Mother and Four Children Brutally Murdered in Paris Suburb

A horrific and violent crime unfolded in a city near Paris during the Christmas season, as a mother and her four young children were found dead in their home.

The bodies of the family members were discovered on Christmas Day in their apartment in Meaux, France, according to reports by the AFP news agency and the Associated Press.

Authorities have identified the children's 33-year-old father as the primary suspect in the case. He was apprehended by police on Tuesday.

According to prosecutors, the 35-year-old mother and two daughters, aged 7 and 10, had been brutally stabbed to death. The two boys, aged 4 and 9 months, were suffocated or drowned.

"The mother and the two girls had received a very high number of knife wounds," stated the prosecutor, highlighting the extreme violence of the crime.

Meaux Mayor Jean-Francois Cope expressed his shock and horror, saying, "The human toll is horrifying, a whole family was killed, stabbed in atrocious conditions. It's an absolute horror."

Citing the prosecutor, the BBC

The prosecutor said the man will undergo psychiatric examinations. 

Neighbor Maissa Ketfi told the AP that the mother was "fighting for her children." 

"She was never complaining and one day you just learn this," she said Tuesday. "Yesterday at night, we all had a big knot in our stomach when we learned. We were terrorized, four kids and the youngest was nine months. We cannot even imagine the scene."