Switzerland - 4 Family Members Jump to Their Deaths from Balcony, Montreux, 24 March 2022

[fred&edna]

Narjisse Feraoun

2013 video
Uvéites - AMC ophtalmologie

*I am assuming this is just her speaking about "uveitis".

 

[borndem]

I can't help but imagine that the 8 year old was being held in someone's arms as he or she jumped. That's not suicide, that's murder.

Good point, @Habanero43 -- it was murder of that child, wasn't it? And attempted murder of the surviving child. No matter now, WRT LE, but it does matter. A mini-mini-Jonestown -- J-town was duly called "a mass murder-suicide" by the press. Of course this horror here only consisted of 4 dead victims and one survivor, but it does make one think back on that horrible day. We don't, and probably will never know the "why" of this thing, but I wonder if all three of the adults agreed to this act as something that had to be done. And why, why, why?

 

[Satchie]

We don't, and probably will never know the "why" of this thing, but I wonder if all three of the adults agreed to this act as something that had to be done. And why, why, why?

There are suicide pacts between pairs, I guess it could extend to 3 adults.

Reminds me of the movie:
"Louise: We're not giving [ourselves] up.
Thelma: Then let's not get caught."

In this case there wasn't an armed posse out to get them, but if they were paranoid, they may have imagined there was.

I wonder whether there was a manifesto left behind. The idea being, other people would be persuaded about the truth of the conspiracy theory, by seeing the lengths the group had to go to, to escape.

Here's what Jones said: "So set an example for others. We'[re] 1,000 people who've said, we don't like the way the world is....We didn't commit suicide. We committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world."

But it seems, in the end, it's futile, the message is not received the way it was intended.

JMO

 

[annpats]

Updated story from Daily Mail:

French family obsessed with conspiracy theories jumped to their death from Swiss apartment | Daily Mail Online

There are a few new little developments in the story.

Apparently, the father Eric David was wealthy and from an affluent family. His wife was trained as a dentist, but didn't work. Her sister who lived with them, was an opthalmologist, and did work.

His wife and sister-in-law are both of Algerian descent and are the granddaughters of a famous Algerian author.

The apartment was on the 7th floor, and the Swiss police knocked on the door very early at 06.15hrs. They were denied entry, and then left.

Neighbours reported hearing no noise or commotion before the family jumped,, which was about an hour after the police left.

 

[borndem]

Good parallel, @Satchie. A folie à trois (instead of deux). Somehow they felt they had to do this, and since they apparently kept to themselves, we'll probably never know why.
Any news on the surviving boy?

 

[annpats]

Any news on the surviving boy?

Still in a coma in hospital.

 

[realanastasia]

Narjisse Feraoun

2013 video
Uvéites - AMC ophtalmologie

*I am assuming this is just her speaking about "uveitis".

Yes, I think is the wife’s twin sister, the ophthalmologist.

 

[fred&edna]

I also saw this included on several (non-US) news sites and I've linked one of them below.

https://ch.linkedin.com/in/eric-david-881721


A family defeated in Switzerland: father, a polytechnic, was the last to give a sign of life - technopurge.com

 

[GoBuckeyes]

I also saw this included on several (non-US) news sites and I've linked one of them below.

https://ch.linkedin.com/in/eric-david-881721


A family defeated in Switzerland: father, a polytechnic, was the last to give a sign of life - technopurge.com

What odd descriptions. A survivalist techie and 2 survivalist doctors? But they don't live off the land or go off grid? Very different type of survivalists, imoo. It's beyond bizarre.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

They were educated, they had money and therefore options.

It's hard to believe all three adults bought into this idea as their solution.
Were domestic violence/ threats from one adult at the root of it?

 

[j_in_c]

It reminds me of the bizarre suicide deaths of a whole extended family in India - one members delusions drew everyone in

Burari deaths - Wikipedia

 

[fred&edna]

It reminds me of the bizarre suicide deaths of a whole extended family in India - one members delusions drew everyone in

Burari deaths - Wikipedia

I thought the same and mentioned it on previous page

It seems unbelievable to have several members of a family agree to mass suicide... very tragic.

