LILLE, France, Sept 22, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A man accused of murdering a schoolgirl in northern France over three decades ago goes on trial on Monday, in one of the country's oldest cold cases to reach court in recent years.

The killing of 17-year-old Nadege Desnoix in 1994 in the Aisne region had for years remained unsolved until DNA evidence led to the arrest of Pascal Lafolie, now 58, in 2021.

Lafolie faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted by the criminal court in the town of Laon. A verdict is expected on Wednesday.

"It's a miracle that we have got this far," Arnaud Miel, a lawyer for the victim's mother, told AFP.

In late May 1994, Desnoix's stabbed body was discovered under some foliage on a side road leading to her high school in the town of Chateau-Thierry.

Near her schoolbag were a nylon cord and a freshly picked rose. An autopsy revealed no signs of sexual assault.

Investigators looked into numerous leads, including her boyfriend and the notorious serial killer Michel Fourniret, but found no concrete evidence.

- 'Memory lapses' -

Genetic evidence was discovered on Desnoix's clothing, but DNA databases of suspects and people convicted in other cases failed to find a conclusive match -- until 2021.

That year, new tests revealed that Lafolie's DNA, taken a few months earlier in a domestic violence case, matched that found on a hairband Desnoix was wearing when she died.

Lafolie, who has previous convictions for rape and sexual assault, initially confessed to investigators during questioning.

But he later retracted his statement and now says he is innocent.

"His ability to remember is not complete; these events date back more than 30 years," his lawyer, Justine Devred, told AFP.

"He admits to having been there, he remembers being there with his brother, but then he has memory lapses," Devred said.

Lafolie says he was driving his brother to an appointment in the area on the day they crossed paths with Desnoix.

He says he tried to stop his brother from harming the girl, prompting his brother to strike him repeatedly on the head, causing gaps in his memory.

The investigation has ruled out the involvement of his brother, who died a few months before Lafolie's arrest.