how a 34-year-old case is now on its way to being solved

A 62-year-old man, “Falco”, has just been indicted 34 years after the rape and murder of Carole Soltysiak, 13, in the woods of Montceau-les-Mines. Why such a twist, so long later?

Her smiling face, short or messy hair, a bit of a tomboy, made the rounds of the newspapers of the time. It’s difficult to imagine the ordeal experienced by Carole Soltysiak, 13, found tortured in a wood near Montceau-les-Mines on November 17, 1990. The young girl was raped, stabbed, strangled and partially burned.

In 2000, two suspects, “Iaco” and “the Sphinx”, were indicted… and still are, 24 years later. No trial has yet taken place.

Thunderbolt this October 10, 2024, after 34 years of endless waiting: a third man has just been arrested, indicted, and placed in pre-trial detention. Carole’s family’s lawyer is now hoping for a trial, “within a year or 18 months”. Why has the investigation reached such a turning point, after so many years?

► ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. His daughter Carole Soltysiak was killed and raped in 1990: “Let people who know something speak now”

Because the “cold cases” division took over the case

At the end of 2022, the Nanterre “cold cases” center announces that it is taking over the Soltysiak case. Almost 32 years almost to the day after Carole’s death, the Chalon-sur-Saône public prosecutor’s office transferred all the evidence from the investigation to this special unit, dedicated to old, unsolved crimes.

► ALSO READ: Two suspects, an unsolved murder: 32 years later, the Carole Soltysiak “cold case” soon to be reopened by the courts

The case is being investigated by a judge whose name is now famous: Sabine Kheris. It was she, in particular, who managed to make “the ogre of the Ardennes” Michel Fourniret speak in 2020.

Once the Soltysiak file is taken over, things accelerate. In April 2024, Sabine Kheris went to the site, in Saône-et-Loire, with investigators. “The gendarmes resumed the investigation, reviewed and re-interviewed everyone.explains Didier Seban, the lawyer for the Soltysiak family, contacted on October 11.

For two days he There was a major operation with both the hearings of those indicted and the hearing of people who were close to them.

Didier Seban

Soltysiak family lawyer

It was probably following these new investigative actions that “Falco”, the third suspect, was eventually arrested, indicted on October 10 and placed in pre-trial detention.

This indictment is based, according to Maître Seban, “on elements which were largely already in the file”. “Incriminations by one of the suspects, information on the car used, information on the proximity between the three of them…”

They were bar stalwarts, fellow outings who roamed Montceau-les-Mines a little.

Didier Seban

Soltysiak family lawyer

“Young women, who experienced attempted attacks before Carole, drew up composite portraits. And all of this led to this man, but the Chalon-sur-Saône public prosecutor’s office did not draw any conclusions.” deplores Didier Seban.

Because investigation techniques have evolved

Another important element: in 1990, the means were far removed from the high technology used today. A former investigator involved in the Soltysiak affair confirms this: “Back then, it was the beginnings of DNA. Over the years, technical and forensic science has improved.”

A case like little Grégory, these days, it is solved.

a former investigator of the Soltysiak affair

The ex-investigator draws up a list: “Now, we have telephone demarcation, social networks, samples, freezing of crime scenes… All those involved – firefighters, emergency services, police – are trained not to pollute crime scenes. In the 90s , that was not the case.”

“30 years ago, our way of solving investigations was mainly by obtaining confessions from the guilty”notes the former investigator.

However, these confessions were particularly difficult to obtain. This is one of the big difficulties of this case: the profile of the suspects, “very marginal, with a very fragile psychiatric profile, against a background of alcohol and drugs”.

The suspects, questioned several times, vary in their statements. They confess half-heartedly, never explicitly. They say “to have seen from above”, “to have heard” what happened. Some statements are unverifiable. “Their notion of time and space is not the same.” Their word is not reliable. Especially 10 years after the murder.

Deep down, we really thought it was them but we didn’t have enough material and tangible elements to present to the courts.

a former investigator of the Soltysiak affair

“It was a big frustration”remembers the ex-investigator. “I think that’s part of why the training took so long.” At the same time, other avenues have been explored over the years, including those of the serial killer Francis Heaulme. Which won’t lead anywhere.

Because the family and its supporters never gave up

Despite this frustration, one woman never lost hope: Betty Soltysiak, Carole’s mother. She repeats it again today to France 3 Bourgogne: “What I want now is to appeal for witnesses. This new suspect may be married, have a girlfriend, family in the know, friends… This is the last time I ask it, really: I pray to the people who know something, that they speak up, now.”

If anyone knows something, let them speak up and let’s put an end to all this waiting that has gone on for too long.

Betty Soltysiak

mother of Carole Soltysiak

For years, the Soltysiak family has been able to count on the support of the Christelle association, founded by Marie-Rose Blétry. His daughter is one of the victims of the “Saône-et-Loire crimes”, these murders which remained unsolved for years in the region (often nicknamed, through abuse of language, the “disappeared from the A6” case). Christelle Blétry was killed with 123 stab wounds in 1996 in Blanzy. The killer, Pascal Jardin, will be found using DNA and convicted in February 2017.

Since then, the Christelle association has been working with the support of specialist lawyers Corrine Herrmann and Didier Seban, so that justice does not forget the latest victims.

The indictment of “Falco”, in the Soltysiak affair, “totally gives back hope”tells us Marie-Rose Blétry. “The proof is that if we investigate, we can find the perpetrators. I am convinced of this: if we give the judges and investigators the resources, I am sure that we will be able to resolve the cases. And I hope, one day, that we will no longer talk about cold cases.”

► Created in March 2022, the Nanterre “cold cases” center has studied nearly 400 cases and opened around 80 judicial inquiries. It led to an emblematic trial in 2023: the life sentence of Monique Olivier, accomplice in the crimes of Michel Fourniret in the Estelle Mouzin, Joanna Parrish and Marie-Angèle Domèce cases.