Child found dead with towel round neck in France

A 12-year-old boy was found dead near the city centre of Rennes, France, on the banks of the Vilaine river. French police launched a murder investigation after the child was discovered with a wet bath towel tied very tightly around his neck. Prosecutors said the circumstances leading to the death have not yet been established. They added that involvement of a third party is among the hypotheses. Police conducted examinations at the scene on Sunday evening near a residential complex close to the river. A local resident described the area as quiet and said she had never been bothered there.

"French police launched a murder investigation Sunday after after a 12-year-old boy was found dead near a city centre with a towel tied around his neck, prosecutors said."

"The child was found on the banks of the Vilaine river in the northwestern city of Rennes, the local prosecutors' office said in a statement. "The circumstances that led to the death have yet to be established," but "the involvement of a third party is among the hypotheses", it added."

""A wet bath towel was tied very tightly around his neck." Police were at the scene on Sunday evening, carrying out examinations near a residential complex close to the river, an AFP journalist saw."

""It's a real shock. It's a quiet neighbourhood, not far from the centre. I've never been bothered," a local resident in her thirties, who declined to give her name, told AFP."

Read at The Local France