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After French influencer Sonia Bellina’s dead body was discovered “partially burned” in a vineyard, two men were arrested as part of the murder investigation, according to local police.
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A murder investigation is ongoing amid a French influencer’s death.
A week after the body of Sonia Bellina—known for her lip-sync videos on TikTok—was discovered “partially burned” in a vineyard in Saint-Gilles, France, authorities arrested two men, according to a press release from the Nîmes Public Prosecutor’s Office translated from French.
“Investigators from the Nîmes criminal investigation unit have today arrested two men,” the Aug. 19 release said, “who have been placed in police custody based on evidence suggesting their direct or indirect involvement in the events.”
Since then, the Prosecutor’s Office shared in an Aug. 20 release that one of the individuals has been released because “the evidence gathered has not made it possible to establish that person’s involvement in the events.”
However, it added, the second individual remained in custody after an extension to keep him detained was granted.
After Bellina’s body was discovered Aug. 12, the Prosecutor’s Office announced that a murder investigation was “immediately opened” and that an autopsy would be conducted Aug. 13. Those results have not yet been released.
Since then, a woman who identified herself as Bellina’s sister shared that the influencer went missing on Aug. 10.
"She said she was going out one evening, but she never came home," she told local French outlet Midi Libre during an Aug. 17 TikTok live, per France 3. "On Wednesday morning, they found her body in Saint-Gilles."
Sonia Bellina/Instagram
Bellina’s sister also detailed some of the cruelty her family has faced amid the murder investigation, telling Midi Libre, according to BBC, that some people have said that Bellina “deserved what happened to her.”
In response to the online comments, Mourad Battikh—the lawyer representing Bellina’s family—has said that he would “let nothing slide” while asking for privacy.
"The family is going through an extremely violent ordeal," he said in a press release, per BBC. "They request respect for their privacy and their grief and will not be making any further statements."
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