A love rival accused of stabbing British expat Karen Carter to death in rural France has a disease that leaves her ‘barely able to cut open an envelope’, say her friends.
Grandmother Marie-Laure Autefort, 70, is accused of plunging a sharp weapon into Ms Carter, 65, at least eight times in the village of Trémolat, in the Dordogne.
The attack in April last year was so violent that Ms Carter, who played football regularly in a local team, died within minutes from a massive haemorrhage.
Both women were said to be in love with the same man – Jean-François Guerrier, 75, a former Fujitsu executive.
But those close to slightly built Autefort, who is under 5ft 5in, insist she would have been incapable of using such force. One said: ‘She suffers from severe osteoarthritis, especially in her hands.
‘The pain and lack of movement is so severe, she is barely able to cut open an envelope.
‘The idea that she turned into a super-fit assassin who managed to overpower Ms Carter in a few minutes doesn’t sound right at all.’
Her condition had been verified by her doctors, a friend added.
Marie-Laure Autefort (pictured) has been charged with the killing of Karen Carter in the Dordogne village of Trémolat in April 2025 but friends insist she would have been incapable of using such force
Karen Carter (pictured) was found dead outside a guesthouse she ran in the village, which is east of Bordeaux
Ms Carter was seeing Jean-François Guerrier (pictured) romantically at the time of her death
Despite this police instantly considered divorced mother-of-three Autefort their prime suspect and she was arrested within a day.
She was released after 48 hours but rearrested 15 months later and was this month charged with premeditated murder. An investigating source said: ‘Inconsistencies were exposed in her original alibi. She made out that she was looking after somebody on the night, but the facts were very vague.’
Both Autefort and Ms Carter lived alone.
Ms Carter was on the verge of divorcing her South Africa-based husband Alan while Autefort had recently ended her marriage to retired stonemason Jean-Claude Autefort.
The key players in the love triangle saw each other regularly at the village cafe. Former care worker Autefort was ‘madly in love’ with Mr Guerrier and upset by his burgeoning relationship with Ms Carter, say many sources.
Mr Guerrier hosted a party for friends including Ms Carter on the night she died. He then followed her to her home in his car.
When he got there he found her in a pool of blood by her door.
He told police that he ‘had come to spend the night at Karen’s’, leaked interview notes reveal.
The 65-year-old was attacked at the property in village of Trémolat on April 29 last year
Ms Carter with her South Africa-based husband, Alan Carter, who she had been on the verge of divorcing
It was Mr Guerrier who told police to investigate Autefort, but DNA taken from Mr Guerrier and Autefort does not match that found at the crime scene.
The police record states: ‘He described her as a woman who had fallen madly in love with him the previous year, to the point of divorcing the father of her children after decades of marriage.
‘She was then terribly frustrated when she realised this budding passion was not reciprocated.’
Mr Guerrier told police that Autefort lived a ten-minute walk from Ms Carter’s home, cutting across some fields.
His words guaranteed her arrest but she then provided an alibi. Autefort is on bail, and conditions include being unable to stay in Trémolat.
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