Police officers killed in the North, triple domestic homicide and kidnapping of Eya: the news of the week

Dear readers,

Once again, the news of the news was eventful. The week opened with the tragic death of three police officers in a serious pile-up involving a drug-impaired driver and ended with a new case of parental abduction.

As every Sunday, we offer you a selection of the best reports, stories and unpublished archives of Le Figaro in order to enlighten you as well as possible on these judicial and police cases that agitate our society.

I wish you a good reading during this long Whitsun weekend.

Esther Paolini, journalist at the "Faits divers" division of Le Figaro.

If you want to testify about a case, write to us at faitsdivers@lefigaro.fr

Records of the week

• In the North, another dramatic pile-up takes the lives of three police officers

Paul, Manon and Steven worked at the Roubaix police station as peacekeepers. National Police Association

Manon, Paul and Steven had "life ahead of them," lamented Gérald Darmanin. These three young peacekeepers were killed last Sunday in a road accident in Villeneuve d'Ascq, in the North. They were transporting a young woman to the hospital in Lille when they were violently hit by a car that was driving the wrong way. The driver was under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The tribute paid by Emmanuel Macron in Roubaix was not enough to calm the indignation in the ranks of the police. Helpless in the face of a recent black series linking alcohol, drugs and driving, police have been calling for many months for more severity towards these drivers. This Sunday, Elisabeth Borne took a step in their direction, announcing that sanctions for this type of behavior would "undoubtedly be strengthened" in July. In parallel, the Ministries of Justice and the Interior are working on the possibility of creating a new offense of "traffic homicide".

" READ ALSO Who are Manon, Paul and Steven, the three young police officers who died in the accident of Villeneuve-d'Ascq?

• Triple homicide of Dreux: the end of 48 hours on the run

After 48 hours on the run, the man accused of killing his former spouse and two children in Eure-et-Loir was arrested Saturday in the Yvelines. He will now have to provide answers to shed light on the terrible family lock-up that took place in a pavilion in Dreux. The father of the family is suspected of having carried no less than forty stab wounds on his ex-wife and a dozen on each of his children, aged 13 years and 18 months.

He had already been sentenced in 2021 to 12 months in prison, including four months probation, for violence against his ex-girlfriend and eldest daughter. Despite the ban on contact with them, he reportedly recently prowled around their house. The day before the incident, the mother had visited a neighbor, confiding to him: "I am afraid."

• Three days after her abduction, little Eya was reunited with her mother

Brutally abducted by her father in Isère before being located the next day in Denmark, little Eya, 10, was handed over Saturday to her mother. The child is "in good health", in the words of the Grenoble prosecutor.

This reunion is a relief for this mother, who has lived these last three days as a real hell. After violently kidnapping his daughter, his ex-companion fled to Europe, via Switzerland and Germany. He and his accomplice should soon be transferred to France, in order to explain themselves before the French justice.

To go further, reread the investigation of Le Figaro on parental abductions.

The story

Karine Esquivillon-Pialle, a mother of five, has been missing for two months. Facebook screenshot

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I will not give any news for a while. I'm in a hot place. I think there's going to be thunderstorms... Brrr'. These few words are the last words sent by Karine Esquivillon-Pialle to her children on March 31. Since then, this 54-year-old resident of Maché in the Vendée has vanished. Did she flee to escape the wear and tear of everyday life? Or on the contrary, has this devoted mother been the victim of a crime?

Through testimonies of relatives as well as a report on the scene of the disappearance, our journalists Margaux d'Adhémar and Sylvain Allemand tried to unravel the mystery of the "disappeared of Vendée".

Yesterday's fact

On the left, Guillaume Seznec, sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his friend Pierre Quémeneur (right). AFP

It is May 25, 1923, the beginning of the famous Seznec affair. That day, Pierre Quémeneur, wood merchant and general councillor of Finistère, disappears body and soul. The man is on his way to Paris with his partner in a business of resale of Cadillac: Guillaume Seznec, sawmill master in Morlaix. The latter is quickly indicted despite the absence of a corpse. At the trial in October, the journalist of Le Figaro prophesied: "It will be a famous cause."

And indeed, if Guillaume Seznec is sentenced to forced labor for life, his family does not give up the fight. It denounces a botched investigation and multiplies requests for review, always rejected. In 2015, a new thesis emerged: Guillaume Seznec's wife would have herself unintentionally killed Quémeneur by rejecting his advances. "After a hundred years of certainty, can justice accept to change the truth?" asks our columnist Stéphane Durand-Souffland.

By our journalist Camille Lestienne.

On the agenda

Thursday, June 1st - In Reims will take place the funeral of Carène Mezino. This 37-year-old nurse, mother of two, was stabbed to death Monday at Reims University Hospital. The attacker, who also seriously injured a medical secretary, was charged with "murder" and "attempted murder". Suffering from serious psychiatric disorders, he justified his action by a hatred towards "white coats". The events sparked a wave of emotion among hospital staff. The funeral will take place at 9:30 a.m. in the Basilica of Saint-Rémi.

" READ ALSO "Kind, simple and hardworking": the relatives of Carène Mézino mourn the nurse stabbed at the University Hospital of Reims

Friday, June 2 - This is a new twist in a case that was not lacking. Guy Trompat is on trial before the criminal court of Niort for "instigation to murder" and "death threats" against those accused of the murder of his son, Kevin and his girlfriend Leslie. He is accused of "having offered a sum of money to anyone who would kill them or their relatives, via social networks," according to the Niort prosecutor's office. This colorful character placed in pre-trial detention pending trial, was already known for acts of voluntary violence. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

The opportunity to immerse yourself in our story about the murder of the lovers of Deux-Sèvres.

Guy Trompat, during the white march for his son in Niort, March 12, 2023. YOHAN BONNET

To read / to see

Would Napoleon 1st have been poisoned with arsenic? What really happened to Marat, murdered in his bathtub? Forensic doctor but also anthropologist and archaeologist, Philippe Charlier autopsies historical figures as he autopsies the bodies of unknown victims of criminals. Henri IV, Richard the Lionheart, Diane de Poitiers, Robespierre... He looked at them all. In Autopsy of Famous Hearts (Éditions Tallandier), the author goes back in time and reopens the files - and especially the organs - of his historical "patients". An unprecedented reading of the History of France where historical facts are treated as so many news items, or rather, as so many cold cases. No need to have your heart hooked to immerse yourself in these autopsies of the past. But it's better to have finished your lunch.

" READ ALSO Philippe Charlier, the man who makes the dead speak

Forensic doctor but also anthropologist and archaeologist, Philippe Charlier autopsies historical figures as he autopsies the bodies of unknown victims of criminals. Autopsy of famous hearts (Editions Tallandier)

We meet next Sunday for a new issue of your newsletter facts.

Have a great weekend!