A Brooklyn man has been charged in the stabbing death of his wife, whose dismembered body was found near their holiday home in the south of France, according to reports.
Billy Kruger was collared Friday as he was about to fly out of France from Toulouse – hours after police found the remains of his 52-year-old wife, Laure Bardina-Kruger, in a storm drain in the village of Peyriac-de-Mer, Agence France-Presse reported.
The French-American citizen was charged Sunday with aggravated murder after confessing to police to having stabbed his wife twice, telling the investigating magistrate that it was in self-defense, prosecutor Marie-Agnes Jolie told AFP.
The couple — who have spent a few weeks each year in Peyriac-de-Mer, on the Mediterranean, south of Narbonne — had planned to leave Friday for their home in Jakarta, Indonesia, where Bardina-Kruger worked as a teacher, the news outlet reported.
“The victim’s father sounded the alert after his daughter did not turn up for a family reunion in Carcassonne,” an investigator said, .
“She was due to say goodbye to everybody before the couple returned to Jakarta,” the source said.
“Instead, police were instructed to search for the victim and they found her body in a gutter in a road near the house.”
After Bardina-Kruger’s body was found, police launched a search for her husband, who was arrested in the departure area of the Toulouse airport.
On Sunday, a bouquet of white roses was placed at the top of the drain where her remains were found. Police found her luggage in their apartment.
Bardina-Kruger’s brother expressed the family’s shock in a post on Facebook.
“I have no words to qualify how we all feel right now,” Pierre Bardina wrote, thanking people for their support after the brutal murder of his sister, whose “kindness, energy, solar charisma, willpower and love she carried to her son Maximus.”
He added: “We don’t know all the facts yet, but we’ve never had an alarm signal from Laure, about violent acts against her from her husband. We still think it can only happen to others, but violence against women can happen at once.”
Bardina, the CEO of Nino Robotics, described his sister as “an exceptional person” whose “life has been a succession of adventures around the world.”
Helen He, a former colleague of the slain woman, also shared her grief online.
“I am absolutely devastated and heart broken to hear the news of the tragic death of my wonderful friend and former colleague Laure Bardina-Kruger,” He, a Mandarin teacher at the Shanghai Community International School, wrote on Facebook.
“She was such a bright, kind and beautiful person inside and out. I have 4 years of sweet memories working with her and laughing with her. When she left SCIS, we both promised that we would visit each other regularly after we retire,” she continued.
“I am saddened that this promise will never come true now that she has been taken away from us so suddenly. However, I am grateful that we managed to catch up over a year ago during a workshop in Singapore. She will be forever missed by many of us. Rest in Peace, Laure!”
Bardina-Kruger and her husband were last seen at a restaurant in Peyriac-de-Mer on Thursday night, hours before she was slain, the Mirror reported.
Bardina-Kruger, who taught at the Jakarta Intercultural School, had held previous teaching posts in Shanghai, Cairo and Hawaii, according to the outlet.
The La Dépêche du Midi newspaper reported that Kruger also worked as an instructor in Indonesia. His ties to Brooklyn were unclear.
“They was never a loud word between them. When they came to sit with us, they could have dinner, sip two or three glasses, but never more,” a friend of the couple told local media, the Mirror reported.