In Menton, a caregiver suspected of having poisoned residents of an nursing home to steal their jewelry

Missing jewelry, substances administered to residents in nursing homes, the death of one of them; and at the heart of the questions, a caregiver in her fifties, now placed in pre-trial detention.

The case, revealed by the Nice prosecutor's office this Wednesday, begins in the town of Menton, in the Alpes-Maritimes. As the month of September draws to a close, a resident of an accommodation establishment for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) is hospitalized “in a state of abnormal drowsiness”. The analyzes reveal the taking of a medication. However, this does not appear on the old lady's list of treatments.

“Similar facts” were noted on a second resident. The day passes. The next day, several jewels were missing. An investigation was opened, and a woman was arrested a few days later. She is 53 years old, she is a temporary caregiver who works within the establishment. At her home were found “a certain number of jewelry and products likely to correspond to those used” against the residents, notes the Nice public prosecutor, Damien Martinelli.

Any other victims?

Concerning the suspect, there is evidence of a conviction in 2019 for theft, to the detriment of elderly people, “while she was a caregiver”. This resulted in a temporary ban on practicing this profession. Seven years have passed.

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In police custody, the fifty-year-old admits to having administered “substances to residents”, “to having committed thefts”, invokes the “need to finance her drug consumption”. But investigators are also closely interested in the case of another resident, who died in another establishment, at the end of July 2026. Period during which the same caregiver worked there.

The latter contests “any intention of homicide”. Could she have unintentionally caused a death with the aim of stealing jewelry? A judicial investigation has been opened and could make it possible to determine possible other victims, cross-referenced by the presence of the temporary worker and other corroborating elements. On October 10, the 53-year-old woman was indicted on charges of “administration of a harmful substance with premeditation having harmed the integrity of a person without causing incapacity”, but also “administration of a harmful substance causing death without the intention of giving it to a vulnerable person” and “aggravated theft”.