She also said the hearing, initially scheduled to last four weeks, should instead run about ten days.
The lawyers for the children set the deadline at April 19, 2027. In her interview, Chantal Ferreira said she hoped for a hearing before April 20. That date marks the end of the first six-month extension of pretrial detention. By then, investigators will need to search for more remains, test the consistency of the account, and clarify the circumstances of death. Cédric Jubillar’s confessions have profoundly changed the case; they have eliminated neither the contradictions nor the need for a new trial.