France - Maëlys De Araujo, 9, found deceased, Pont-de-Beauvoisin, 27 Aug 2017 #2

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Ardennes: Nordahl Lelandais condamné à un an de prison pour agression sexuelle sur mineure

"The court found that the victim was not making things up and that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress", said presiding judge Camille Ruhlmann.

Nordahl Lelandais was also ordered to compensate his victim, now aged 21, and her mother, to the amounts of 2,000 and 500 euros respectively, and has ten days in which to lodge an appeal.

"The important part was not the severity of the sentence, but that the truth be established in legal terms," according to Arnault Monnier, the lawyer for the victim and her mother. He told AFP that they were "relieved that all these years of proceedings have been for nothing."

He did, however, acknowledge one "frustration": "The extraordinarily low compensation, which does not reflect the damages suffered."



BBM
 

Interview with Régis Pique about the disappearance of Eric Foray. Around 5 minutes, he mentions that a trace of DNA has been found somewhere in the car. That is all he knows, he has no details.

Sad legal detail: in due course, the remains of Eric will be returned to his family, because Régis and Eric were not married and had not yet formalized their partnership.
 
Nordahl Lelandais est devenu père en prison

Nordhal Lelandais "became a father a few months ago". The man convicted of the murder of little Maëlys had a child with a woman he got to know while he was already in custody.

Currently held at the Ensisheim penitentiary in Alsace (Haut-Rhin), one of the French prisons dedicated to long-term sentences, the former dog handler met the mother of the child while he was being held in the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier prison (Isère). She is "between 33 and 35 years old" and lives in Ensisheim, a source told Agence France Presse.

BBM

Lots of discussions in the French press. How could this happen in a supervised prison? What are the rights of a child (a little boy apparently) who has a convicted paedophile and twofold murderer as a father? The parents of Arthur Noyer are totally disgusted.

MSN
The victims' relatives, including Maëlys' father, are outraged: "I don't understand how, two years after a life sentence, someone can give life to a child in prison. I could never have imagined such a scenario. It's unbelievable. It's unimaginable, beyond reality. I didn't think it existed in our country, France. Allowing a murderer, a child killer - let's face it, a paedophile - to give life in a prison. I had no idea, I don't understand this at all", he told RTL.
 
Here it is... or hopefully this was it... it was, according to Le Parisien (abo)

May 5, 2022

France - Maëlys De Araujo, 9, found deceased, Pont-de-Beauvoisin, 27 Aug 2017 #2

Nordahl Lelandais caught having sex during a prison visit
(...)
Nordahl Lelandais is once again in the news. This Thursday, April 28, prison officers of the prison of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, in the Isère, would have surprised the prisoner in full sexual act with a new visitor during a classic visit. This happened, while the relationship would have been established after the last criminal conviction of the former dog handler.

According to our colleagues from Le Dauphiné Libéré, who report the facts, the female partner of Nordahl Lelandais is from Paris. This was the first visit granted by the courts to the two individuals, who have been in contact for less than four months. "She has maintained a sustained correspondence with the person concerned before applying for a permit: this was granted by the management of the establishment in view of the favourable opinion resulting from the prefectural investigation," the prison management explained to the local press.

Several prison officers then intervened only a few moments after the start of the encounter. Indeed, according to the Dauphiné Libéré, the permit issued by the Isère prison was "classic" and not "conjugal". The latter can only be obtained when an official link exists between the prisoner and the visitor (or the female visitor, in this case). As a result, the facts were qualified as "sexual exhibition" by the prison management.

BBM

The baby might have been born after NL stood trial for sexual assault on one of his cousins. :eek:
 
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La piste de Nordahl Lelandais examinée dans la mort de Thomas Rauschkolb en Savoie

Nordahl Lelandais' trail examined in the death of Thomas Rauschkolb in Savoie

Disturbing similarities exist between the death of the 18-year-old in 2015 and other victims of the killer.

