Kim Kardashian Paris Robbery Suspect Dies Before Trial

One of the suspects in Kim Kardashian’s 2016 Paris robbery has died.

The French court confirmed at the beginning of the trial of The Kardashians star’s alleged attackers that one of the defendants in the case had passed away, the New York Times reports.

Another suspect was also determined in court to be too ill to stand trial in the proceedings that kicked off Monday.

A group of 10 people, nicknamed the “grandpa robbers” by French media due to their age, are facing charges in connection with the 2016 robbery at Kardashian’s Hôtel de Pourtalès suite, during which they are accused of stealing $9 million in jewelry.

The suspects are accused of entering the luxury suite wearing ski masks and clothing with police markings before holding a gun to the reality personality’s head, tying her up, and robbing her. They are facing charges including armed robbery and kidnapping.

The trial is scheduled to run through May 23, and Kardashian is set to testify on May 13. Her attorney, Michael Rhodes, told NBC News his client has “tremendous appreciation and admiration for the French judicial system,” and that she “has been treated with great respect by the French authorities.”

The Skims founder previously shared her memory of the robbery during a 2017 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, recalling that she at first thought the men entering her room were sister Kourtney Kardashian returning from a night out.

“I’m calling to them, like, ‘Hello! Hello! Hello!’ and there’s no answer,” she said. “My heart started to get really tense. Like, you know your stomach just kind of like knots up and you’re like okay, what’s going on? I knew something wasn’t quite right.”

Once she realized what was going on, Kim said she feared she was going to be raped and killed. “He grabbed my legs — I had no clothes on under there — and he pulled me towards him at the front of the bed and I thought, ‘Okay, this is the moment he’s going to rape me,’” she said during the episode. “I fully mentally prepped myself and he didn’t. He duct taped my legs together and then they had the gun up to me, I knew that was the moment they were totally going to shoot me in the head.”

“I just prayed that Kourtney’s going to have a normal life after she sees my dead body on the bed,” Kim continued. “I have a family. I have my kids and husband, my mom, I’m not going to make it out of here. I know how these things go.” In the end, the robbers “picked me up and put me in the bathroom and then ran,” she recalled, saying of her stolen jewelry, “It’s all replaceable. None of it matters.”