On 4 June, the body of 11-year-old Lyhanna was discovered in an abandoned barn in Puycasquier, in the Gers department of southwestern France. An autopsy has now confirmed that she was raped before her death, and forensic experts identified DNA traces matching the primary suspect, Jérôme Barella, a 41-year-old local father, according to French judicial authorities.

Barella was placed in pre-trial detention in isolation at Mont-de-Marsan prison. The prosecutor in Auch has disclosed that the suspect was the subject of two prior complaints for the rape of minors, in 2022 and 2025. The first was dismissed without further action; the second, filed in August 2025, was not forwarded to the gendarmerie until January 2026 and had not led to any indictment before Lyhanna's disappearance. The cause of the child's death remains undetermined, with forensic examinations continuing.

French media, including Le Figaro and reports relayed by Argentina's Radio Mitre, have detailed a wider family history of sexual violence allegations: the suspect's father was accused in 2013 of raping a granddaughter, a case later archived for lack of evidence, and his brother was briefly held after a defamation complaint but had a prior accusation of kidnapping and rape. These accounts have not been independently confirmed by judicial officials. The case has exposed what the French government itself has called systemic failings in the handling of sexual abuse complaints, prompting a coalition of feminist and child-protection associations to call a national protest on 4 July, demanding a comprehensive law modelled on Spain's gender-violence legislation.

The political response has been divided. Some cabinet members, including Gérald Darmanin, have expressed reservations about the proposed "integral law" pushed by activist groups, while editorialists in France have warned against allowing ideological framing to overshadow the specific needs of child protection. Lyhanna was buried in a private ceremony on 12 June. The investigation remains open, with authorities awaiting final forensic conclusions on the exact cause of death, and Barella has not been convicted of any charge related to the case.