This is the final twist on a case that was not lacking. On December 9, the runaway for June Hopkins, 48, and her son Brendan, 28, ended in the United States. The American woman and her son were arrested and then imprisoned in North Carolina on the basis of the arrest warrant issued by a Parisian investigating judge in August 2018. Both are suspected of having wanted to murder Grégoire twice, l ex-companion of June and father of Brendan, in extraordinary circumstances.
Last month, the Paris prosecutor's office sent an extradition request via the general prosecutor's office. It is now up to the American authorities to decide on their fate.
And to think that the story had started like a film romance ... In 1990, Grégoire, son of a Parisian doctor, worked as a steward on the Orient-Express. He is 25 years old. June is 29. She has just separated from her husband in the United States and is traveling in Europe. Lightning strike on the rails.
She never divorced
The couple meet again. June settles in Grégoire's studio and quickly becomes pregnant. But the former law student fled to the United States where she gave birth to Brendan in January 1992, in California. The following year, the young woman returned to her French Lover and history repeated itself: she fell pregnant again but crossed the Atlantic before the birth of this second boy, Austin, in March 1994.
Grégoire recognizes the two children but does not raise them. June Hopkins actually returned to live with her former American companion, Mark Walsh, from whom she was in fact not divorced. Brendan and Austin grew up on the east coast of the United States with their mother and stepfather. Grégoire has nothing more than meager news.
Years passed and, according to Grégoire, June resumed contact with him in 2008, after the death of his father. Two years later, she comes to spend several weeks in Paris, only with Brendan. Grégoire, who has converted to gardening, leaves his apartment at their disposal. The stay is pleasant, they even make several excursions all together.
Essence, lighter and Japanese saber
The atmosphere seems to be good… until this fatal date of August 20, 2010. Grégoire discovers that June searched his business, in particular his tax notices and documents relating to the succession of his wealthy father. A lively discussion begins in the apartment.
"I noticed that Brendan was standing behind me and I felt a liquid flow on my body starting from the neck, Grégoire will tell the police officers of the XIth arrondissement a week later by filing a complaint. I then heard a lighter noise twice. I turned to him when I saw that I had been doused in petrol and that Brendan had a lighter in his hand and that he was trying to light it on me. I hit him once so he let go of the lighter and he fell while letting go of the lighter […] Then I noticed that Brendan threw himself behind the sofa […] and grabbed a little Japanese sword. "
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It is Grégoire's brother, present in the apartment, who manages to surround the adolescent. Mother and son leave the apartment. End of the first act.
Officially, her husband died after her head hit a tool
Brendan and June returned to the United States. Where Mark Walsh, the latter's husband, died in troubled circumstances in 2011. Officially, he fell from a ladder in his garage and his head hit a tool. A police investigation is opened but, despite suspicions, the accident track is confirmed. By the way, his wife pockets $ 300,000 in life insurance.
Grégoire, he sinks into depression. "I can't get over it," he confides to the examining magistrate who heard him in February 2012. He is convinced that his former lover "raised the head" of their son, that he now fears. "I would like it to be prohibited from French territory, it is still fada to try to kill someone, I am afraid that it will start again," he delivers to the expert psychologist. According to him, their motive is financial.
The fear of the father of the family goes up a notch when he discovers, in 2014, that messages of insults and intimidation written in rough French were posted on the door of his apartment. Glazing.
On February 17, 2015, Grégoire, who lives with his sister in the Yvelines, is attracted by shouts in the street. Her sister is being assaulted by two helmeted people. She recognizes June and Brendan. Grégoire sets off in pursuit of them and misses being strangled. This time, the American and her son are arrested as they prepare to flee to England.
Mother and son secretly live in Paris
Placed in police custody and then incarcerated, June Hopkins and Brendan deny the two attempted homicides. But we discover that they actually lived secretly in Paris for several years. They took advantage of the long months to… spy on Grégoire by installing cameras and microphones outside the door of his apartment. The recordings are inaudible but, united by a toxic and paranoid relationship, they convinced themselves that the latter wanted to delete them.
In February 2018, after three years of detention, the two were released. But again fled in May. Their run lasted 19 months. "I would have liked to have been informed of their arrest in the United States by the judge or the prosecution," deplores Maître Beryl Brown, their lawyer. One has the impression that, as soon as they are on the run, the accused are no longer defended. ”
The judge investigating this double assassination attempt closed his investigation on January 22. Maître Laurent Poudevigne, Grégoire's lawyer, does not cry victory too quickly. "We are expecting this extradition request," he said. The US authorities have the discretion to grant it if they deem it appropriate. ” The presence of June and Brendan in the box of the assize court is not yet guaranteed.