 

[Habanero43]

Question though, do we know for a fact that it was a mass jumping? Or maybe, the last one down pushed everyone else first?

 

[annpats]

Question though, do we know for a fact that it was a mass jumping? Or maybe, the last one down pushed everyone else first?

I read on one of the news articles a stepladder was found on the balcony.

It may or may not have been involved in the suicide, but it was mentioned.

That's one way of getting up over the guard rail or wall on the balcony.....climb up on the step ladder.

From the Daily Mail story:

"Shortly before 7am, all five family members jumped from the balcony within the space of five minutes.
A step-ladder was found on the balcony, but there was no signs of struggle, police said."

French family obsessed with conspiracy theories jumped to their death from Swiss apartment | Daily Mail Online

 

[borndem]

Still in a coma in hospital.

Thanks, @annpats. Young people have been known to come out of serious injuries that adults cannot, in some cases.

 

[Satchie]

What odd descriptions. A survivalist techie and 2 survivalist doctors? But they don't live off the land or go off grid? Very different type of survivalists, imoo. It's beyond bizarre.

IMO if they'd bought some rural property and kept busy chopping wood and carrying water, they'd have stayed sane. Cooping themselves up for ?how long? in a top floor apartment, never going outside, would drive a lot of people to suicide.

JMO

 

[annpats]

French family leapt off balcony one by one: Swiss police

It's been reported that each member of the family threw themselves off, one by one.

It's also been reported that the son, Allan, is stable and is no longer in a coma.

They are all French, but have been living in Switzerland since 2014, in a French speaking region.

Switzerland, as a different country will have many different rules to France, some more stringent.
France lives by its 'liberté' and freedom, while Switzerland is more controlled.

I wonder if constant interference by the Swiss authorities finally made them all become recluses and paranoid. Then it went even further....?

I doubt the police knocking on the door to arrest him about their son's home schooling was the first time the family had been in contact with Swiss authorities. It must have been a long ongoing thing.

Switzerland is a wealthy country and he could earn 3 to 4 times what he could earning at a similar job in France. So perhaps that's why they stayed in Switzerland?
The money he earned there meant he could support everyone and his wife didn't have to work.
It's likely Eric had a job working from home as a ticketing IT consultant anyway, so no need to leave the home then either.

The daughter (who was 8) was not registered with Swiss authorities, so she must have been born in France just before they left in 2014.


MOO.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

I read on one of the news articles a stepladder was found on the balcony.

It may or may not have been involved in the suicide, but it was mentioned.

That's one way of getting up over the guard rail or wall on the balcony.....climb up on the step ladder.

From the Daily Mail story:

"Shortly before 7am, all five family members jumped from the balcony within the space of five minutes.
A step-ladder was found on the balcony, but there was no signs of struggle, police said."

French family obsessed with conspiracy theories jumped to their death from Swiss apartment | Daily Mail Online

Five minutes elapsed between the first and last person exiting the balcony. That doesn't seem like complete willingness by all involved, imoo. At the least, it seems that one or more were hesitant or had misgivings about going through with it. AMOO

 

[annpats]

Five minutes elapsed between the first and last person exiting the balcony. That doesn't seem like complete willingness by all involved, imoo. At the least, it seems that one or more were hesitant or had misgivings about going through with it. AMOO

True, but it also means no-one else was grabbed and held or physically forced over the balcony.
That poor 8 year old girl though. I can't even think about it.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

True, but it also means no-one else was grabbed and held or physically forced over the balcony.
That poor 8 year old girl though. I can't even think about it.

I see the 5 minutes differently. I see it as ample opportunity for (potentially) intense coercion of the 2 women and the 15 year old. The 8 year old was small enough to be thrown over the railing. (I hate typing that.)

On the other hand, it is possible that whatever they feared in this life was compelling enough for all 5 to willing go over the balcony.

I keep thinking about the ladder that was referenced in one of the articles. That probably indicates that there were some willing participants. Otherwise, it would have been in the way. MOO