Chef's killer leaves bloodbath
2008-01-08 23:32
Durban - The burnt body of celebrated French chef and restaurateur Yvonne Cosson has been found outside her Ramsgate home, where the lounge looked like a bloodbath.
It is believed the 69-year-old was overpowered while asleep, and murdered.
Judging from the blood in the lounge, on the TV and chairs, her murder had been particularly brutal, said Superintendent Zandra Hechter.
The attacker appeared to have carried her body outside and set it alight.
Cossons owned La Petite Normandie which was voted the best country restaurant in South Africa in 2005.
Ian Beattie, owner of another restaurant, said on Tuesday: "Shock does not describe what I feel.
"She was a petite woman. They could have taken anything they wanted: she wouldn't have been able to resist."
He and his wife, Ingrid, had worked for Cosson for a few weeks in 2006 after moving to the area from Taiwan to start a restaurant.
Classic French cuisine
Cosson, who ran a restaurant in Paris many years ago, has been well-known in the South Coast area for the past two decades.
Beattie described Cosson, who had Parkinson's Disease and recently had to deal with the death of her son, as a gentle soul with a passion for food, who would never harm anybody.
After a tip-off, police found her remains outside her house at 01:00 on Monday.
Hechter said police had investigated an odour and a mound of soil next to a wall.
They discovered Cosson's naked and charred body under plastic bags and soil from a flower bed.
Hechter said Cosson was last seen alive on Sunday.
Her restaurant, which adjoins the house on the premises, was usually closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Struggle in lounge
It was assumed her attacker struck on Sunday night while Cosson was asleep, said Hechter.
There were signs she had been dragged down the stairs to the lounge, where there had been a struggle.
Detectives have been combing the area for leads, trying to determine what had been taken from the ransacked house.
A police dog trained to sniff out body fluids such as blood and semen was brought in from Pietermaritzburg.
Hechter said the motive for the murder appeared to be robbery.
"Police have identified a possible suspect and hope to trace him soon," she said. Cosson's vehicle is missing.
Beattie said Cosson used to prepare classic, simple French cuisine from whatever ingredients she could lay her hands on and as the mood took her.
She was well known for her collection of French and South African wines, which included a rare one valued at R11 000.
One food critic had described dining at La Petite Normandie as "the cheapest possible way of visiting Normandy".