A murder probe has been launched after the body of a film producer who has worked with Joan Collins and Sheridan Smith was found in a shallow grave at her £400,000 home two days after she was reported missing.
Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, was found buried in the garden of her house on a tree-lined street in the wealthy suburb of Kew in south-west London.
It has now emerged she was due to meet a man she described as a 'charismatic vet' for coffee just hours before her death, according to a friend.
Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, a 34-year-old PR executive assistant from Richmond on Thames, was reported missing after she failed to turn up to work on Monday
Police launched a missing persons inquiry after the PR executive assistant and lifestyle blogger - a French national - failed to turn up to work on Monday.
She was last seen alive on Saturday night at a Sainsbury's, a few streets away from where she lived on Darell Road. A hunt has now been launched for her killer but so far there have been no arrests.
Her friend Daniel Hughes, 27, said he had spoken to her best friend, who reported her missing.
'I think the last point the CCTV caught her was outside a Sainsbury's on Saturday evening in Richmond,' he said.
'She was meant to go shopping in Oxford Street on Sunday, daytime. She was meant to meet a man for coffee on the Sunday evening. We're not sure when the murder took place, whether it was Saturday night or Sunday night.
'She was meant to move out of that house on Monday morning.'
Mr Hughes said he found the proposed meeting before his friend's murder 'a bit suspicious' and said he had been told the man was a 'charismatic' vet.
'She met him in a shop or something like that and then he must have chatted to her then and they arranged a coffee on Sunday evening,' he said.
'We don't know if she went out to meet him or not because we don't know what the point was when that happened.'
A blue forensics tent was erected near to where Ms Garcia-Bertaux' body was discovered last night. A police cordon has been erected sealing off the area
Mr Hughes, who said he previously worked with Ms Garcia-Bertaux at the Discovery Channel, said she was single and lived alone with her two dogs.
'She's tall, got a lot of presence. Always very friendly, very talkative, would never have hurt anyone.
'Got a lot of confidence and passion, a lovely lady. She had a lot of friends as well, including me,' he said.
'I'm pretty harrowed about it. I've been in that house, I've been in that garden. It's creepy, it's upset me quite a lot.'
Members of Ms Garcia-Bertaux's family, who are believed to have flown into the UK from France, have been informed of developments and are being supported by specially trained officers, police said.
No-one has been arrested and a post-mortem examination is to be carried out.
A large police cordon has been put in place around the scene in Darell Road which extends to cover the garden and passageway area at the back of the terraced property.
With the noise of playing children echoing from a nearby school, forensics officers in blue suits could be seen erecting a large tent, with evidence markers visible down the narrow alley between a number of homes.
A neighbour who did not want to be named said others on the street have told him they had seen a man visiting the property 'now and again', and added: 'I did not see her very much.'
Another told how he saw Ms Garcia-Bertaux with a 'scruffy looking geezer' days before she went missing.
Paul Watkins, 63, said he saw her walking her Rottweiler and Husky dog in a park near her home. He said: 'She was usually on her own when she walked her dogs and we would stop and chat, mostly about the dogs.
'Last Wednesday I saw her as I was leaving and she was with this scruffy looking geezer. He was 5ft 10 and was holding one of the dogs by a lead. I did not speak to him'.
Meanwhile, a producer who worked with Ms Garcia-Bertaux on a number of projects - including the short film Gerry with Joan Collins and Tower Block with Sheridan Smith and Jack O'Connell - said she was 'absolutely devastated' to hear of her friend's death.
Laureline (pictured) was last seen alive on Saturday night at a Sainsbury's, a few streets away from where she lived on Darell Road. So far there have been no arrests
The property on Darell Road in Kew, south west London, where Laureline Garcia-Bertaux was found in a shallow grave in the garden
In June last year Ms Garcia-Bertaux posted on Instagram about her joy of working with Joan Collins on the short film Gerry
Producer Hester Ruoff, who spoke to her close friend hours before she was reported missing, told The Telegraph: 'Laureline was incredibly loyal - she had my back 100 per cent. She would give up her contacts for the benefit of the film, which is just so very, very rare in the industry.
'She became so much more than my line producer, she became a very close friend. She was just so spirited and very loyal and when you find someone like that you do everything you can not to let them go.'
Ms Garcia-Bertaux's profile on the film industry website IMDb said she was born on November 25, 1984, in Aix-en-Provence in southern France and had lived in Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean.
She began performing at an early age before developing an interest in street dance, modern jazz, ballet and belly dancing.
Ms Garcia-Bertaux, who had a Rottweiler named Jazz, had been a dancer for almost 20 years. She performed in a cover band called The Tams and wrote her own music.
She was also a dog lover, and in her final post last month she wrote: 'Every morning I'm struggling to get out of bed for this one! It's so hard to resist to cuddle him.'
Her neighbour Mr Watkins said he had been told others living nearby had previously complained about her two dogs barking.
