"I am a chicken and milk producer, my job is not to find out who killed my daughter". And yet, for almost eight years, Patrick Giboire, a farmer from Piré-sur-Seiche (Ille-et-Vilaine), a town in the countryside of Rennes, has been trying to find out who killed Céline, his youngest daughter. The enigma is the subject of a documentary this Thursday evening at 8:55 pm in the program "Unsolved" on RMC Story.
On February 27, 2012, the 16-year-old girl was absent from the Rennes high school where she attended school. The next day, the schoolgirl was found dead after falling 15 meters from a cliff in Saint-Servan, near Saint-Malo, an hour's drive from Rennes. Judicial information for rape and murder is always open and entrusted to the gendarmes. Who saw Céline, who took her from Rennes to Saint-Malo, a seaside resort where she had no ties, what tracks were not followed by the investigators? These are the questions which Patrick Giboire, his wife Marie-Paule and his four children are still hoping for answers.
Have you never believed in the suicide thesis, which was initially followed by the Rennes judicial police?
PATRICK GIBOIRE. No never. At the outset, the police found in Céline's room manga and a music CD that talks about suicide. She also quarreled with a classmate after returning from school holidays. For them, all this could have pushed her to suicide. But if she really wanted to end her life, she wouldn't have needed to go to Saint-Malo. And then, if there had been a problem, she would have told Laura her twin sister, with whom she had very strong ties. Her two older sisters also lived in Rennes and one of them always said to them: "If you have a problem, you come home, we solve the problem, the parents will know nothing. The siblings were united.
For you, the investigation had started badly anyway ...
When the joggers discover Céline's body, no crime scene perimeter is defined. The investigators found his scarf and his glasses placed on a railing of the park at the top of the cliff, his bag hidden in a trash can and his vital card between two rocks, they took everything but did not analyze all the elements. They only returned a few days later to find other clues, but it was over, the crime scene was polluted. And then, eight days after the burial, they exhumed the body because all the expert reports had not been done. Finally, some witnesses were not fully examined.
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Who are you thinking of?
There was this Saint-Malo couple who came to drink beers and walk their dog in the Corbières park. She was known to the justice system for a homicide and she collected press articles on the death of Céline. On one of the clippings was written "They will never know the truth". These two people were only questioned for eight hours during which they contradicted each other. Why did the police and the gendarmerie subsequently not pay more attention to these individuals?
You also have in mind a man sentenced on appeal in 2018 to 30 years in prison for a series of six rapes committed between 2,011 and 2,012 between Rennes and Toulouse.
It's Florian Varin. During his trial at the Toulouse assizes in 2015, my children's lawyer, Me Franck Berton, who was defending one of his victims, told him about my daughter. When asked "Do you know Céline Giboire?" The accused replied quickly that he had heard of it and that his card had been found near the Corbières park. And indeed, a lady who died today had testified spontaneously by saying that she had met, the day of the discovery of my daughter's body, a young man who was looking for his wallet in the park. Florian Varin has an alibi for that evening, but I think the gendarmes should dig this trail.
In 2013, you decided to call on a private investigator to review your file.
It was he who saw that someone had moved Céline's body 32 meters into the rocks after her fall. Investigators thought she dragged herself. But his body had no scratches. And then, with the pains she must have felt, her broken shoulder, we should have found her curled up on herself, not her arms stretched over her head.
Did this investigator point to other gray areas?
Yes, when she disappeared, Céline had her identity card on her, but it was the only document that we did not find. Likewise, we found Spasfon in her stomach, but she didn't have a blister on her. We also found lentils in her stomach but we don't eat them at home, and she didn't eat in the canteen that afternoon. In addition, Céline does not appear on any video surveillance image in Rennes. On the other hand, in Saint-Domineuc, about twenty kilometers from Saint-Malo, witnesses saw her inquiring on a bus and she asked the question to a bartender. But we do not know how she got from Rennes to the Corbières park.
So are you calling possible witnesses to come forward?
I think people are afraid to testify. But if only someone who saw it, took it in the car, wanted to show up, we could move on. I call on these people to come forward even if it's been eight years.
How is your family doing today?
I was afraid that Laura, Céline's twin, would get depressed. But everyone supported themselves. Today, the children are doing well, small children have arrived. We always think of Céline, however. We want to know who hurt him, we don't want to give up. It is too easy to say that she committed suicide and let the one who killed her run.
