French newspapers Le Parisien and Le Dauphiné Libéré reports that heavy metal cover artist Jean-Pascal “JP” Fournier was arrested on Thursday for allegedly killing his 80-year-old father, Jean-Paul Fournier, by disemboweling him and shooting an arrow in his head.
The police apparently Jean-Paul‘s body on Wednesday (April 2) after being alerted by relatives. The victim’s wife, an elderly and sick woman, was upstairs when the police arrived.
Jean-Pascal reportedly tried to commit suicide, one day after allegedly committing the murder, by jumping from a bridge into the Isère river in the town of Saint-Martin-d’Hères in the suburbs of Grenoble.
The police were called, and the the 47-year-old suspect, who was not injured, was immediately taken by investigators to the Grenoble police station where he was placed in police custody.
One of the neighbors described Jean-Paul as “quiet” and “very kind.” As for Jean-Pascal, whom the neighbor saw from time to time, Jacques said: ‘He did not look mean. He must have gone crazy. Why? I do not know.”
Jean-Pascal Fournier has worked on more than 200 album covers — including AVANTASIA‘s The Metal Opera, DRAGONFORCE‘s Valley Of The Damned and EDGUY‘s The Savage Poetry — over the course of his nearly two-and-half-decade career. He has also designed the logos of several well-known metal acts.
