Two men arrested after influencer found dead in vineyard with body ‘partially burned’

Two men have been detained after an influencer’s body was found “abandoned” and “partially burned” in the middle of a vineyard in the South of France. 

A farm worker discovered a woman’s body lying between rows of vines on 12th August at a vineyard in Saint-Gilles, a historic region near Nîmes and Arles. She was naked, and her body had been burned. 

In an initial press release, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Nîmes said: “On Wednesday, 12th August, 2026, early in the morning, authorities from the Nîmes Gendarmerie were informed that an agricultural worker, upon arriving at a site within the municipality of Saint-Gilles (Gard department, 30), had discovered a partially burned body lying between rows of grapevines.”

 

 

 

 

 

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They have since confirmed in a second press release on 19th August that the body belonged to 29-year-old TikToker Sonia Bellina, who had more than 260,000 followers. She lived in Paris, but was visiting family in the area a month before her 30th birthday.

Authorities revealed that the Nîmes Criminal Investigation Unit has “arrested two men, who have been placed in custody based on evidence suggesting their direct or indirect involvement in the events”. 

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The family’s lawyer, Mourad Battikh, told RTL the 29-year-old’s body was “abandoned” and “almost thrown away like garbage” in what he alleges is “a murder of rare savagery”.

 

 

 

 

 

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Bellina had disappeared two days earlier, on 10th August. Describing the night she went missing on a TikTok live, her sister Mia said: “She told us at 1am, ‘I’ll be back, I’m going to see someone, I’ll be back quickly’. She didn’t take her bag, she didn’t take anything, she just walked out. Her phone went off at 2am. We tried to call her. Nothing. Her phone had been switched off.”

Mia alleged that Sonia “ran into the wrong guy at the wrong time,” but didn’t provide any further details. The investigation is still ongoing, and the detained men have not been named, but are reportedly known to police. 

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Featured image credit: @soniiabelliina/Instagram