France France - Grégory Villemin, 4, Lépanges-sur-Vologne, 16 October 1984

[Donjeta]

The smiling boy whose murder haunts France

Published: 25 Apr 2013 16:31 GMT+02:00 | Print version
Updated: 25 Apr 2013 16:31 GMT+02:00

Who’s Grégory Villemin?

He was a four-year-old boy found drowned in the Vologne river near Docelles, in eastern France in October 1984.

Why has he been in the news this week?

On Wednesday, a prosecutor in the city of Dijon announced that much-anticipated DNA tests on Grégory’s clothes, and on cords used to tie up his hands and feet, had been inconclusive.

http://www.thelocal.fr/20130425/gregory-boy-murder-france-haunt#.UZzolcpGAWw

 

[STANDREID]

It's certainly a big case. I have it on my Classic Cold Case Poll but it doesn't have any votes yet.

 

[Stella]

I've looked on several sites about the case but can't find an answer to a very important question-did The Crow's letters and phone calls stop after Jean-Marie Villeman murdered his cousin, Laroche?

 

[STANDREID]

This year, it will be 30 years since little 4-year-old Gregory was murdered. The case that featured an individual who identified themselves as Le Corbeau (The Crow) and who taunted the Villemin family by both telephone and letter before and after the murder. By phone, the Crow's voice was so frantic that it was not possible to tell if it was a man or a woman. On the day of the murder, the Crow sent one last letter saying "I HAVE MY REVENGE". Later, Gregory's father shot and killed his cousin who police were investigating but there was no evidence against Bernard Laroche who was most likely innocent. Mr. Villemin served 4 years in prison for the killing. Gregory's mother Christine was put on trial for killing her child but the verdict came back as not guilty. So today it stands as an unsolved case.

 

[Ellmau]

Arrests!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40277466

investigators from Dijon detained a couple in their 70s in the village of Aumontzey, in the Vologne river valley. Sources told French media that they were the father's uncle and aunt.

They were placed in police custody on suspicion of complicity in the murder, failing to report a crime or helping a person at risk, according to L'Est Républicain website.

A third person reported to be the father's half-sister was also being held. A fourth, said to be the victim's grandmother, was taken in as a witness. Her husband was also questioned.

Prosecutor Jean-Jacques Bosc said investigators had targeted "people very close to the heart of this case" and hoped to provide answers to the questions they had.

Local reporters covering the case pointed out that none of those held on Wednesday were suspected of the boy's murder.

They also said that Muriel Bolle, who as a teenager had initially blamed the killing on Bernard Laroche, had been asked to provide a DNA sample on Wednesday before later being released.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

And in the Wail!

[h=1]Police arrest three relatives over the unsolved murder of 'Little Gregory': Smiling toddler was found tied up and drowned in 1984 in chilling case that still haunts France[/h]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4604890/Police-arrest-3-unsolved-murder-Little-Gregory.html

 

[wfgodot]

BBC:

Grégory Villemin case: Former French judge found dead

 

[STANDREID]

So who are they saying did it and why did they do it? To me, it looks like the people brought in are just being held as individuals who were protecting the actual killer-have I missed something?

 

[Littlegreenlady]

So who are they saying did it and why did they do it? To me, it looks like the people brought in are just being held as individuals who were protecting the actual killer-have I missed something?

According to this article:

The boy’s great aunt and uncle, Marcel and Jacqueline Jacob, aged 72 and 73, were arrested in June and placed under formal investigation for “kidnapping and confinement followed by death”. Days later another relative, Murielle Bolle, 15 at the time of the murder, was detained and similarly charged.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/28/murder-little-gregory-unsolved-case-france?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Add_to_Pocket

 

[fr brown]

I've looked on several sites about the case but can't find an answer to a very important question-did The Crow's letters and phone calls stop after Jean-Marie Villeman murdered his cousin, Laroche?

According to Little Gregory by Charles Penwarden a poison pen letter was received by Monique Villemin in the summer of 1985 (iirc), after the murder of Bernard Laroche. The "graphologists" thought it was genuine.

 

[jaejae]

Here is report about this case and a Netflix program about it:

Tragic true story behind Netflix crime series Who Killed Little Gregory?

 

[Troyce]

I've looked on several sites about the case but can't find an answer to a very important question-did The Crow's letters and phone calls stop after Jean-Marie Villeman murdered his cousin, Laroche?

GOOD Question!

 

[jslk]

The Netflix series is very good, lots of archive footage and interviews with police and journalists from the time. Such a mystery though. Absolutely bizarre and terrifying. Such a shame no one was brought to justice for this.

 

[Seratonin]

 

[29 Acacia Road]

Just watched "Who killed little Gregory" on Netflix and found it very interesting. In the back of my mind the whole 'raven' thing sounded slightly familiar so I think I may have read a small bit about the case previously and forgotten it, like many other crime cases I've explored on late night reading/watching binges.

I've just read a couple of articles from earlier this year that stated the parents are hoping to get new DNA testing on Gregory's clothes.

I wonder if a better source for a possible DNA link would be the insulin syringe found nearby one of the sights they thought Gregory may have been taken to before being put in the water. My understanding is this was found quite early on in the investigation and bagged as evidence and so I wondered if touch DNA may have survived? Although it was likely tested for prints etc and taken in and out of evidence throughout the years so I suppose the lifespan will have passed.

 

[sandy_80]

no update yet ?
i am curious why this is not getting any attention while being as well known as the mccann case
they said finally the handwriting analysis points to one suspect but who

 

[imstilla.grandma]

*dated 10/2024
After decades of failure, there is now hope that modern DNA analysis and voice recognition software could help identify the man, or people, who harassed the Villemin family for years.

"I'm reasonably optimistic," Moser said.

A lawyer on the case, Francois Saint-Pierre, said it was still possible to save the investigation. "Today we're able to solve the mystery of the Pharaohs, so why not this one too?" he said.

But Etienne Sesmat, a former gendarmerie colonel who worked on the murder at the start, said that, crucially, police never found any case-specific DNA, typically contained in blood or sperm.

"All we have is contact DNA" that did not necessarily allow firm conclusions, he said.

Sesmat, who has published a book on the case, said that as far as he was concerned, it was "established" that the killer was Bernard Laroche, a view shared by the Villemin couple's lawyers.

Some lawyers have suggested that the case will never be solved, but Dijon chief prosecutor Astruc rejected that speculation.

"We must go on," he said. "We owe that much to this little boy and to his parents."

Forty years on, unsolved murder of 'little Grégory' still grips France

Gregory Villemin was just four years old when he was tragically murdered on a fall day in 1984. His body was discovered in a river in eastern France, with his hands and feet bound, marking the start…

www.france24.com