French chef Jean-François Poinard has been missing for about two years, and police have only just discovered what happened to him: his girlfriend killed him and put his body in the freezer. Guylene Collober told police she fatally punched Poinard in late 2008 and left the body in the bathroom for several days before purchasing a freezer to store her former lover's corpse, where he remained until recently.
A macabre ending to a tragic relationship: prosecutor Marc Desert believes Collober had been abusing Poinard for years, and called her "narcissistic, possessive, violent." Neighbors would frequently see him with cuts and bruises, and she rarely allowed him to see friends and family.
Poinard was a fourth generation cook, and opened several restaurants in Lyon between 1960s and 1990s, including Restaurant de Paris and the Panier à Salade. Poinard had retired from the restaurant industry by the time he moved in with Collober.
· Famed French chef turns up dead in freezer [Globe and Mail]
· All Chef Crime on Eater [-E-]
Jean-François Poinard [Photo: Maxppp / ZUMA Press]