The judiciary has ordered the exhumation of the body of an 18-year-old man, Thomas Rauschkolb, who died in 2015 in Savoie, to carry out an autopsy, and to examine the possibility of homicide by Nordahl Lelandais. Until now, the death was attributed to an accidental fall into a river after leaving a discotheque.


The body of Thomas Rauschkolb was found on 28 December 2015, on the banks of the Sierroz, in Grésy-sur-Aix (Savoie). According to the investigation, he had spent the evening in a discotheque, Studio 54, and then fled towards the river. In 2019, Francis Rauschkolb, the victim's father, discovered from a photo provided by a waitress that Nordahl Lelandais had frequented this nightclub.
A little later, the ex-girlfriend of the killer mentioned this case to Le Parisien: "They should particularly delve into the case of young Thomas Rauschkolb who was found dead next to a nightclub in December 2015. He [ Nordahl Lelandais ] was in the same state of anger and frustration as on the day when he killed Corporal Arthur Noyer on the night of 11-12 April 2017. The day before, he had terrified me with a chainsaw," she explained.

So many indicators that now suggest that Nordahl Lelandais could be at the origin of the death of the young man. The father, Francis Rauschkolb, has studied in detail the circumstances of his son's disappearance and sees other corroborating clues: "My son left his down jacket in the cloakroom of the discotheque when it was 5 degrees outside that night. He walked in the opposite direction to our home, which was about a kilometre and a half away. He entered a housing estate, went through a wooden gate of a property, across a garden and then over a fence. To me, he was trying to escape from someone who was chasing him. Or from a dog that was set against him. And since Lelandais had dogs ... " he explained to Le Parisien .

Nordahl Lelandais is to be tried from 3 May for the murder of Corporal Arthur Noyer, whose family is represented by Bernard Boulloud.
The latter is also the lawyer of Francis Rauschkolb, and said that the autopsy of young Thomas "should allow us to know if there are suspicious fractures related to blows and not to the fall of Thomas. This would then support the criminal investigation." DNA samples have also been requested.

The Rauschkolb case is one of forty or so cases to be reexamined by the courts and potentially linked to Nordahl Lelandais. They themselves have been sorted out from 900 unsolved cases.


BBM

Almost 3 years ago, the remains of Thomas Rauschkolb were exhumed for an autopsy and to examine the possibility of a homicide by Nordahl Lelandais.
After that: silence. Almost all the news that I can find dates from 15 - 20 march 2021. No updates, only one snippet that the result of the autopsy are still being awaited.

At last, I found a message on a French forum that Nordahl Lelandais has been excluded in the death of Thomas Rauschkolb. I put the French text into Google and this led me to a report of Le Parisien from May 3, 2021, that is subscription only. (How does Google find the part of the text that isn't public, I wonder? But there it is.)

Enquête sur Nordahl Lelandais : la cellule Ariane n’a pas trouvé à ce jour d’autres victimes présumées

The Thomas Rauschkolb case. The first investigation into the 18-year-old, who was found dead on 28 December 2015 outside a Savoie nightclub frequented by Lelandais had concluded that it was an accident. Since then, investigations have resumed.
On March 9, the body of the young man was exhumed, but even if a sudden turnaround can never be ruled out, the Lelandais trail "has been closed since 23 May 2019", according to a source close to the investigation. "He has an alibi that has been confirmed."

BBM

No turnaround has been annouced sofar. No outcome of the autopsy either.
 
Ain. Le corps d’Anne Charlotte Poncin a bien été retrouvé en forêt

The remains of Anne Charlotte Poncin have been found in the forest.

Bones were found this summer by the gendarmes not far from where her skull was discovered by chance last February. This was indeed the body of Anne Charlotte Poncin. On 14 September, her wife Margaux, who has been charged with murder, again applied for her release.


Searches by gendarmes from the Lyon Research Section (SR) led to the discovery this summer of bones in the hills above Ambérieu-en-Bugey.

It was indeed the body, albeit incomplete, of the 30-year-old woman who disappeared on 5 January 2016. This was confirmed by DNA analysis, according to the prosecutor who sat in the prosecutor's chair at the hearing of the investigating chamber on 14 September. The purpose of the hearing was to examine a new request for the release of Margaux, 32, Anne Charlotte's wife, who is suspected of having killed her.


