Corpse of Chef Found in Freezer; Possibly there for 2 Years

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38663456/ns/today-foodwine?gt1=43001

Corpse of renowned French chef found in freezer
Body of Jean-Francois Poinard may have been hidden by girlfriend for two full years

The corpse of renowned French chef Jean-Francois Poinard has been found in a freezer after his girlfriend confessed to her daughter that “something unfortunate” had happened to him.

Police who discovered the body Tuesday in an apartment in Lyon, France, said it may have been hidden in the freezer for two full years. Officers who raided the apartment said Poinard’s former girlfriend, Guylene Collober, burst into tears when they arrived.

“I think you’ll find what you’re looking for,” Collober, 51, told police.

The body of 71-year-old Poinard was curled up in a fetal position and covered with plastic bags inside a chest freezer, police said.

“An initial examination suggests it could have been there for up to two years,” a police spokesman said. “A full post-mortem examination will be carried out to discover the precise cause of death.”

Poinard was widely recognized as one of Lyon’s best chefs in the 1970s and 1980s. Between the 1960s and the early 1990s, he ran the Restaurant de Paris and the Panier à Salade in Lyon.

Lyon newspaper Le Progrès described Poinard as one of the city’s “great names” in gastronomy and said he represented the fourth generation of one of France’s “great cooking dynasties.”

“He was a passionate and exacting chef, but also a true ‘bon viveur’ who was as well liked out of the kitchen as he was respected inside it,” Le Progrès reported.

Collober is in custody and has been charged with concealing a body. The police spokesman said she could face additional charges once the autopsy’s findings come to light.

After Collober opened up to her daughter about Poinard during a night out, her daughter alerted police, who then raided the apartment.

Poinard's son — Jean-Stephane Poinard, also a chef — owns the Bistro de Leon restaurant in St. Augustine, Fla. In a statement, he described his father as an “amazing chef” and a “perfectionist who loved people and to share the pleasures of his food.”

“The last time I saw my Father was June 2007, just before my family and I came to the U.S.,” Jean-Stephane Poinard said. “There are so many things I never finished with my Father and sadly, the best part of his life was still ahead. ...

“Unfortunately, for many years he was a different man from the Father I knew growing up, actually before his relationship with Guylene Collober. Somehow she isolated him from everyone he loved. It was a mystery to me and to our entire family why he seemed to always be under a spell, even seemed to be caught in a spider web of strange occurrences.

“We all recognized that she knew how to manipulate my Father and cut him from people who loved him. One by one, he lost communication with his friends, culinary colleagues and family members. In fact, for over a year when I came to America I kept my French phone number and hoped that one day he would call but it never happened. Even our children wrote him letters and cards with no replies. ...

“We are very private people so I prefer not to go to France to his funeral. Once the gossip and spotlight have dimmed, I will go to pay my respects with my family. For now, I want to protect my children who are 12 and 13. I want to remember my Father as the incredible man who inspired me in my career.”

 

How could you guys be so cold about something like this.

Sorry couldn't resist.

Anyway feel bad for the chef's son. What a terrible thing to hear about your father after no news about him for two years.