In 1972, Daniel Bourdon was 13 years old and living in Bruay-en-Artois, in Pas-de-Calais. That year, the small working-class town was shaken by a terrible crime: Brigitte Dewèvre is found dead in a wasteland.
“I know Brigitte’s brother with whom I play football,” remembers Daniel Bourdon, who subsequently investigated this crime. The case caused a lot of noise because Brigitte’s body was found not far from her home. And in the settlements, it speaks.” Despite his proximity, Daniel Bourdon has very little memory of the teenager: “I didn’t know her personally because she was very self-effacing.”
At 15, Brigitte Dewèvre is very discreet and rarely goes out. “He was someone who had few relationships with friends, barely a few girlfriends., and who also took care of his brothers, his little brothers, who took care of his family, who had a very close bond with his mother. Small brunette, glasses, 50 kilos, no particular things to note about her physique.” Who could have attacked this “ordinary” teenager?
The judge will say ‘Here, I am here to defend the oppressed, the oppressed minor against the coalition of rich and very rich people’
Daniel Bourdon
Suspicion first falls on Pierre Leroy, city notary, who will become suspect number 1. The dynamic is encouraged by the political context of the time marked by the ideology of class struggle. The scenario emerges in everyone’s minds: Brigitte, daughter of miners who grew up in the settlements, was the victim of a rich bourgeois.
A prism legitimized by the speeches of the judge in charge of the investigation, Judge Henri Pascal, nicknamed “the red judge” in reference to its affinities with the left-wing judiciary union. “He will say, ‘Here, I am here to defend the oppressed, the oppressed minor against the coalition of rich and very rich people.’
However, the proceedings against the notary will quickly be abandoned. Today the murder of Brigitte Dewèvre remains unsolved despite the leads provided by Daniel Bourdon himself in three books published on the affair. The latest: Brigitte, Final Act (Flag, 2021).
>> 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 Unpublished testimonies, which shed new light on justice and the major criminal cases of today.
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