Recent expertises carried out on a mattress by Michel Fourniret, which made it possible to discover the partial DNA of Estelle Mouzin, have revealed about ten others.
And thus given the opportunity to reopen around thirty cold cases, some of which could be attributed to the Ogre des Ardennes.
Attorney General at the Grenoble Court of Appeal, Jacques Dallest has been leading a working group responsible for rethinking the handling of these cases in France for nearly a year.
Its conclusions are expected in the coming months.
How to explain that we can discover, 17 years after the arrest of Michel Fourniret, new DNA on seals?
JACQUES DALLEST.
Science has advanced a lot.
Today, with limited biological material, we can extract DNA that was unusable at the time.
For this, it is still necessary to have material, with samples well taken at the time of the survey.
Then the seal must be well preserved.
On this point, we still have to improve: pieces with convictions have sometimes been lost, degraded or even destroyed, because we thought a criminal case ended.
Why can't we immediately compare the new DNAs discovered with those of dozens of cold cases which remain insoluble?
There is no DNA file of the missing or the victims.
It is a lack.
One could imagine the creation of a specific file where the DNA of the missing or dead under X would be entered, which are quite often taken but remain in the investigation files.
This would allow immediate comparisons to be made, as can be done for offenders with the National DNA File (FNAEG).
It would be a big plus, because we may have today, in a file, a DNA which corresponds to that found in a killer ... but if they are not compared by the investigators or the magistrates, it is impossible. to find out.
This is undoubtedly something that we will advocate with the task force.
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Could a national center dedicated to cold cases, as for terrorism, improve their treatment?
The police do it with the Central Office for the Repression of Violence against Persons (OCRVP), but not the justice system.
However, a national cold cases pole is difficult to imagine, because it could represent thousands of cases.
On the other hand, a regionalization of these complex cases seems coherent to me, because we are sometimes dealing with killers who act in several departments.
Consideration should also be given to entrusting these cases to specific, experienced judges.
Blood crimes cannot be treated as ordinary cases, because there are victims, in particular, families who need to be listened to and heard.
Twelve years after his first conviction, we are still discovering potential misdeeds of Fourniret.
Do we really know how to investigate serial killers?
Great progress has been made, with the desire to retrace the life courses of these complex killers who may have acted over a long period.
We must also learn not to stop working on these killers even after they have been sentenced to long sentences and society is safe.
We have made progress, but we can still do better.
PODCAST. Michel Fourniret: in the footsteps of a monster who has not revealed all his secrets
DNA research, excavation, is it very expensive?
Does justice have the means to resolve these cold cases?
I can assure that justice does not count the money it invests in criminal cases.
In cases like Fourniret, Guy Georges or Francis Heaulme, we never look at the expense.
I have never seen a question of money hamper a criminal investigation, it would be a total disrespect for the families for whom we must do our best.
Of course we have to progress in the management of cold cases, but it is not a question of money.
Then, it is difficult, but it is necessary to accept that certain businesses remain insoluble, whatever the progress of science or the means invested.
