Frenchman Under Investigation In Swedish Killing

Cholet was arrested last week and held for questioning for two days.

A French judge has placed a suspect under formal investigation in connection with the killing of a Swedish teenager who was murdered in Paris earlier this month, a judicial source said on Sunday.

The charred body of Sussanna Zetterberg, 19, was discovered last weekend in woods outside Paris just hours after she left a nightclub in the heart of the French capital.

Her hands were handcuffed behind her back and a post-mortem showed she was stabbed and had four bullet holes in her head.

Bruno Cholet, 50, was placed under investigation for "kidnapping, detention followed by the death of the victim, bank card theft (and) fraud", the source said.

In France, being placed under formal investigation can make it possible to detain a suspect while a probe is carried out but it does not necessarily lead to trial and does not imply guilt.

Cholet was arrested last week and held for questioning for two days. He has denied killing Zetterberg and made no statement to the judge. He was placed in detention on Sunday night.

A key piece of evidence is a bag found in the suspect's car bearing the inscription "Sussanna 777", a police source said.

The bag also contained a pistol of the same calibre as the one used to kill Zetterberg as well as a silencer, ammunition and handcuffs.

Cholet had been employed as a driver but had also ran an illegal taxi and his car matched the description of the one the young woman is believed to have left the nightclub in.

Police were carrying out tests on the car and viewed recordings from a cash machine that Zetterberg's bank card was used in.

Prosecutors are investigating whether Zetterberg's murder has any links with a case in February when another 19-year-old Swede was raped by a man who had posed as a taxi driver.