Godard Affair. 25 years later, the village of Tilly-sur-Seulles has healed its wounds

25 years ago, the disappearance of the Godard family caused a shockwave in Tilly-sur-Seulles (Calvados). Since then, the witnesses of the tragedy have disappeared and the new inhabitants of the village have forgotten, even if the mystery remains intact.

An old stone house on the banks of a river. Centuries-old trees and a small Roman bridge in the Normandy countryside. What was the bucolic living environment of the Godard family has never changed since their unexplained disappearance on September 1, 1999. At least in appearance.

In place of the doctor, his wife Marie-France and their two children, several families have succeeded one another in the house of Tilly-sur-Seulles. And this despite the many searches and raids were carried out after the discovery of significant blood stains from the mother, Marie-France, in the master bedroom. Her body was never found.

“The media, passers-by and tourists come to enter the property, pick up a small stone or take photos of the interior and exterior. All this makes the owners a little embarrassed, which is understandable”says Didier Couillard, the mayor of the town. Inconveniences that have led the discreet couple, who have lived in the former Godard house for over 10 years, to keep quiet.

Although the case has been closed for the courts for 13 years, the unsolved affair still fascinates with its many gray areas. Did Yves Godard, the father and doctor who was a follower of alternative medicine, murder his wife and two children? Where is Marie-France’s body? How can we explain the resurgence of traces and bones several years after their disappearance?

In 25 years, these unanswered questions have given way to oblivion in Tilly-sur-Seulles, a rural commune located between Caen and Bayeux. The witnesses of the time have now moved or disappeared. This is the case of the former mayor, Olivier Quesnot, who was the first to enter the Godard house with the police. He had experienced the sudden and spectacular media coverage of this quiet village. He died in 2023.

In the heart of the town, new traders have set up shop.“Honestly, I never hear about it at the salon. We live normally, we don’t worry about it. It remains an unsolved matter,” says Greg, the manager of a hair salon. And yet, the forty-year-old passes by the former Godard property four times a day.

The same observation is made at the Tilly bar-tabac where the daily gossip no longer concerns the fate of Marie-France and her two young children, Camille and Marius. “It’s been years since this happened and we hear very little about it. talk”explains Karine, its manager. Only tourists and curious passers-by still try to obtain information and unravel the mystery.

“People sometimes come to the bar and ask us where the house in the Godard affair is. I don’t even know its exact location so I direct them to the town hall.”adds the tobacconist. A desire to forget, or at least to move forward, shared by Marie-France Godard’s family. And in particular her first two children, born from a previous union and teenagers at the time of the tragedy.

“For them, the chestnut nature of the affair reopens a wound. They truly experience it as a terrible and heavy drama for which silence is the best reparation.ns“underlines Jean Delom de Mezerac, the lawyer for the Godard family. An impossible mourning for those close to him. And a family drama that will remain forever mysterious for everyone else.