Patience, again and again.
The family of little Estelle Mouzin, who disappeared on January 9, 2003, continues to hold their breath while no trace of the girl was discovered this Tuesday, December 8 on the lands of Sautou, the former domain of Michel Fourniret in the Ardennes .
This was confirmed to
Le Figaro
Didier Seban, the lawyer of Eric Mouzin, who attended the second day of the excavations.
Read also: These women who cornered Michel Fourniret in confession
It is in the mud and the coolness of a month of December that the investigations to find the body of Estelle Mouzin resumed this Tuesday in the Sautou park.
Still hospitalized, Michel Fourniret was not present at the excavations.
Much of the search took place in locations the serial killer had indicated during his trip in late October.
Areas "
that have never been explored,
" said Me Seban.
To read also: Estelle Mouzin: the ex-wife of Fourniret re-examined by the judge
Once again, significant resources, both human and material, were implemented by the examining magistrate Sabine Kheris, in charge of the Fourniret case.
Two backhoes, soldiers and an archaeologist got down to exploring an area of three hectares.
Trees were uprooted, the ground dug, turned, examined.
Archeology at the service of investigators
The investigators used, among other things, the technique of criminal archeology.
"It is by stripping the soil and studying its settlement that the archaeologist can find out if a false one has been dug in a specific place,"
explained Me Seban.
And to add that "
a ground will not be compacted in the same way according to whether the hand of the man intervened or not over time
".
Soldiers also scanned the humus using metal detectors in search of jewelry that the young victim might have worn.
Read also: Corsica: a young man sentenced to 22 years in prison for the murder of his father
If the investigations carried out on Tuesday did not allow to find the slightest trace of Estelle Mouzin, they should continue until the end of the week.
"
Barely 50% of the area demarcated for these excavations have been explored for the moment,
" said Me Seban, who remains hopeful.
“
Everything has been done to ensure that the work done this week takes place in the best possible conditions
,” he said, welcoming the full commitment of Judge Kheris.
"The research is done over an immense space and it is based in part on the words of a man who is losing his memory, so yes, it takes time
.
"
“The real problem is that we waited far too long to conduct these searches.
Today, we are in a kind of dull anger, ”
said the lawyer
.
Eric Mouzin, Estelle's father, was kept informed hour by hour of the progress of the research by his lawyers.
"
He wants to be aware of everything and he will go immediately on site if a discovery is made by the end of the week,
" said Me Seban.
Aged 78, the man nicknamed "the ogre of the Ardennes" had ended up confessing last March his responsibility in the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin, seventeen years ago.
It is on this fifteen hectare estate located in the town of Donchery that the bodies of two victims had already been found in 2004, on the advice of Michel Fourniret.
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