An American man from New York City with dual citizenship has been arrested after his French wife was found stabbed, dismembered, and buried in a drainage ditch, police in France say.

Billy Kruger, who lived with his wife Laure Bardina-Kruger in Indonesia, was arrested Friday as he tried to board a flight in Toulouse, hours after his father-in-law reported his daughter missing.

Bardina-Kruger was found partially buried in a storm drain in the local village of Peyriac-de-Mer outside their holiday home in the South of France, according to Agence France-Presse.

Kruger told police that he killed his wife in self-defense, prosecutor Marie-Agnes Jolie told AFP. The couple was spotted dining at a romantic restaurant in Peyriac-de-Mer on Thursday night, according to news reports.

The couple had planned to return to Jakarta and Bardina-Kruger’s father raised the alarm after his daughter missed a farewell dinner before they left. Kruger apparently made a feeble excuse for why she wasn’t there.

“We don’t know yet what happened, but we never got any alarm signal from Laure regarding violent acts against her by her husband,” Bardina-Kruger’s brother Pierre Bardina posted on Facebook. “You always think this can only happen to other people, but violence against women can happen all of a sudden.”

White flowers were placed at a makeshift memorial over the drainage ditch where her body was discovered.

Kruger will be arraigned in a French court this week.