'We were amazed she turned up': Fresh twist in murder of British expat in Dordogne as friends reveal meeting at popular local bar between victim and the 'love rival' accused of her killing - and attack 'lies'

Marie-Laure Autefort’s brother was the first person I spoke to when I arrived in the tiny French village of Tremolat after Karen Carter’s murder in April last year.Philippe Monribot had parked his van in the car park next to the stone-brick Salle des Fetes and was putting up a poster for the flower festival he was organising.We were a few minutes into our conversation when he suddenly confessed that a 69-year-old woman who had been arrested on suspicion of killing Karen was none other than his sister.It was impossible, he said, that Marie-Laure, who had been released from custody after 40 hours of questioning and had fled to Paris to stay with friends, could have stabbed someone once, let alone eight times, at night, on a dark, remote driveway.‘Her arms are like this,’ he said, making a circle with his thumb and forefinger.‘She has no strength. She’s always been scared of the dark. Could someone like that slit a woman’s throat? She’s not capable of it. She’s too timid.’More than a year on from 65-year-old Karen’s horrific death, however, it is Marie-Laure, now 70, who has been formally placed under investigation by a judge for ‘pre-meditated murder’ – the French equivalent of being charged with a crime.This week’s dramatic development has sent shockwaves through one of the most idyllic villages in south-west France. Karen Carter was murdered outside her home in Dordogne last year with what a pathologist described as ‘exceptional violence’ which demonstrated the ‘desire to kill’ Karen was killed shortly after pulling up outside her home, while she was stretching across the back seat to reach her puppyWith a population of just 600, medieval Tremolat is a place beloved by British expats, many of whom have snapped up properties here.With Karen’s killing casting a long and terrible shadow over the community, speculation has been rife about whether the motive for her murder was the affair she was having with retired businessman Jean-Francois Guerrier.She was attacked after returning home from a wine-tasting evening hosted by Guerrier on the other side of the village.Marie-Laure Autefort, who had made no secret of her own love for 75-year-old Guerrier, was not among the guests that night.Over the past 14 months I have returned to Tremolat on several occasions to speak to those who knew Karen – as well as the brother of the woman who is now the prime suspect in this chilling case.Still living in their midst – I can exclusively reveal that divorced mother-of-three Marie-Laure has been seen driving around the village this week – locals are stunned that the respected former hospital theatre nurse and care worker is now officially ‘mise en examen’ after, according to police, ‘significant holes’ were found in the alibis she provided to gendarmes last year.More, later, of where she told her brother – and police – she was that night. More, too, of her bizarre childhood role as an extra in a cult 1960s horror film, filmed in Tremolat, about a serial killer stabbing women.For in yet another twist in this astonishing saga, a close friend of Karen’s told me this week that Karen and Marie-Laure didn’t even know each other and that, while Karen had heard of her ‘love rival’, she only ever laid eyes on her once – just six days before she was killed.They crossed paths, says the friend, at Cafe Village, a popular community hub and bar, when Marie-Laure paid an unexpected visit to the popular Wednesday social night, which features live music, dancing and a visit from the ‘Dordogne Chippy’ fish-and-chip van.As well as Karen, Guerrier – who was on the Cafe Village committee and often served behind the bar – was also present.‘We hadn’t seen Marie-Laure at Cafe Village for over a year,’ says the friend. ‘We were amazed when she turned up with a group of about six friends. She didn’t come over but Karen picked up on the tense atmosphere. She said, “What? What is it?” I told her Marie-Laure was there and she asked me to point her out.‘It was common knowledge that Marie-Laure was in love with Jean-Francois. She was shouting it from the rooftops.’Intriguingly, while village sources said Marie-Laure’s infatuation was one-sided, her brother claimed to me that some kind of relationship did actually exist.‘He took her to see the chateaux of the Loire Valley, to Paris, to fancy restaurants and so on,’ he told me last year. She had very little money. She fell in love with him, and as soon as he realised that, he bailed on her.’He also added that his sister’s arrest was a ‘stitch-up’. Speculation has been rife about whether the motive for her murder was the affair she was having with retired businessman Jean-Francois Guerrier Marie-Laure Autefort, now 70, who has been formally placed under investigation by a judge for ‘pre-meditated murder’‘It’s too easy to just arrest her,’ said Philippe, who runs the youth club in Tremolat.‘She made no secret of the fact she was in love with Guerrier. She was telling everyone in Tremolat, “I love him. I love him.” ’But a friend of Guerrier told me this week that claims of a relationship were ‘unbelievable’.‘It was clear she was fixated with him,’ said the friend. ‘I asked him if there was ever a relationship with her and he said, “What? No! Of course not.” I’m certain there was no relationship.’One explanation for Karen and Guerrier’s discretion was that she was still married to Alan Carter, the 66-year-old father of her four adult children, who was at the couple’s home in South Africa at the time of her death.While Mr Carter admitted to me on the phone last year that he had suspicions that Karen and Guerrier were having an affair, he says she denied it. While Karen had decided to make a new life in France and is said to have asked him for a divorce, he always had hope, he told me, that they would find a way to save their 30-year marriage.So how could Marie-Laure, a respected local woman with two grown-up sons and a daughter, have found out about Karen and Guerrier’s affair? While Tremolat is a close-knit community, secrets are almost impossible to keep and, as I discovered each time I visited, tensions beneath its bucolic surface run deep.Marie-Laure’s brother Philippe spoke of ‘bad feeling’ revolving around Cafe Village, implying that since it was founded five years ago as a volunteer-run social initiative, ‘Les Anglais’ had taken over what was meant to be a place for locals to go.