Alone, they were nothing.
She, a woman with a sad life bullied by a violent man.
Him, a miserable sex offender with a string of prison terms and odd jobs.
Together, they have become an evil couple.
Him, a serial killer with a growing list of victims;
she, an accomplice who helped her husband to satisfy his perversities.
"Monique Olivier gave Michel Fourniret his license to kill," said psychologist Jean-Luc Ploye, who has assessed the couple on several occasions.
Seventeen years after the end of their life together and the arrest of Michel Fourniret in Belgium in 2003, 10 years after their divorce, the Ogre des Ardennes and Monique Olivier will meet again this Thursday.
A year after their last meeting, the ex-spouses are transported to Guermantes (Seine-et-Marne) as part of the investigations into the kidnapping and murder of Estelle Mouzin in January 2003, for which they are being indicted.
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When the Fournirets exchanged text messages the evening of Estelle Mouzin's disappearance
If nothing in the investigation of the gendarmes of the Dijon research section allows saying that Monique Olivier was there when Estelle disappeared, the judge Sabine Khéris chose to take the couple to Seine-et-Marne.
“Their confrontations are rare and the judge hopes to get Fourniret to speak by putting him in the presence of Monique Olivier, underlines a source close to the investigations.
She has always had a great influence on him.
When she's there, he doesn't want the light stolen, so he can say more.
“In fact, in the criminal history of the couple, it is almost always the confessions of Monique Olivier which have allowed investigators and magistrates, in France as in Belgium, to confuse Michel Fourniret.
"Confronting them at the scene of a crime is very clever"
In the Estelle Mouzin case again, it was she who blew up a dike, admitting to having served as an alibi for Fourniret on the evening of Estelle's disappearance.
Last March, faced with the revelations of his ex-wife, the Ogre des Ardennes had failed to fail: “There you amaze me, I was unaware that Monique Olivier could be talkative.
It's a discovery… ”A few minutes later, Michel Fourniret admitted“ having taken the life ”of the girl.
He had also recognized, in hollow, the veracity of the allegations of his ex-wife: "I am completely convinced that Monique Olivier spoke to you with sincerity.
A sincerity that I might not have.
"
PODCAST. Death of Estelle Mouzin: who is Monique Olivier, Fourniret's ex-wife?
“She still has the key,” says Jean-Luc Ploye.
She walks forward, then he tries to regain control.
In truth, if you want an answer from Michel Fourniret, you have to ask Monique Olivier.
"With an IQ higher than hers and the average, Monique Olivier annoys her ex-husband to the point.
Regularly, during auditions, he shows himself to be contemptuous of her: "Monique Olivier is really not a being that I take to the skies";
"Poor Monique, it's up to her to think that, if it happens to her ..." he said to Judge Khéris last March.
However, despite Fourniret's contempt, despite the remoteness due to detention, "the couple's dynamic still exists," says Jean-Luc Ploye.
Confronting them at the scene of a crime is very clever.
He resents his wife having an important role and then feels obliged to show that he is the boss, that he knows more about the crimes than she does.
He is in opposition.
"
Monique Olivier "becomes more human and wants to help justice"
On several occasions in recent years, Michel Fourniret has himself encouraged the judge or the investigators to organize a confrontation with his ex-wife.
“Monique Olivier has partly defeated Fourniret's grip,” says Richard Delgenes, his historical lawyer.
She is becoming more human, wants to help justice and get things done.
“In November 2018, during research carried out in Yonne to discover the body of Marie-Angèle Domèce, she even got carried away against her ex-husband, shouting at him to urge him to collaborate.
A new state of mind that Fourniret struggles to accept.
"It hurts his ego to no longer dominate her," says Jean-Luc Ploye.
Monique Olivier's criticisms or statements will always have more impact than a judge or investigators on Fourniret… ”
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To the point of making him tell exactly what happened on that sinister January 9, 2003, despite his selective memory?
A few hours after his confession, last March, he proposed, on his own, to return to Guermantes: "The main thing for me is to see with my eyes the place where I accosted her and where sent for my van […] Let's go and forge ahead.
[…] Maybe on the spot it will tilt.
"