Apart from the remains, clothing, shoes and other personal belongings were found.

BBM


The request for release was denied on September 21.


Mort d'Anne Charlotte Poncin : les demandes de remise en liberté de son épouse se multiplient

"Every time the applications for release are rejected, it's a great relief for the family," according to Bernard Boulloud, the lawyer for Anne Charlotte Poncin's family.

According to the lawyer, his clients feared that Margaux would put pressure on witnesses or make evidence disappear if she was released. "She was the last person to see Anne Charlotte Poncin alive. In view of the evidence, the family is convinced that she had something to do with her disappearance."

According to Le Progrès, detailed analyses are currently being carried out on the bones, clothes, shoes and other personal effects found this summer, not far from where the skull was discovered.


BBM

I was looking for updates in the investigation into the death of Anne Charlotte Poncin whose remains have been found.
The ususal sources all have hidden their info behind a paywall and the news is subscription-only. :(
Apparently, Margaux Poncin, main suspect in this case has finally managed to leave prison, with restrictions. Next she has started contesting these restrictions or so it seems.
The parents of Anne Charlotte are not happy (obviously) about this and do not believe their daughter committed suicide.

This reminds me a lot of the MO of Nordahl Lelandais. Once the remains are skeletonized, a lot of info about the cause of death and the situation surrounding it disappears. Next, all the suspect has to do is stick to their story. And maybe they'll pull it off. In the case of Margaux Poncin, the fact that she was freed from preliminary detention, seems to suggest that LE may not have enough evidence to keep her behind bars.

Fingers crossed for justice for Anne Charlotte!
 
Two men went missing in subsequent years from Fort de Tamie during a music festival. Partial remains of one were found, but the other one remains missing.
The news about this case is few and far between. This report dates from November 2023. It is the most recent I can find.

Fort de Tamié: la disparition de Jean-Christophe Morin en 2011 demeure un mystère

Adeline Morin, Jean-Christophe's sister, talks about the years of uncertainty that followed her brother's disappearance: " We're just a case number. The investigation didn't get off the ground because of a lack of resources and methodology, and I didn't hear from the justice system for years. Although Jean-Christophe's rucksack was found in 2011 in the woods 10-15 minutes' walk from the Fort, it was later destroyed by the investigators. It was the only piece of evidence. Fortunately, since the beginning of the year, his case has been transferred to the Cold Case Unit in Nanterre. We are finally being taken into account by the courts. In a way, I'm satisfied because we now have a judge who is getting things done, which is what should have been happening since 2011. "

In addition, Adeline Morin will finally be able to have access to the case file, " which was not possible until now ". Despite these positive developments since the beginning of the year, she confides: " I'm feeling tired and exhausted; I'm telling myself that I'm going to have to get used to the idea that we're not going to find him. Has his body been moved? We don't know.

BBM
 
France - Maëlys De Araujo, 9, found deceased, Pont-de-Beauvoisin, 27 Aug 2017 #2

I took another look at @Niner 's list with regards to the possible other victims of Nordahl Lelandais to see if there have been developments since my previous update of January of last year. There are a few changes, but not many. I have added the changes in red.

The Ariane Cell no longer exists. Their task was to find out if there were links between Nordahl Lelandais and certains disappearances in the region. The results of their work have never been made public.

In 12 of the cases listed below, it has been established that there was no link with Nordahl Lelandais.

In none of the remaining cases, other than Maëlys and Arthur Noyer, a positive link with Nordahl Lelandais has been reported in the press.

Some cases from this list have been transferred to the new Cold Case Pole that has recently been established in France.

One new case has been added to the list as during the Maëlys trial, an anonymous letter was sent the the ARPD, detailing the involvement of Nordahl Lelandais in the disappearance and death of an autisitic man.

========================================================================


Estelle Mouzin, 9, still missing, presumed dead.
Estelle disappeared on 9 January 2003 in Guermantes (Seine-et-Marne), around 6 pm between her house and her school.

