ricochet64 via Getty Images/iStockphoto
A man in his sixties was taken into police custody on Monday November 25 in Grenoble. (Illustrative photo)
MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS – A reopening of the files, more than twenty years after the events. A man in his sixties was taken into police custody in Grenoble, AFP learned from a source close to the case this Wednesday, November 27. His arrest could advance two cold cases. One of them is part of the file of “disappeared from Isère”, which concerns nine disappearances or murders of children in the department between 1983 and 1996.
The individual is thus suspected of being involved in the murder of Nathalie Boyer, 15, found with her throat slit in August 1988 in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, but also in that of Leila Afif, killed in 2000 in La Verpillière. The two cases, still unresolved to date, were reopened in 2022 by the Nanterre cold-case center.
The sixty-year-old was identified thanks to his DNA, which was notably found on the seals of the file of the death of Leila Afif, indicated RTL. He was arrested in Burgundy this Monday, at dawn, and has since been questioned by investigators from the Grenoble research section. His custody can last up to 96 hours, and will therefore end on Thursday.
“Difficult” news for families
This significant progress was communicated to the families of the victims. Contacted by AFP, Leila Afif's lawyer, Wissam Mahlaoui, did not wish to communicate. For her part, the lawyer for the Boyer family, Me Corinne Herrmann, declared to France Bleu Isère : “It’s difficult to learn 36 years after the fact that we have made progress in education. (…) It’s both great because you have access to a piece of truth and at the same time it rekindles a lot of suffering.”
She then recalled that “the family absolutely wanted to know the truth, we have been at their side since 2009. They never gave up and always had the hope of having an answer at some point.” Nathalie Boyer, disappeared on August 2, 1988 from her home in Villefontaine. The next day, his body was found by railway workers near a railway track in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier. Only 15 years old, her throat had been slit before being abandoned on the trail.
Also see on HuffPost :
Reading this content may result in cookies being placed by the third party operator who hosts it. Taking into account the choices you have expressed regarding the deposit of cookies, we have blocked the display of this content. If you wish to access it, you must accept the “Third Party Content” category of cookies by clicking on the button below.
Play Video
