Juliette Le Droumaguet, a 7-year-old French woman, has been missing in Paraguay since April 15. Her 34-year-old Paraguayan mother Lilian Zapata has been in pre-trial detention since May 5, suspected of abuse and neglect. Like his companion, Rainer Oberüber, a 55-year-old German. As for Juliette's father, Stéphane Le Droumaguet, a Frenchman from Burgundy, he lives in Switzerland, separated without being divorced from Lilian. It is therefore 10,000 km away that he leads the fight of his life to try to find his daughter.
After an unbearable month of waiting, he also wants to encourage the Paraguayan police to focus their research on the environment of his wife's companion. An investigation is opened for homicide and forcible confinement.
From what you know, what was your daughter doing this Wednesday, April 15, the day of her disappearance?
STEPHANE LE DROUMAGUET . It was around 10 a.m. Juliette was playing in the immediate vicinity of the house. As usual, she spent time with two goats. Animals are his great passion. She feels in symbiosis with them, she speaks to them. Her mother, Lilian, went back and forth between the inside of the house and the terrace she was cleaning. Our eldest daughter, Charlotte, was still sleeping.
In which house did your two daughters and their mother live?
Since the end of March, a few weeks after the start of confinement in Paraguay, they had moved into the property of my wife's new companion, a German whom I do not know personally. It is in the countryside, not far from the town of Emboscada, about thirty kilometers from the capital Asunción. There is space, fields around, a forest nearby, animals. In short: ideal conditions for the best possible containment, especially for Juliette who suffers from a handicap.
What handicap does she suffer from?
She has been affected since her birth with microcephaly. It is an abnormally weak development of the cranial box and the brain which leads to a cognitive deficit, difficulties in language acquisition, epilepsy problems, etc. But she has a good awareness of her environment.
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What other people were there?
Reiner, my wife's partner, and several of its employees. They were carrying out a project to build tourist residences there.
From what you know, how did Juliette disappear?
The investigation is ongoing and, as the police say, no hypothesis has been ruled out. But I find it hard to believe that she got lost to the point of vanishing. Personally, I think my daughter was kidnapped.
What makes you say that?
It is the simultaneous disappearance of the two goats. The kidnapper (s) must have diverted my daughter's attention thanks to these goats. It was an effective way of silently luring her out of sight and then making her disappear. These goats were found a few days later in an improbable place, ten kilometers away, in perfect health.
Why would a kidnapping have been organized?
I have no certainty about this. So far, no ransom demand has been made, but if Juliette has fallen into the hands of child trafficking, I can imagine the worst. This is only one hypothesis among others.
Your wife Lilian has been in detention since May 5, suspected by investigators of parental neglect and abuse. What do you think ?
My wife is in an absolutely terrible situation. Her daughter has disappeared and she finds herself in the accused position. In addition, Paraguayan opinion is currently against it, it is unfair. In the minutes preceding her disappearance, my wife was near Juliette, she had an eye on her, even if she was not in immediate contact. Then, when she notices her disappearance, she leaves me a message on my answering machine, completely stressed, distraught. It was not at all the sign of a careless mother. On the contrary, we raised our daughter with all our love, like a small fragile plant. Together for five years then she alone for two years.
And what about the suspicions of mistreatment hanging over her?
It is not based on anything serious.
Why didn't your wife notify the emergency services immediately?
This is the question everyone is asking. My wife and eldest daughter immediately went looking for her. Reiner too, with a flat all the same. Being the owner, he immediately framed the research and gave precise directives. My older daughter told me that her mom had asked Reiner to call the police. But he replied that it was useless because, anyway, the police would do nothing before 24 hours. Finally, the most intriguing, Reiner sent his staff home, saying that he had spotted the goats with his drone and that he was going to meet Juliette. But this turned out to be a false lead.
Juliette, una pequeña niña francesa de 7 años, ha desaparecido cerca de Isla Alta. Cualquier información ayudando a encontrarla puede ser comunicada a la Embajada de Francia (+595 971 226 255).
Gepostet von La France au Paraguay / Francia en Paraguay am Dienstag, 21. April 2020And then what happened?
Night fell and Reiner went to bed to rest. It's incredible… My wife stayed up all night in the hope of seeing the goats come back. She even ventured into the forest in the middle of the night hoping to hear their bleating. And then early in the morning, Reiner and Lilian went to the police.
What do you know about Reiner Oberüber, your wife's new companion, himself in detention since May 5?
Very little. I have never met him. So I have a lot of questions about it. I have learned in recent weeks of some negative testimonies about it. From what I had perceived from him before, he is an intelligent, rational man, master of his emotions, follower of meditation. But that is the visible side. The rest are just guesses for now and I prefer not to talk about them. The case is too serious.
And you, how do you live this dramatic situation?
I suffer terribly. I am currently unable to go to Paraguay, due to the lack of air links due to the health crisis. Thanks to the French Embassy in Paraguay and with the agreement of my wife, I recovered my eldest daughter whom we wanted to shelter. So I fight from a distance, with the help of a local lawyer. I have not lost hope of finding my daughter alive, but unfortunately I also imagine the worst.