Authorities were also poring over CCTV footage, and French media reports cited police as saying the large commercial-sized white truck used in the attack had apparently begun its journey in the hills outside of Nice, where rosemary-scented slopes spill down to meet the sea.
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No extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but French officials called the massacre an act of terror.
French authorities are asking people in Nice to stay in place and are treating this as a likely terror attack, and French anti-terrorism police are taking the lead on the investigation.
At least 84 people are dead, including many children, after a lorry ploughed through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day last night in the southern French city.
The driver, who drove at high speed for over 100 metres (yards) along the famed Promenade des Anglais seafront before hitting the mass of spectators, was shot dead, sub-prefect Sebastien Humbert told France Infos radio.
“There’s no denying the terrorist nature of this attack of yet again the most extreme form of violence”, the French leader said in a national television address at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT), about five or six hours after the carnage in Nice.
His ex-wife was held for questioning on Friday, Molins said.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who traveled to the scene, said police were trying to identify the driver.
Investigators have not discovered any link between Bouhlel and terrorist groups.
Among the 84 who died, was Fatima Charrihi, whose son said she was the first to lose her life. The truck was reportedly rented five days before the attack. Sean Copeland, 51, and his son, Brodie, 11, of Lakeway, Texas, were vacationing in Nice with their family.
The UK Embassy has activated its crisis centre and officials are urging people in Nice to reach out to friends and family to let them know they are safe. “Always on the side of the states of the world in the fight against worldwide terrorism, Turkey shares the pain of the people of France”, said Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in a Twitter message in French. “Anyone can prepare and carry out this kind of attack, you don’t need to take the risk of becoming part of a terror cell or traveling to Syria or anything like that”, he said.
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“We will be reviewing our own safety measures in light of this attack”, he said. “There are still people I am looking at right now that are near their deceased family members”.