NL has been excluded in this case.
Serial killer Michel Fourniret has confessed to the murder of Estelle Mouzin in 2003.

Adlène Kifani,
18, still missing.
He disappeared after making a brief call to 17 [ police help!] number after leaving his family home to meet with his friends & have a drink at a bar in Portes-lès-Valence (Drôme) on 16 April, 2009 only a few dozen meters away from his home.

On Ariane cell list. Outcome unknown.

Rachid Rameche, still missing.
He disappeared in 2009 June 10, in Bassens (Savoie) while he was in a psychiatric institution. He withdrew the amount of his adult disability benefits before he disappeared. He was staying in the same centre that Lucie Roux and Nordahl Lelandais attended between 2012 and 2013.

Rachid was seen and identified in Strasbourg in 2009 after his disappearance. He may be in Belgium where he was fined in 2009 and 2014.

Coralie Moussu,
found deceased.
The autopsy of the body of the 32-year-old woman, found in the Rhône in December, reveals that she did not drown. Coralie Moussu's car, a black Nissan Micra with 2899 YZ 30 registration, car has never been found. The young woman was last seen inside this vehicle on the morning of November 6, 2009 in Vénéjan (Gard).

No link to date with NL.

Nicolas Suppo, 30 years old, still missing.
The technical specialist disappeared on 15 September 2010 near Echirolles during his lunch break. His coworkers saw him at work in the morning. He had neither his identity papers nor his blue card with him. The case was closed without further action in 2014, then reopened at the beginning of the year (2018) by the Grenoble court.

On Ariane cell list. Nordahl Lelandais was excluded in his disappearance.

Adrien Fiorello, still missing.

The 22-year-old student disappeared on 6 October 2010 in Firminy (Loire) while he was on his way to the university in Chambéry (Savoie). The young man's cell phone last pinged in Chambéry (train station) at 5:37 p.m. on October 6, 2010.

On Ariane cell list. Outcome: Nordahl Lelandais was excluded in this case.

Nelly Balmain, still missing.
Nelly Balmain
was 29 when she left the family home of Saint-Jean-en-Royans (Drôme) on a scooter, without reappearing. She disappears on 8 August 2011. On 11 January 2018, the Public Prosecutor's Office in Valence reopened the investigation into the disappearance of Nelly Balmain, aged 29, which had been closed in 2015. Her scooter was never found.

On Ariane cell list. Outcome inknown.

Jean-Christophe Morin, 23, still missing.
He disappeared on 9-10 September 2011 during an electro party at Tamié Fort in Albertville (Savoie). The gendarmes only found his backpack.

On Ariane cell list. File moved to the new Cold Case Pole.

Kévin Fauvel, 27, still missing.
On the night of 1-2-3 April 2012, he left the community of Jansiac, located in Châteauneuf-Miravail, in the Jabron Valley. Since then, his family has no news. He was supposed to hitch a ride to his mother's house in Brittany. Ten days later, his father found his identity papers in Jansiac, without any further explanation about this mysterious disappearance.

NL has been ruled out as suspect for this case.

Malik Boutvillain, 32, still missing.
He disappeared on 6 May 2012 in Echirolles (Isère). He was out jogging. Suffers from schizophrenia.

On Ariane cell list. Outcome unknown.

Hugo Raffi,
18 years old, still missing.
He left home in flip-flops, without a mobile phone and without papers in Albertville (Savoie) on 15, June 2012.

On Ariane cell list. Outcome unknown.

Ahmed Hamadou, 45, partial remains found.
He disappeared in 7-8 September 2012 at Fort Tamié (Savoie). Hamadou was from Le-Pont-de-Beauvoisin, he knew Nordahl Lelandais.

On Ariane cell list. File moved to Cold Case Pole.


Lucie Roux, 43, still missing.
Lucie Roux
disappears on 16 September 2012 from the psychiatric centre in Bassens in Chambéry (Savoie). She was treated from 2006 to 2012 at Bassens for depression and had 3 roommates. And it seems that Nordahl Lelandais was followed by the medical-psychological center of Chambéry from 2012 to 2013.

