The affair plunged the whole of France into horror. On October 16, 1984, the body of little Grégory Villemin, 4 years old, was found bound hand and foot in Volognea river in the Vosges. A crow, who had been threatening his parents and part of his family for several months, then claimed responsibility for the murder, claiming revenge.
Forty years later, the murder of little Grégory remains unsolved. His parents, like the courts, are convinced that his murderer belongs to the Villemin clan, but none of the family members ever brought themselves to tell the truth.
Jean-Marie Villemin convinced that “no one will speak”
To the point that
Jean-Marie Villemin no longer has hope today.
Asked about France Inter on the occasion of the release of the comic strip “Gregory”, of which he is the screenwriter, the French journalist Pat Perna revealed the intimate convictions of Grégory’s father. According to him, none of his family members will ever tell the truth on what really happened that morning of October 16, 1984.
“He is almost convinced that none of the witnesses from the time still alive will speak, continues the screenwriter. Even his own father, who he suspected might have information, on his deathbed, said nothing. These people are walled in their silence, are walled in their hatred.”
“His life is a fight and his fight is to have the truth”
Despite everything, the 66-year-old tirelessly pursues his quest for truth. “His life is a fight and his fight is to have the truth”, assures Pat Perna. Jean-Marie Villemin also strives to keep the memory of his son alive. This Thursday, October 3, he signs the preface to the comic strip
“Gregory”, who reviews the main points of the case from his point of view.
In this two-page text, he explains in detail his decision to tell the story in comics, declaring that he wanted to give his version of the facts while denouncing “the media coverage of (his) tragedy”, which he believes contributed to the failure of the investigation. “It is their manipulations that have caused so much delay in the search for the truth and so many misfortunes that should never have happened,” he writes.
Jean-Marie Villemin: “I wonder how we survived.”
Still in his preface, the sixty-year-old underlines the “total annihilation” that he lived with his wife Christine following the murder of Grégory. “I wonder how we survived. We were lost, at the bottom of the abyss, without any support, tossed around by events and erratic justice”, he emphasizes.
Jean-Marie was 26 years old when her son was killed. At the time, the young man believed in the guilt of his cousin Bernard Laroche and killed him with a gunshot on March 29, 1985. For this crime, Jean-Marie Villemin was sentenced to five years in prison including one suspended sentence. However, he was reunited with his wife Christine at the end of this sentence, and the Villemin couple managed to rebuild their lives. After Grégory, Christine and Jean-Marie had three other children: Julien in 1985, Emeline in 1990 and Simon in 1998.
Related News :