Saturday August 6, 2011, the Annemasse police station was informed by an anonymous call from the presence of a man lying next to a car on a path, not always very well traveled, between the towns of Gaillard and Etrembières. The individual received at least one bullet fired at the level of the left eyelid. The vehicle belongs to a man named Grégory Mercier, 34 years old, living with his mother in Annemasse.
The police then went to Catherine Mercier’s house. The day before, his son was supposed to meet his best friend, Gaïa. It was planned that they would spend the evening at Petit Savoyard, a nightclub in Pont-de-Fillinges, a dozen kilometers from Annemasse. She says that his son did not hide his homosexuality, liked to party, but never took drugs.
The Annecy judicial police reconstruct Grégory Mercier’s schedule on the evening of Saturday August 6. The victim’s best friend, Gaia, is heard first. She says she received a text from Grégory at 11:03 p.m., half an hour before the emergency services were alerted: “Where are you? What are we doing?” asks the young man. Then he won’t show up anymore. She reminds him twice and falls directly onto a German language messaging service, as if the cell phone had crossed the nearby border with Switzerland.
Several avenues studied
Grégory Mercier was HIV positive. The trail of an elder lover who would have wanted revenge after unprotected sex is studied. She is finally abandoned. The police remain intrigued by the individual who, on the telephone, first alerted the police station and the firefighters. A witness of prime importance who evaporated and was never identified.
Monday December 24, 2012, the Annecy judicial police received an anonymous letter designating a certain Semail H., a 35-year-old from Marseillais, as being the author of the assassination of Grégory Mercier. The man is well known to the French and Swiss courts. He was stopped many times for theft, fraud, possession of weapons. Almost two and a half years after the crime, Semaïl H., 37, is in police custody. He knew Gregory. “I don’t know much about him, just that he wanted to lure me into his bed,” says the suspect.
The profile of Nordhal Lelandais, murderer of Corporal Arthur Noyer and little Maëlys, living in the region, is also of great interest to investigators in the Grégory Mercier case. But no matches will be found between the young bookseller and the dog handler.
I joined the police by vocation, so I always have hope that the cases will succeed. Even more so when it comes to my son
Noel Mercier
“The importance in this type of crime is the first findings. Here we are on a night where there will be two very significant storms. The crime scene will be washed and many elements will disappear, relates Marie Prieur, journalist in Geneva for the newspaper 20 minutes. We didn’t find the phone, we didn’t find the papers, nor the murder weapon. On the other hand, we know that the telephone terminal after the crime in a neighboring town. SO it was taken away by someone. Afterwards, we couldn’t find his trace.”
Saturday March 20, 2021, Grégory Mercier’s sister, Delphine, confided in Dauphiné Libéré : “It’s anyway an execution. I don’t believe in the bad encounter idea. He was shot first in the car. He was taken out, beaten, a second bullet in the mouth. For me, it’s hatred.” she declares.
“I am convinced that we are not not all equal when it comes to activating searches. The little boy who disappeared last summer, we blocked everything, we put police… There, he’s a homosexual, an average person, we don’t care. What’s terrible is that Grégory is not an isolated case, there are plenty of others we never talk about, regrets Noël Mercier, Grégory Mercier’s father. I joined the police by vocation, so I always have hope that the cases will succeed. Even more so when it comes to my son.”
If you have any information, you can call 07 63 88 36 88 or send an email to .
Guests from “Hour of Crime”
– Noël Mercier, father of Grégory Mercier.
– Marie Prieur, journalist in Geneva for the newspaper 20 minutes.
Read more
