Two men have been detained after a young woman’s burned body was found in a vineyard in southern France, the local prosecutor has said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Nîmes prosecutor Cécile Gensac confirmed the body found in the Saint-Gilles vineyard belonged to social media influencer Sonia Bellina.
The 29-year-old had a following of around 260,000 on TikTok and was visiting her family in the area a month before her 30th birthday.
The two men were taken into police custody on Wednesday due to “evidence suggesting their direct or indirect involvement in the incident”, the prosecutor said.
Police opened a murder investigation after a farmer found a body lying between rows of vines in the village near Nîmes on 12 August, but authorities did not confirm Bellina’s identity for several days.
The prosecutor’s initial assessment was that the body belonged to a young woman, but more tests were needed to confirm who it was.
In their latest update on Wednesday, Gensac said authorities could now confirm Bellina’s identity after various investigations and DNA analysis.
She acknowledged that Bellina’s name had been “widely circulated over the past 48 hours”.
Prior to Gensac’s update, the family’s lawyer told French media that relatives were sure the body was Bellina’s.
Mourad Battikh told broadcaster RTL the 29-year-old’s body had been “abandoned” and “almost thrown away like garbage” in what he described as “a murder of rare savagery”.
In the days since the scorched body was found, the identity and the circumstances of the death had sparked online speculation and rumours.
A woman who described herself as the influencer’s sister – but did not share her name – said she was convinced the body found in the Saint-Gilles vineyard was her sister’s before it was confirmed.
In an interview with the Midi Libre newspaper, she shared her family’s ordeal and the harassment she says they have faced. According to her, some people have said Bellina “deserved what happened to her”.
The family’s lawyer has been firm in regards to online comments, saying he would “let nothing slide”. Anything published would be subject to scrutiny and reported if necessary, Battikh said.
“The family is going through an extremely violent ordeal,” he said in a press release, adding: “They request respect for their privacy and their grief and will not be making any further statements”.