On Ariane cell list. Outcome unknown.

Loïc Guérin, 43, found deceased.
Loïc Guérin, autistic, disappeared from the home where he was living in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. His remains were found a few days later at the foot af a falaise. In 2022, an anonymous letter, received by the ARPD, accused NL of chasing the handicapped man through the woods with his dogs.

Investigation is ongoing. No news that I can find.

Stéphane Chemin, still missing.
33 years old, suffers from schizophrenia, disappeared on 24 September 2012 in Bourg-d' Oisans region (Isère).

On Ariane cell list. Outcome unknown.

Florent Bonnet,
37 years old, still missing.
He disappeared on 18 January 2014 in Bourg-Saint-Maurice (Savoie). He was on a motorcycle and his two-wheeler was found near the Siaix tunnel, with a helmet on it.


Caroline Rivollier, still missing.
29 years old 2014 May, lived in Lyon, had told her roommates that she was leaving for a few days but she never came back. Her credit card was used in Chambéry three nights in a row.


Eve Monteil, 49 years old, still missing.
She disappeared on 25 August 2014, in Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain).

Lucas Tronche, found deceased.
The then 15 years old, had disappeared on 18 March 2015, at 5.10 pm, from Bagnols-sur-Cèze. Lucas' remains were found off a steep rocky hill near his home in 2022. COD is unknown, an accident is suspected.

NL has been excluded in the disappearance of Lucas.

Monique Thibert, 62, councillor of Hauteville, suddenly disappeared during a hike on 2 June 2015 in the mountains near Crots (Hautes Alpes). Monique was a bit ahead of the group she was part of, and the alert was given very quickly. Despite the deployment of a very vast search operation on a clearly identified territory, she was never found.

NL has been ruled out as suspect in this case.

Nordine Seghiri, 49, found deceased in 2016.
He disappeared on 10 July 2015 from a hospital in Chambéry (Savoie).

Thomas Rauschkolb, found deceased.
Sunday (December 27, 2015) around 4:50 p.m., the father of an 18-year-old man contacted the gendarmes to report the disappearance of his son. Thomas R.'s body was found the next day, in the river. Grésy-sur-Aix is about 25 minutes north of Chambéry, by car.

On Ariane cell list. Outcome unknown. No updates, nothing about the autopsy in 2021.

Anne-Charlotte Poncin, 30 years old, partial remains found.
A-C P disappeared on 5 January 2016 in Ambérieu-en-Bugey (Ain). In the morning, she leaves her home on foot to go downtown to look for work, never to be seen again.

Her partner Margaux Poncin has been arrested as a suspect in her death. Now free under restrictions, remains a suspect.

Antoine Zoia, found deceased.
The
16-year-old teenager has not been seen since 1 March 2016. He disappeared in Clarensac, near Nîmes, also in the Gard.
Remains found on 29 September 2018, a few kilometres from the centre of the village in the Gard. Hunter found his body hanging from tree.

No link with NL.

Ilhan Sahingoz, 39 years old missing from Albertville since 11 April 2016.

Olivier Charpe
, 59, never returned from a mountain bike ride on 12 August 2016 in Saint-Romans (Isère).
According to his family, he was suffering from depression.

Georgette Amat Chantoux (Georgette Bonnet), found deceased.
She was reported missing in October 2016, but her phone had not been active since 9 September 2016.
Her remains were found in the mountains in 2022. An accident is the most likely COD

Éric Foray, 47, deceased, partial remains found late 2022, remains and car located in early 2023
Éric Foray disappeared on 16 September 2016, from Chatuzange-le-Goubet. He went shopping for lunch and never returned.
Two local men (of whom one is deceased) are persons of interest in his case.

Family lawyer is of the opinion that there may be a different serial murderer in the area, who is also responsible for the disappearance of Nelly Balmain.

