Excavations continued Tuesday in the Ardennes to try to find the body of little Estelle Mouzin, alleged victim of serial killer Michel Fourniret in 2003, an AFP correspondent found. "
It is very, very difficult to find a body in these conditions and in the forest
", declared Me Corinne Hermann, who defends the Mouzin family. Estelle's father "
knows that everything is being done to find his daughter, and this is the most important for the moment
", according to the lawyer. As on Monday, this second day of research took place in the presence of Monique Olivier, the ex-wife of Michel Fourniret, extracted from the prison where she is serving a 28-year security measure for complicity in four of the murders of "
l '
ogre of the Ardennes ”.
Read also "He has no personal cemetery": the difficult search for the bodies of the victims of Michel Fourniret
"
Monique Olivier is there, she is questioned (and) answers what she decides to answer
", explained Me Corinne Hermann, without giving more details.
The research campaign, which will last "
a priori a week
" according to Mr. Hermann, is the eighth carried out in the Ardennes since June 2020. The communal wood of Issancourt-et-Rumel, a village of 400 inhabitants near the Belgian border, has already been explored twice by investigators, on the basis of indications provided by Monique Olivier.
Read also Michel Fourniret, sower of death, tears and mysteries
Issancourt-et-Rumel is located 4 km from Ville-sur-Lumes where, still according to Monique Olivier, Michel Fourniret kidnapped, raped and killed Estelle, in a house belonging to his sister.
The ex-wife of the serial killer had for the first time recognized in April a role in the kidnapping of the child.
She had specified that she had accompanied Michel Fourniret to the edge of the woods to let him go and bury the body.
Sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of seven young women or adolescent girls between 1987 and 2001, Michel Fourniret finally admitted in March 2020 his responsibility in the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin.
He died at 79 in Paris on May 10.