One in her 60s said: 'She lived there for about 18 months - you barely saw her, but you could hear her.
'She always spoke in French and was very loud, chatting on the phone at all hours. I used to see her walking her dogs, one rottweiler and one husky, they were beautiful, they didn't make a lot of noise.
'She was on her own as far as I'm aware, I never saw anyone coming in an out apart from her.
Forensic teams at the home on Darell Road in Kew, south-west London where the body of Laureline Garcia-Bertaux was found
Detectives can be seen walking around the crime scene with clipboards - as police patrol the surrounding area. Pictured: Forensic teams
Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, (pictured) from Richmond, was reported missing after she did not turn up for work on Monday
A map showing where Ms Garcia-Bertaux was last seen at a Sainsbury's supermarket, and where her body was found at her home in Darell Road, less than half a mile away
Another neighbour said: 'There's not much I can say other than she was nice enough, I used to say hello. She lived alone I think. Nobody else was there but the dogs, she loved them.'
A single reclinable sofa chair could be seen outside the terraced house where the victim was believed to have lived.
The small front garden of the two-storey open brick house, worth more than £800,000 and which had been split into two flats, was overgrown with grass and plants.
The murder scene lies just 30 foot from Darell Primary and Nursey School.
Police forensics remove items from athe property on Darell Road in Kew, south-west London where the body of Laureline Garcia-Bertaux was found in a shallow grave
Detectives can be seen walking around the crime scene with clipboards - as police patrol the surrounding area.
Neighbour Bob Bassett, 75, said that he knew of Ms Garcia-Bertaux, and would speak to her about her two large dogs.
'She was quiet. I never saw a boyfriend,' he said, adding that as far as he knows she lived in the ground-floor flat alone, and was originally from France.
Another neighbour who did not want to be named said he had previously seen her with a leonberger - a large breed of dog.
He said others on the street have told him they had seen a man visiting the property 'now and again', and added: 'I did not see her very much.'
A large police cordon has been put in place around the scene in Darell Road which extends to cover the garden and passageway area at the back of the terraced property.
With the noise of playing children echoing from a nearby school, forensics officers in blue suits could be seen erecting a large tent, with evidence markers visible down the narrow alley between a number of homes.
Although formal identification has not taken place, Laureline's family have been informed of developments and are being supported by specially trained officers.
On her social media profiles Ms Garcia-Bertaux described herself as a line producer for short films, an executive assistant, a PR and marketing worker and a lifestyle blogger and fashion stylist.
Her LinkedIn page said she had been working as an executive assistant at the London PR agency Golin since January.
She also founded a video and online production firm called Black Balloons Studios in October last year, and runs a fashion and lifestyle blog called Style & T.
Although formal identification has not taken place, Laureline's family have been informed of developments and are being supported by specially trained officers
Forensics officers in blue suits could be seen erecting a large tent, with evidence markers visible down the narrow alley between a number of homes
A forensic tent was spotted in the garden of the house in Kew where the body of Ms Garcia-Bertaux was discovered
The profile said she moved to London in 2009 to pursue a career in the 'creative industry', aspiring to be a film director and screenwriter.
It said her film credits include the movies Tower Block, staring Sheridan Smith and Jack O'Connell, and Gerry, starring Joan Collins.
Joan Collins is pictured on the set for short film Gerry, which Ms Garcia-Bertaux worked on as a producer
In December she hinted that she had endured a tough year.
She wrote on Facebook: 'I can clearly say that despite how bad this year has been! I've never felt closer to my friends and family!'
When she went missing she was said to visit the Twickenham area as well as Camden, north London, and the Dorset resort town of Bournemouth.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, from Richmond, was reported missing after she did not turn up for work on Monday.
'During the late evening of Wednesday, officers located a body in a shallow grave in a garden in Darell Road, Kew.
'Although formal identification has not taken place, Laurline's family have been informed of developments and are being supported by specially trained officers.
'A forensic crime scene is in place. A post-mortem examination will be held in due course. There have been no arrests.
'A murder investigation has been launched by Detectives from the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command.
'Any witnesses or anyone with any information is asked to call police.'
Police activity at the property on Darell Road in Kew, south-west London where the body of Ms Garcia-Bertaux was found in a shallow grave in the garden
On her social media profiles Ms Garcia-Bertaux described herself as a line producer for short films, an executive assistant, a PR and marketing worker and a lifestyle blogger and fashion stylist. The scene at her home is pictured
Her body was discovered in a garden in Darell Road (pictured) in Kew, south-west London. So far there have been no arrests
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/07/murder-probe-is-launched-after-body-of-woman-is-found-in-a-shallow-grave/
Main photo article A murder probe has been launched after the body of a film producer who has worked with Joan Collins and Sheridan Smith was found in a shallow grave at her £400,000 home two days after she was reported missing.
Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, 34, was found buried in the garden of her house on a ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/07/16/10698474-6782039-image-a-21_1551974810045.jpg
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