Monday September 28, 2009, the operational center of the Essonne gendarmerie received a call: “Help, I’m being kidnapped”, proclaims a woman on the line who introduces herself under the name Marie-Christine Hodeau, 42 years old. She explains that she was locked in the trunk of a car. But at the end of two minutes and 22 seconds, communication stops. Searches are then immediately triggered around of Oncy-sur-Ecole, place of the kidnapping.
The gray Peugeot 106, reported by the victim, was located by the gendarmerie helicopter thirty kilometers away, in a large property in Echilleuses, in the Loiret. The owner explains that the car is mainly used by the caretaker, a certain Manuel Ribeiro Da Cruz. This 47-year-old man who denies being the kidnapper of the jogger is arrested and placed in police custody.
However, his profile is of great interest to the gendarmes. Nine years ago, at the same time of year, on October 10, 2000, and in the same area, he kidnapped and raped thirteen-year-old Morgane Vallée. He had strangled her, then she had managed to reason with him to leave her alive. Sentenced to eleven years in prison, he had been on parole for two years.
“Obviously he was released too early, but legally not because the law was applied, explains David Galtier, army general, director of the gendarmerie’s judicial police at the time of the events. I remember in my opinion that there is not received enough medical treatment in prison. The law will correct this. There were no geographical restrictions for the person concerned and there was no reporting to the gendarmerie either. That’s a lot for a sexual predator.”
A strange scenario
Before the Evry investigating judge, Manuel Da Cruz ended up confessing. He then directs the gendarmes to the Buthiers sector, about fifteen kilometers from Milly-la-Forêt. Marie-Christine Hodeau lies completely naked, hidden in a hole under leaves and branches. The forensic experts indicate that she was raped, then strangled.
The man said he crossed paths with Marie-Christine Hodeau by chance, then jumped on her before locking her in the trunk. While driving, he heard him deliver his license plate to the police. In a rage, he tied her to a tree, then abused her, claiming to have left her alive. He then said he ran into Marie-Christine Hodeau in the car when she had taken off her bonds. She was waving at him, believing that it was a motorist who was going to save her. That’s where he allegedly strangled her.
“This is the only version we have. There is a place where we find the body, and a place where we find the cords. Obviously there were two different scenes, underlines Me Damien Brossier, lawyer for Manuel Da Cruz. What he explains is unlikely, but sometimes it is the truth. Now we find it hard to believe that he could leave his victim when he had his hands on him. Can we imagine that he abandoned her while she was still alive or was it he who, controlling her, moved her from one place to another? We won’t know.”
Wednesday November 2, 2011, Manuel da Cruz, 49, appeared before the Essonne Assize Court, in Evry. “If she hadn’t called the police, I might not have killed her,” he slips. After a week of debates, Manuel da Cruz was sentenced to life imprisonment, a sentence accompanied by 22 years of security.
Guests from “Hour of Crime”
– Georges Brenier, police/justice journalist at TF1, followed this case for RTL.
– Me Damien Brossier, lawyer in Evry (Essonne), lawyer for Manuel Da Cruz.
-David Galtier, army general, director of the SDPJ (judicial police of the gendarmerie) at the time of the events and author of the book My fight against crime (with Jean-Michel Verne) published by Robert Laffont.
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