Dany Leprince affair: 30 years after the quadruple murder in Sarthe, a new request for review examined

The affair still haunts the village of Thorigné-sur-Dué (Sarthe), east of Le Mans. Its 1,600 residents were plunged into horror one morning in September 1994, when four members of the same family were found dead in their home. Quickly indicted, the neighbor and brother of the murdered father, Dany Leprince, was sentenced to life in prison three years later. Since then, he has continued to proclaim his innocence. His request for review, requesting a new examination of the case, is examined this Thursday, December 12.

Confessions…before a retraction

On September 5, 1994, Christian and Brigitte Leprince did not show up for work. Their bodies, as well as those of their two daughters aged 7 and 10, were discovered shortly afterwards. All were “massacred” using a butcher's sheet, and the crime scene shows impressive violence, blood littering most of the walls of this country house. Only little Solène, 2 years old, was found safe and sound in her bed. The autopsy concludes that a quadruple murder occurred on the evening of September 4.

The investigation entrusted to the research section of the Angers gendarmerie quickly turned towards a family dispute. In just 48 hours, five people were placed in police custody: the parents, Robert and Renée, the two brothers, Alain and Dany, and the latter's wife, Martine. Aged 37 at the time, a farmer by day and a slaughterhouse worker by night, Dany Leprince was then accused by his wife and his eldest daughter.

For the investigators, the motive is clear: Dany Leprince, very in debt, was jealous of his brother who was getting rich thanks to his sheet metal and bodywork workshop. And they are quickly confirmed in their speculations since on September 9, Dany Leprince admits the facts half-heartedly. “I hit my brother several times” during an argument, he explains. Becoming the number one suspect, he is indicted for “intentional homicide with aggravating circumstances”.

Today we have new facts likely to establish his innocence.

Lawyers of Dany Leprince

However, the investigations got bogged down just a few days later. During a reconstruction, Dany Leprince retracts, claiming to have no link with the murder of her brother and his family. Despite this change of heart and the weakness of the material evidence, the trial, which was held in 1997 before the Sarthe Assize Court, concluded that he was guilty. The accused is sentenced to life imprisonment, with a security period of 22 years.

This verdict does not silence Dany Leprince, who still wants to convince the courts of his innocence. A support committee was then set up. In 2010, the farmer was released for the first time because the investigating committee doubted his presence at the crime scene. But there was a twist in 2011: he was finally reincarcerated (new window). Asked, the President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy refuses to grant him a pardon, whether partial or total. The following year, Dany Leprince saw his security measure lifted. He definitely finds freedom (new window)after 17 years of detention.

But leaving his cell is not enough for the man who is always nicknamed the “butcher of Sarthe”. Over the years, the investigation has gradually revealed significant flaws, highlighted by the new request for review filed in 2021. Dany Leprince's lawyers, Olivier Morice and Missiva Chermak-Felonneau, assure in a consulted document by AFP “to have today new facts and elements unknown to the trial court likely to establish his innocence or to give rise to doubt as to his guilt”.

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The butcher's sheet, found washed at the home of the Leprince parents and presented as the weapon of the crimes, “was, in all likelihood, never used to commit the murders” et “several weapons were probably used”. Solène, the survivor of the killing, for her part sent a letter to the investigating committee in April 2024, in which she confided having “serious doubts as to guilt” of his uncle, “in view of the numerous inconsistencies in the file”.

Suspicion now falls on Martine Compain, Dany Leprince's ex-wife, who changed her version several times during the investigation. If she initially claimed to have seen nothing or heard anything on the evening of the murder, the gendarmes later proved her “morbid jealousy” towards his sister-in-law.

However, the request for review examined this Thursday, December 12 did not “not intended to establish the guilt of a third party”insist the defense lawyers. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. and will take place behind closed doors.