Valentin Marcone, nicknamed the “
madman of the Cévennes
”, sowed fear in the small village of Plantiers, in Gard, by ending the lives of two of his colleagues before taking refuge in the forest for four days.
From this Wednesday, he appears before the Nîmes Assize Court for “
assassinations
”.
Also read “He realizes the horror of his act”: the “madman from the Cévennes” tried for the assassination of his two colleagues
On May 11, 2021, at 7:42 a.m., Valentin Marcone arrived at the sawmill where he had worked for four years and overheard a conversation between his boss, Luc Teissonniere, and his colleague, Martial Guérin.
For several months, the young man has been prey to paranoid disorders linked to a dispute with his previous employer.
Feeling persecuted, he no longer travels without his bulletproof vest and his firearm.
The morning of the tragedy, he was convinced that Luc Teissonniere and Martial Guérin were trying to fire him.
He takes out his Sig Sauer 9 millimeter and shoots them.
Hit in the head, the two men died instantly.
The seasoned shooter and gun enthusiast goes to hide in the Cévennes forest.
The village of Plantiers is placed under lockdown, no one can enter except the 500 departmental and national gendarmes mobilized to find the fugitive.
General Arnaud Browaëys, commander of the PACA gendarmerie region, commanding the gendarmerie for the southern defense and security zone, led the four days of tracking.
On the eve of the trial, he returns to this high-tension operation for
Le Figaro
.
LE FIGARO. - After the double homicide, a large gendarmerie force was quickly deployed to cordon off the area and search for Valentin Marcone. What elements did you have to establish your strategy?
General BROWAËS. -
We know that we are dealing with a murderer, a seasoned shooter and trained in long-range shooting.
He fled in camouflage clothing, with a sniper rifle and possibly a handgun.
Obviously, we are looking for a dangerous man who, according to the first elements, is capable of surviving in a hostile environment.
The operation promises to be difficult because he has the advantage of the terrain, it is a wooded area, very dense in terms of vegetation, uneven and which he knows well.
It is therefore easy for him to hide there, while we have difficulty making progress there.
What scenarios do you envisage?
At the command center, located at the village town hall, several hypotheses are established.
The first, which seems to us to be the least likely, is that Valentin Marcone is on the move, that he is heading somewhere.
But we know that he fled without money and that he has no place to stay.
The second possibility is that he commits suicide or that he triggers what is called
"suicide by cop"
, the act of shooting at the police in order to push them to respond and dying under their bullets.
Finally, the last option is that he is holed up somewhere in the area and waits without moving, or that he decides to come out of his hole and start attacking the population again.
We know that he already had grievances with his previous employer.
We absolutely must protect and reassure the population.
The same goes for our gendarmes who are on the ground and likely to find themselves face to face with this unpredictable man.
The “
madman of the Cévennes
” has holed up in a steep and wild valley.
How did you define the scope in which to search for it?
The area is dense and rugged, a gendarmerie cordon was quickly deployed after the double homicide, so we know he couldn't have traveled many kilometers.
We establish a search zone of 40 square kilometers in the forest, the equivalent of a third of Paris.
Within this perimeter, we defined a privileged excavation area of 5 square kilometers.
500 gendarmes take turns to ensure a footprint on the ground, locate the fugitive and secure him.
350 gendarmes were deployed at the height of searches in this area.
The hunt for Valentin Marcone was intense and lasted 83 hours. How and where did you find it?
At the end of the third day, we broadcast a message from Valentin Marcone's father via megaphones.
He said to him: “
Valentine, it’s dad.
I love you, we love you.
I have the guarantee that there will be no fire if you surrender now, my son, trust me.
» The message was also relayed by helicopters above the forest, so it is very likely that the fugitive heard it.
I am not able to say whether this played a role in his decision, but the next day, May 14, he surrendered.
Valentin Marcone was hidden in a boar's hole.
He was overtaken by fatigue, dehydration, hunger, and the constant pressure that we put on him for four days.
He realized that the balance of power was against him, he got rid of his weapons and he came out of his hole.
Valentin Marcone surrendered to the first pair of soldiers he encountered.
He introduced himself to them and said:
“Excuse me, I surrender.
»