‘We wanted a village cafe where we could go and talk to each other,’ he said. ‘A place where people like me, hunters and fishermen, could walk in wearing boots. But it’s not allowed. It’s not for the people of Tremolat.’Along with Guerrier, Marie-Laure was heavily involved with the cafe when it was set up in an old butcher’s shop.Guerrier, who comes from Paris and lived for several years in Camberley in Surrey while working for Fujitsu before moving to Tremolat when he retired, owns a large converted farmhouse set up on the hillside with views over the village.According to local sources, despite serving on the committee alongside the man she professed to love, Marie-Laure kept falling out with other volunteers.‘Right at the beginning she was really enthusiastic,’ says another who worked there. ‘She was there all the time, doing this and that. She thought she was very important. Then something would happen and she would storm off and say, “Right, that’s it. I resign. I’m never coming back.” Then she’d come back and then it would happen again a couple of months later. It was on, off, on, off.‘She was very sensitive. You were always walking on eggshells when you spoke to her. Then she completely quit about two years ago. I know why Jack the Ripper was protected for so longHi, I'm Alex Matthews, Editor of The Crime Desk.In 2014, we revealed the bombshell evidence identifying Aaron Kosminski as the fabled Jack the Ripper. Now, we can reveal his astonishing connection to the Freemasons and claims this motivated his killings and protected him from life in prison. Sign up here to get our exclusive piece for free. ‘The last conversation I had with her was at the annual village summer market. I said, “Hi Marie-Laure, how are you?” And you she replied, “What the f*** do you care?” ’Marie-Laure, who comes from a long-established local farming family, is a well-known figure in Tremolat and a keen amateur historian who co-wrote a book about the history of the village.As a 12-year-old girl she was an extra in the cult horror film Le Boucher – The Butcher – which was filmed in the village in 1969 and featured dozens of locals as extras.In 2018 she told a local radio station how she appeared in a funeral scene for which local firefighters sprayed the crowd and their umbrellas with hoses to make it look like it was raining. A framed poster for the Claude Chabrol film hangs on the wall inside Cafe Village.She was not among the 15 guests invited to the wine-tasting Guerrier hosted at his home on Tuesday, April 29, last year, the day of Karen’s murder. One guest who attended told me that he instinctively felt they were ‘being watched’.Karen left the event at around 10pm, saying she needed to take her new puppy, Haku, home to settle him. She set off in her Dacia Duster car back to Les Chouettes, the 250-year-old holiday home she bought 16 years ago, a five-minute drive away.After pulling up on the short driveway, she got out of the car, walked a couple of metres to the front door, unlocked it and switched on the inside light before returning to collect the puppy.The killer struck while she was stretching across the back seat to reach him, launching an attack of what a pathologist described as ‘exceptional violence’ which demonstrated the ‘desire to kill’.The first blow hit her in the back before she turned to face her assailant.Inflicted by a sharp object – the weapon, believed to be a long-bladed knife, has never been found – subsequent wounds penetrated her liver, her kidney and spine. Another cleaved her aorta. Her right arm was nearly severed. Guerrier, who told police he had locked up his home after the wine-tasting and driven down to spend the night with Karen, found her in a pool of blood on the driveway. He told a friend that what he saw was ‘just gore’.Marie-Laure, who was arrested the following day, was also released after providing police with an alibi for her whereabouts that night.Last year, her brother told me that Marie-Laure had been ‘at someone’s place having a meal’ at the time of the murder.‘So she couldn’t go and kill someone and be eating at that person’s place at the same time. The lady testified that she had indeed cooked a meal and confirmed that my sister didn’t pop out to kill someone and then come back.’He said that after his sister was released from custody she was traumatised. She told him: ‘People have said a lot of bad things about me.’According to an investigating source who spoke to the Daily Mail this week: ‘Her alibi was centred on helping to look after other people in Tremolat and it appeared very credible.‘She had spent much of her adult life as a care worker, was highly respected in the community, has no criminal record.‘Beyond this, she did not appear to have the physical strength to carry out such a violent attack and so was initially released.‘The inconsistencies were exposed after her story was checked out by police and this took a long time.’News that Marie-Laure has effectively been charged with Karen’s ‘premeditated murder’ sent shockwaves through Tremolat this week, even if she is presumed to be innocent until any trial takes place.‘This is very disturbing news,’ said one French local, a retired businessman in his 70s. ‘Marie-Laure was always very kind and helpful. It scarcely seems possible that she’s caught up in this. We would have far preferred it to be someone from outside Tremolat.’Another French neighbour, a woman in her late 70s, said: ‘I’ve known her for decades. She’s a decent person. This is just a nightmare. When you read details of the crime, it doesn’t seem possible that she could be guilty of such brutality.’Others questioned how on earth she could have carried out such a bloody crime without leaving any DNA trace or clues – let alone any sign of a weapon.Police with dogs spent days searching her car and home, a ten-minute walk across fields from Karen’s house, along with ancient caves on her land.Despite widespread testing, no match has ever been found for an unknown trace found on the door of Karen’s car.A Cafe Village source added: ‘Would she be clever enough to mastermind such a crime and cover all traces? The murder was a bloodbath. She’s very scatty. She lived in bit of a fantasy world, especially regarding Jean-Francois, but that doesn’t make her a killer.’For now, the shadow cast over Tremolat remains.