French Woman Buried Alive On First Date With Cyber-Boyfriend

A 25-year-old French woman who traveled to Morocco to meet her cyber-boyfriend ended up dying when the man buried her alive last month.

Mina el-Houari, of Moroccan descent, met the man on Facebook and maintained a relationship with him for several months, the Sky Valley Chronicle reported Tuesday. The two agreed to finally see each other for the first time in the man's home city of Fez, Morocco.

The couple was out on their first date when the woman, who was reportedly diabetic, collapsed. But instead of contacting the authorities the man buried his would-be girlfriend outside his house. The man, whose name has not been released, did not know Houari was still alive, the newspaper reported.

"Preliminary information indicates that the victim, who was diabetic, fell sick and the main suspect, thinking that she died, buried her in the garden, 10 centimeters under the ground," local police told AFP.

Police said there was no indication that violence was carried out against the victim when her body was discovered in the garden on May 26.

"The exact circumstances of her death have still not been clarified. An inquiry is underway," police said.

According to Houari's sister, the victim left France on May 19 to travel to Morocco for a vacation. But her suspicion was roused when the woman did not return like she was supposed to on May 23.

The man has since been taken into custody and is being "questioned for voluntary homicide," Romain Nadal, spokesman for the French foreign ministry, told Expatica France.

"The French authorities are in close contact with the Moroccan authorities to determine the exact circumstances," Nadal said.

But the Moroccan newspaper Al Massae reported that Houari and the suspect could have gotten into an argument before she fell ill, according to Expactica France.