When she meets the second investigating judge in charge of the murder of her daughter in 2022, Marie-Christine Le Nen arrives in the magistrate’s office with a list of 20 questions. Four years earlier, on August 21, 2018, Caroline was killed by her owner in Amblainville in Oise. Arrested the same day, the latter was placed in police custody then indicted and placed in pre-trial detention. It was in prison that he ended his life shortly after, leaving the victim’s loved ones without answers.
“It’s an anvil on the head.”recounts with emotion Marie-Christine Le Nen in Voices of Crime. The bereaved mother does not understand how this second drama could have unfolded, and wonders about the lack of communication which seems to have taken place; the two magistrates in charge of informing the detention staff about the suspect did not report that he was suicidal. The prison escort also said she was unaware. “However, the four gendarmes who were there say that they informed her, said Marie-Christine Le Nen. We will never know the end of the story…“
When the suspect’s body is discovered in the cell, staff try to resuscitate him… without success. “When he was dependent, the supervisors used the defibrillator and applied the patches. Four times, they recovered a heartbeat. Except that since the patches did not adhere well to the skin, the defibrillator never gave the order to shock. So this man was declared dead at 2 or 3 a.m..” A dysfunction for which the State was condemned by the Court of Appeal of Versailles, before appealing to the Court of Cassation. A small victory which does not take away anything to the other gray areas of the file.
It’s already painful to lose a child in such circumstances, but to not provide an answer to the families, to not recognize the mistakes that are made… It’s worst of all, it’s a kind of denial of justice.
Marie-Christine Le Nen
Marie-Christine Le Nen also questions the facts themselves. For six years, she has been fighting with her lawyer Juliette Chapelle to get answers. At the top of the list is the question of what rifle Caroline’s owner used. “When did he obtain this weapon? From whom? Had he made known his deadly intentions?” she is indignant. “Before he shot my daughter, he still took the time to turn off his cameras. He took the time to hide her, start cleaning and turn the cameras back on. So I mean, we have these recordings, there is timing, If he didn’t intend to shoot, why did he turn off those cameras?“
Likewise, the question of possible complicity arises. “There are three minutes between the moment he turns the camera off and the moment he turns it back on,” she adds. “He was 67 years old, he had a heart condition, he was stressed. How could he do all that? What I want is for someone to explain it to me, to show me that yes, indeed, it is possible! I’m surprised. There are people on the farm who say they heard my daughter screaming. I wish she had a voice. However, they did not hear the gunshot even though their window was ajar. Good, could other people have incited him to commit this crime? Was he able to benefit from assistance before, during, after? And I believe that we must explore all avenues. And these avenues have not been explored.”
Marie-Christine Le Nen is now leading a fight for her daughter, but not only that. “I tell myself that I am not the only one. This is undoubtedly not the only file that is neglected. It’s already painful to lose a child in such circumstances, but to not provide an answer to the families, to not recognize the mistakes that are made… It’s worst of all, it’s a kind of denial of justice.” A denial of justice which seems to precede Caroline’s murder: according to her mother, the owner had already had dealings with the authorities but had managed to slip through the cracks “twelve times”. The files were all closed without sequel, before this tragedy happened.
>> Voices of Crime are lawyers, investigators, close to victims, suspects or culprits. These key witnesses speak to RTL journalists. Unpublished testimonies, which shed new light on justice and the major criminal cases of today.
Twice a month, one of these Voices of Crime tells us their point of view on a criminal case. An RTL podcast.
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