Three illegal Algerian migrants slashed a 70-year-old woman’s throat inside her residence in a retirement home in the French town of Mulhouse on Monday, announced the town’s public prosecutor, Edwige Roux-Morizot.

The victim’s body was discovered in her bathroom shortly before 4 p.m with a slash wound on her throat and stab wounds on her arms; the injuries indicated that she probably tried to defend herself. The prosecutor described “signs of great violence,” with the septuagenarian’s accommodation in complete disarray.

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The police investigation progressed rapidly. After a 35-year-old Algerian national was arrested during a burglary attempt on Franklin Place on Monday around 2 p.m., investigators found that the suspect had the identification card of the septuagenarian on him. He was then taken into custody.

The day before the murder, this same man had been checked on by police officers from the anti-crime brigade while he was with two younger individuals, who were located and placed in custody as well.

The three suspects are on French territory illegaly and without a permanent address. According to the police, the younger ones lied about being unaccompanied minors, which is a major problem not only plaguing France but all of Europe as well.

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All three were indicted before being remanded in custody. The trio was already known to the police, and in their bags, the investigators found knives.

A judicial investigation for theft and murder has been opened, and investigators are also looking to determine how the three men entered the retirement home.