In the glass floors of the Paris court on November 27, 2019, a small gray-haired man hums a childish nursery rhyme while looking at the photo of Estelle Mouzin. "To have a feather in his hat, Petit Jean killed a bird ...", whispers Michel Fourniret. Is the famous serial killer making a confession? Is the little bird a metaphor for the little girl who disappeared in 2003 in Seine-et-Marne?
Alas, the septuagenarian launches out as always in an elliptical response and yet very instructive. "Nothing tilts, either one way or the other," he says, looking up from the picture of little Estelle. "I have already seen this photo several times, it is difficult to be objective," insists the suspect before digressing on his childhood and on the songs of Michel Simon.
Behind the playful tone of this conversation hides the decisive interrogation which will lead to the indictment of Michel Fourniret, the Ogre of the Ardennes, now officially suspected of having kidnapped and then killed Estelle Mouzin on January 9, 2003 in Guermantes ( Seine et Marne). For almost three hours, the serial killer and the examining magistrate Sabine Kheris will engage in a real game of chess. A discipline that gargles to master Michel Fourniret. "It's a matter of play and not of psychology," he laughs when the judge tries to trap him, according to the hearing minutes that we were able to consult. Playing with a partner like you is worth it. "
"It is very possible that it was me ..."
The doyenne of Parisian examining magistrates is not in the mood for a joke. Sabine Kheris relaunches Fourniret on the photo of Estelle Mouzin, wants to know more. In a very long tirade, the Ogre of the Ardennes then evokes the parents of victims awaiting an answer, incriminates himself then clears himself, before affirming that he does not remember ... "It is very possible, even very likely that I was the author of this disappearance but I do not know what to say to you, loose the goal killer in white. And to add: "It is quite lucky that it is me, so let's conclude. Conclude to conclude (sic). It is very possible that it is me, and even if it is not me, it does not matter. "
As since the beginning of his criminal career, Michel Fourniret seems, on this day, to revel in misleading justice, to direct him towards tracks before turning back. "With him, you have to know how to read between the lines," says a good connoisseur of the serial killer. In a surprising mise en abyme, Michel Fourniret gives himself up, in front of the judge, to "hypotheses" ... very credible on the disappearance of Estelle. "If she was a schoolgirl, it may have been on the way from school to home" that she was abducted, suggests the killer. Exactly what happened to Estelle Mouzin on January 9, 2003 in Guermantes (Seine-et-Marne).
"Why did you think of that? »Tries the magistrate.
"Why not, because it is indeed a completely plausible hypothesis", answers Fourniret.
And the judge continued: “Among the victims for whom you have been tried, it is rare that you kidnapped them on the way from school to home. "
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"I will answer you with ease by accusing you. You took a thesis right away, when I may have been out of all the schools, retorts the old man. You are at fault. "
The magistrate sets traps, Fourniret eludes
Despite his 77 years, Michel Fournirait appears lively and provocative. If he says he regrets that "his neurons are screwing up", nothing says however that the killer does not overplay his memory lapses. Judge Kheris pointed out to him that it is strange that he remembers “the nickname of a mistress” of his son but not the place where he lived in 2003. In this case, the Belgian Ardennes .
To push Fourniret to its limits, the magistrate sets traps for her: she questions him about the birth of his granddaughter, about the retirement pot of his boss in 2003 or about his visits to his second wife… So many questions diverted to find out if the killer did not frequent the Paris region at the time of the kidnapping of Estelle.
Again, Fourniret eludes. And concludes this series of questions with a new affirmation intended to instill doubt: “Given the erosion of my memory, given the doubt, I would tell you to consider that I am the author of this disappearance. If it is not me, a statement like this can reassure parents. "It feels like you are sorting through your memories," snarled the magistrate. Upset, the serial killer claims to be playing "fair game" with the judge, even if it means tickling her, as if sure of her strength. "If I had something to blame myself I would be careful, but there you have no chance. "
"If this little girl had crossed my path, I would tell you"
Glancing again at the photo of the little girl, Michel cynically evokes a "fragile, very fragile, not touched, sacred ..." "You have been condemned for having touched fragile beings, reminds the judge. I can not believe you. "At the age I am, you know, I have nothing to fear or lose," argues the serial killer. If this little one had crossed my path I would tell you. But I don't remember. If I am unable to tell you, yes I am responsible for his disappearance, I urge you to consider me as guilty, to treat me as guilty. "
Once again, as in a letter addressed to justice in June 2007, the Ogre of the Ardennes is incriminated in half-word in the Mouzin affair, while leaving open the hypothesis of his innocence. “He makes Fourniret, underlines Me Didier Seban, the lawyer of the father of Estelle Mouzin. One can however read between the lines his participation in the disappearance of Estelle. The judge's strategy to hear Monique Olivier, his ex-wife who is in a process of collaboration with the justice system, seems good. At the time of his arrest in 2003, six months after the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin, it had indeed been necessary that Monique Olivier confessed so that the killer recognized eight murders…