Arthur Noyer, 23 years old, found deceased.
Arthur Noyer disappeared on 11-12 April 2017 in Chambéry.
Nordahl Lelandais was convicted for the young man's murder.

Adrien Mourialmé, 24 years old, found deceased.
He disappeared in 5 July 2017 on the shores of Lake Annecy (Haute-Savoie). His remains were found 9 months later on April 6, 2018 hanging from a tree in Talloires-Montmin. No crime suspected.

Maëlys De Araujo, 9 years old, found deceased.
She disappeared at Pont-de-Beauvoisin in 27 August 2017. Her bones were discovered on February 14 and 15 at the foot of Mont Grêle in Savoie.
Nordahl Leleandais was convicted for the little girl's murder.

BBM
 
Boy @ZaZara - that is a lot of work you did! I unfortunately delete my list - glad to see you had saved it!
 
Boy @ZaZara - that is a lot of work you did! I unfortunately delete my list - glad to see you had saved it!

Thanks but no thanks, Niner! Most of it is your work to begin with :).

Don't worry about deleting your list, it remains somewhere on this thread, and the previous one.

I notice that I forgot to mention that Nordahl Lelandais has also been excluded in the death of Thomas Rauschkolb. If the autopsy changed anything in that regard, it wasn't mentioned anywhere.

So, no link with Nordahl Lelandais in 13 cases on the list.
 
ZaZara said:
snipped by me...

So, no link with Nordahl Lelandais in 13 cases on the list.

So - instead of me going back & looking - how many cases ARE still being investigated for NL?? :)
 
So - instead of me going back & looking - how many cases ARE still being investigated for NL?? :)

My very wild guess is 1 to 0, if the case of Loic Guerin is still being investigated.

In 2022, La Dépeche reports the following cases as 'grey areas', cases where the Lelandais trail has not yet been ruled out

Jean Christophe Morin
Ahmed Hamadou
Thomas Rauschkolb (per Ariane cell NL has an alibi for that date)
Lucie Roux

Doe this mean that NL is still being investigated in those cases? :rolleyes:
AFAIK the disappearance of Jean Christophe Morin and the death of Ahmed Hamadou are active investigations in their own right.
There has been no news about the disappearance of Lucie Roux since 2022.
There are no updates on the results of the autopsy of Thomas Rauschkolb in 2021.
 
« En quête d’indices » Affaire des disparus du fort de Tamié

Call for witnesses: Case of the men missing from Fort de Tamié

The Fort de Tamié disappearance case is part of "In Search of Clues", an innovative call for witnesses scheme run by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas France. The aim is to obtain new testimonies using digital tools in order to re-launch investigations by the Serious and Unsolved Crimes Unit.


At Fort Tamié, a historic site in the commune of Mercury in Savoie, two people disappeared within a year of each other: Jean-Christophe Morin on 11 September 2011 and Ahmed Hamadou on 8 September 2012. They were both last seen at an electronic music festival called "Elements" organised in this former military fort from 2010 to 2012. Transferred to the Nanterre public prosecutor's office on 1 May 2022, the investigation has so far been unable to shed any light on the circumstances surrounding these two disappearances.

You can help the investigators solve the case of the Fort de Tamié disappearances.
Your testimony is the key.

Did you attend one of the festivals or live in the region at the time of the disappearances? We need your help!
Memories, photos, videos: any information, however insignificant, about the missing persons, or more generally about one of the editions of this festival, can help us.
The investigators will be able to check your information if it seems inconclusive.
Thanks to your testimony, you may help to get the investigation going again!



About "In search of clues"
The "En quête d'indices" witness appeal system was launched by the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas Territories and the Ministry of Justice on 2 April 2024. These are short videos recounting investigations following serial or unsolved crimes monitored by the national centre, and for which investigators and magistrates are seeking information from the general public. The Tamié disappearance case is the second to be included in the initiative.


