A breakthrough in the case of Grégory Villemin 29 years after his murder

Background to the case

Gregory Villemin, a four-year-old boy, was found dead in October 1984 with his feet and hands bound in the Vologne river, near his home in a village in eastern France.

The gruesome discovery set off a dramatic chain of events that became known simply as 'the Gregory Affair' and gripped the French public, spilling more ink than any other crime in the country's 20th century history.

France looked on in horror as the prime suspect was later gunned down by Gregory's heartbroken father. The public reeled as Gregory's mother was herself arrested for her son's murder year's later - and then released again.

The child's uncle, Bernard Laroche, was initially charged before being freed after several key pieces of evidence against him were thrown out because of procedural errors by prosecutors.

Convinced that Laroche was the murderer, Gregory's father Jean-Marie Villemin shot him dead and served four years in jail for the killing.

(Extracted from an article which appeared in The Daily Mail 23rd October 2009) 

A significant advance in DNA technology has led to a breakthrough in this case. 

From Le Parisien April 16th 2013, we have details of recent developments.

Ten DNA profiles were isolated on the cords that were used to bind the child who was discovered dead in the Vologne (Vosges) These are still to be identified 29 years later. 

Grégory Villemin was found dead in the Vologne on October 16th 1984. In a case where genetic analysis has been inconclusive, there is a breakthrough which could prove conclusive in identifying Grégory's killer. 

Ordered by Dijon's Investigative Division at the request of the child's parents, the new analysis has been carried out at the Bordeaux laboratory of Professor Christian Doutremepuich, who has access to the most recent technology in DNA analysis: chemical extraction of DNA and laser micro-dissection. Anorak, trousers, hat, socks, shoes...everything sealed up within the legal files has been gone over again with a fine-tooth comb. The cords are considered to be the most important items. They have also been examined. As the Villemin couple were hoping, new DNA profiles have been brought to light. 

Still to be identified, while comparing them with some 300 genetic samples taken from people close to Grégory and from significant others, in the course of the investigation, as well as with those on the national register, which was set up in 1998, "We must be careful," a legal source suggests. "During all these years, those boxes of evidence have been handled a lot. The DNA traces could belong to a magistrate or an investigator."

Thierry Moser, lawyer for the Villemin couple, remains hopeful, "We are waiting for the results with impatience and hope," he says. And to be more precise: "If Bernard Laroche's DNA is found or that of Muriel Bolle (Laroche's sister-in-law who accused him of the crime and then retracted) that would be formidable." 

(With thanks to Frencheuropean who sent me details about this breakthrough in the case)

Grégory Villemin: four-year-old murdered in 1984. Parents request Low Copy Number DNA analyses of samples.

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The Grégory case: decision on Wednesday on the last chance analysis.

On Wednesday, the court will announce its decision on the request for new analyses that the parents of little Grégory Villemin, who was murdered in October 1984, are hoping for, in an attempt to resolve one of the most sensational legal mysteries in the post-war period.

The Investigative Division of the Dijon Court of Appeal, in charge of the investigation into the murder of little Grégory, who was found drowned, bound hand and foot, in the Vologne (Vosges) on October 16th 1984, must now make a decision on the request for 'new forensic investigations,' filed in June by Thierry Moser, lawyer for Jean-Marie and Christine Villemin.

At the time, the lawyer considered that it was, 'the last chance procedure.' During the June 30th hearing, the process was adjourned until September 29th for further deliberation, for the court to report its decision on October 20th.

"We are confident and calm. The Dijon Court of Appeal looks positive and wants to go forward. Will these new leads bring success? That's a different kettle of fish," Mr Moser stated.

For the court, it's basically about authorising DNA analysis of a hair found on the four-year-old's trousers and additional investigation of DNA "embedded," in the cords that bound him. With this new investigative procedure, called LCN (Low Copy Number) which is considered exceptional, on a number of scant samples, the cords would have to be cut up and therefore destroyed.

"For us, the cords are the important things, because there we are closest to what took place. It's of prime importance," added Marie-Christine Chastant-Morand, the other lawyer for Jean-Marie and Christine Villemin.

Other requested "forensic investigations": comparison of the voice of the anonymous caller with those of the main characters in the case, such as were gathered by journalists at the time, sound recordings retained by the National Audiovisual Institute. (INA)

It is also a question of looking for fingerprints "on the gummed parts of envelopes," and pressure impressions (raised on a page due to the pressure of writing) on the letter claiming responsibility for the crime.

The Attorney General has gone along with the Villemin couple concerning these five demands, "subject to feasibility," for the last three, stated Jean-Marie Beney, Dijon's Attorney General.

Dernières Nouvelles D'Alsace

18/10/10

The case of Grégory Villemin, disappeared October 16th 1984

From the blog of Georges Moréas.

http://moreas.blog.lemonde.fr/

3/12/08

On October 16th 1984, Grégory Villemin, aged four and a half, disappeared from his parents' house in Lépanges-sur-Vologne, in the Vosges. In the evening, his body was found in the waters of the Vologne, in Docelles, six kilometres from his home. His legs and arms were bound by a rope and he had drowned. No trace of violence on the little body

On the evidence, he had been thrown into the river alive - as a cat would be drowned. Suspicion fell on the family. The next day, the child's father, Jean-Marie Villemin, received an anonymous letter: "(...) Your money could not give you back your son. This is my revenge, poor con...."

Two weeks later, the Epinal judge, Jean-Michel Lambert, issued a warrant against Bernard Laroche, a cousin of the Villemins, who was the object of a denunciation by his own cousin, aged 15. What a family! In February 1985, the judge freed him, and one month later the Villemin father shot him with a shotgun. But the rumours took off. They accused Christine Villemin, little Grégory's mother. In highbrow ramblings, Marguerite Duras hammers home the point. Convinced of her guilt, she wrote in Libération that that it was a "sublime, inevitably sublime," crime.

For a long time, the PJ were kept out of this case. Would their investigators have done better than the gendarmes? Commissioner Jacques Corrazi, who later took over the case, was probably convinced of it. He might have managed to curb the delirium of a low-ranking judge whose peers said it was a "mental tightrope." Christine Villemin was subsequently placed under investigation for the murder of her son. On February 3rd 1993, the Dijon criminal court concluded that there was no case against her, and the case was dismissed. Little Grégory's killer has never been found.

Unless...

Twenty-four years later, can forensic science succeed where the gendarmes, the police and the courts have failed? In deciding to re-open the investigation, the Dijon Court of Appeal must consider that the sealed items, which have apparently been carefully preserved (clothing, bonds, poison-pen letters...) could now bring valuable evidence, notably thanks to DNA traces.

This is, I believe, a first in France. Which renews our interest in the genetics file. *

Note: is this what M. Moréas is referring to above? Le FNAEG (fichier national automatisé des empreintes génétiques)

Le + et le du fichier