France - Karen Carter, 65, stabbed to death, Tremolat, Dordogne, 29 April 2025

[Sor Juana]

I do think early reports stated the event had been at the Cafe Village, but I think the wine tasting was not at the Cafe Village, it was held at JFG’s home, which is located “high in the hills above Trémolat last Tuesday evening, which had been attended by Mrs Carter.”

"Carter had reportedly been at a wine tasting party at Cafe Village Trémolat, described on Facebook as “an association that wants to offer the people of Trémolat and the surrounding area a meeting place”, with about 15 other guests, including Eric Chassagne, the village’s mayor." (The Guardian) But anyhow, it was a very tight area: JFG was 3km up the road from the Cafe, and Karen was less than 2km down the road.

 

[indicolite22]

Why, oh why didn't Karen and JFG drive together, in 2 cars, but one after the other?? Or would then two people have been dead at the end?

Perhaps they didn't want other guest to see them leaving together.

 

[slowpoke]

"Carter had reportedly been at a wine tasting party at Cafe Village Trémolat, described on Facebook as “an association that wants to offer the people of Trémolat and the surrounding area a meeting place”, with about 15 other guests, including Eric Chassagne, the village’s mayor." (The Guardian) But anyhow, it was a very tight area: JFG was 3km up the road from the Cafe, and Karen was less than 2km down the road.

Yes, I realize there are conflicting reports regarding the location of the wine-tasting event. Here’s a couple of links stating it was at JFG’s home:

From Sud Ouest (translation from the original French)
“It was on the way back from a wine tasting, with friends, on Tuesday, April 29 at around 10 p.m., that Karen Carter was savagely attacked in front of her house. Arriving shortly after on the scene, her new companion, who had organized the evening at his house, found her, lying in her blood, at the foot of her car.”

From The Times (a British newspaper)
“[JFG], 74, found Carter dying from multiple stab wounds in her driveway at 10pm on April 29, after she had left his farmhouse on the edge of Trémolat where he had hosted a wine-tasting event. He had followed her at a discreet distance to spend the night at her converted barn.”

 

[FromGermany1]

Perhaps they didn't want other guest to see them leaving together.

Shouldn't the two of them be seen in the same vehicle on the way there for some reason?
Did Karen think, that there was a danger (in the form of a "spy" for example) lurking on the way?

ETA: When my children are visiting me, sometime leaving my home again and drive back to their location 150km or even 700km away, then I always ask for a call, when they have gotten home unharmed. I wouldn't ask, when the return trip is only 1 km away in the same town, like where my third child is living.
I wonder about the call, Karen and JFG had agreed on. It must have had a certain reason, MOO.

 

[slowpoke]

Shouldn't the two of them be seen in the same vehicle on the way there for some reason?
Did Karen think, that there was a danger (in the form of a "spy" for example) lurking on the way?

ETA: When my children are visiting me, sometime leaving my home again and drive back to their location 150km or even 700km away, then I always ask for a call, when they have gotten home unharmed. I wouldn't ask, when the return trip is only 1 km away in the same town, like where my third child is living.
I wonder about the call, Karen and JFG had agreed on. It must have had a certain reason, MOO.

I keep wondering about the call, too. Was it really an agreed upon call, or was it a fib by JFG to cover that JFG and KC had already intended that JFG would be spending the night?

Or, if it really was supposed to be a call to say she was safely home, was this a usual pattern as they just liked to talk in those instances, or was there something happening that was giving concern? Because reports always pointed out how villagers said how safe their village was.

I was revisiting older articles to refresh my memory on this case, and came to the article that quoted a “French woman living nearby”: (LINK)

“'Police with dogs and forensic investigators were all over the field examining the tracks and where they think a car was parked next to the wood,' says a French woman living nearby. 'The tracks have disappeared now because the grass was cut a few days ago but they were quite clear.”

It said this was around a half mile from Karen’s, a 6 minute walk. I had a funny-not-funny thought that maybe this was where JFG would park when he’d come to spend the night at Karen’s, as part of his being ‘discreet’. Because if you spend the night but park right in her driveway, how is that being discreet??

jmo

 

[Kemug]

Or, if it really was supposed to be a call to say she was safely home, was this a usual pattern as they just liked to talk in those instances, or was there something happening that was giving concern? Because reports always pointed out how villagers said how safe their village was.

Not any more, they don't. And I should think that B&B's aren't doing so much trade these days.

 

[Sor Juana]

Yes, I realize there are conflicting reports regarding the location of the wine-tasting event. Here’s a couple of links stating it was at JFG’s home:

From Sud Ouest (translation from the original French)
“It was on the way back from a wine tasting, with friends, on Tuesday, April 29 at around 10 p.m., that Karen Carter was savagely attacked in front of her house. Arriving shortly after on the scene, her new companion, who had organized the evening at his house, found her, lying in her blood, at the foot of her car.”

From The Times (a British newspaper)
“[JFG], 74, found Carter dying from multiple stab wounds in her driveway at 10pm on April 29, after she had left his farmhouse on the edge of Trémolat where he had hosted a wine-tasting event. He had followed her at a discreet distance to spend the night at her converted barn.”

I suspect the discrepancy in the reporting comes from conflating two separate events. The local newspaper (Sud Quest) likely referred to the official wine tasting at the Café Village, and references to JFG’s farmhouse point to a private evening for friends. It’s a logical distinction: a standard wine tasting usually only provides light snacks like cheese and breads (to cleanse the palate and provide a balance of fat, salt, and acid) whereas JFG may have hosted a full dinner for his guests at home afterward. JMO

 

[Sor Juana]

In mid-July, the police called in divers to fish out a mysterious bag below the Trémolat bridge.

RSBM. Thanks for that reference - it's interesting how those mentions of the bag have been scrubbed now that the info is sealed. Based on the French press from last year (late April - early May), the police were definitely looking at a 'staged robbery' angle early on. If a bag was found by the bridge, it probably wasn't Karen's (since hers was in the car), but those recovered items were important enough for dna testing. It raises a huge question: if someone was calm enough to plan a 'staged' robbery, why was the actual attack so frenzied? Those two behaviours don't usually belong to the same person. JMO