BBM

More info and option to upload your testimony:

https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/enquete-indices-affaire-disparus-fort-tamie
 
A small snippet from November 2023

Disparus du Fort de Tamié: les ossements retrouvés cet été en Savoie appartiennent à Ahmed Hamadou

According to the families' lawyer, the investigators from the Cold Case Pole have been able to formally establish that Ahmed Hamadou fell from the Fort during the festival he was taking part in in 2012. "But we don't know how he fell, or whether he was pushed. We need to carry out further checks and investigations", Didier Seban explained to France Bleu.

BBM
 
It is the holiday season and the murderous acts of Nordahl Lelandais are being recycled. Fortunately, there is also air time for the disapperance of Nicolas Suppo and Malik Boutvillain.

Affaires Suppo et Boutvillain : les disparus et l'avocat : épisode • 4/5 du podcast Cold Cases, dans la peau de...

They had never met before, but their story ended up bringing their families together. In September 2010, in Echirolles, near Grenoble, 30-year-old Nicolas Suppo went for his lunch break. No one ever saw him again. In May 2012, in the same town, Malik Boutvillain, 32, went jogging. He never came back. In each case, the family alerted the police, began a search, questioned the neighbours and tried to find out what had happened. The few leads that were explored came to nothing.

In 2017, the situation changed. The Nordahl Lelandais affair exploded. After being charged with the disappearance of Maëlys de Araujo, he was questioned about the disappearance of Corporal Arthur Noyer in May 2017, whose skull had recently been found and identified. In December 2017, the public prosecutor in Chambéry decided to reopen the files on the region's worrying disappearances, involving around ten cases. Malik Boutvillain's family contacted Bernard Boulloud, the lawyer for Arthur Noyer's parents. Nicolas Suppo's family came later, after a meeting of the association Assistance et Recherche de Personnes Disparues, of which Bernard Boulloud is a member.

The Grenoble lawyer, who specialises in disturbing disappearances, began by retrieving the files. He discovered that the proceedings in the Boutvillain case had been closed without the family being informed. The lawyer went through the pages of court records, listened to the families at length, and then embarked on his battle plan: "Once I've done my criminological summary of the case, I prepare a preliminary complaint as a civil party against X, pointing out what has been done, and making proposals for action to be taken," Bernard Boulloud explains in detail. Then I watch it like milk on the stove".

The investigation continued to falter, however, and the lawyer struggled on for months. In June 2023, the investigating chamber of the Grenoble Court of Appeal finally appointed new investigating judges to take over the case. For Bernard Boulloud, the Boutvillain and Suppo cases changed things: "These cases are a textbook example of everything that investigators should never do when it comes to disappearances. They invoke the famous 48-hour waiting period, but this period is a myth. They're going to ask the families to carry out the searches themselves! And because we took action, these two cases did help to change the way the judiciary and investigators think". The lawyer and the families are now hoping that their case will be sent to the Cold Case unit of the Grenoble gendarmerie, a special unit of the police.

Some lawyers specialise in these very specific cold case files. This is the case of Corinne Herrmann: "I think it's a form of atonement for the families, and it's their human story that interests me". These cases, which are not in the majority in her practice because they are not very profitable, are long term, and it's a story that is being written between the lawyer and the families: "We're going to be here for years, we're going to have to get to know each other, and also de-stress the families because we can't work miracles, that's the first thing I tell them, we don't have a magic wand, it's work, work, work! In this case, the painstaking 'work of ants'. Rereading the case file, deciding whom to meet first, checking if the case has been dismissed or closed, checking if there are other victims: "We look at the press, the history of the region, because we sometimes realise that there are other families who have been left out".

These specialist lawyers (of whom Corinne Herrmann is one, along with Didier Seban) have been fighting for years to change the law and make it easier to solve these cold cases. In 2012, a law was passed allowing DNA to be systematically taken from people buried under X in order to compare it with that of the families, although "there is still a lot of educational work to be done with magistrates to get them to apply this law". Corinne Herrmann was also involved in setting up the Cold Cases Unit at Nanterre, and today she is fighting with her colleagues to change the statute of limitations and save the sealed documents. She has helped to solve some thirty criminal cases, including those of Estelle Mouzin, Isabelle Ménage and the Emile Louis case.

BBM
 

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