One of the most tragic and mysterious cases in French criminal history is that
of four year old Grégory Villemin, whose body was pulled from the Valognes River,
located in the east of France. In the autumn of 1984, following an
investigation, authorities revealed that the young boy had drowned yet it had
been no accident. A truly haunting case, full of horrifying
and complex twists and turns which remains as perhaps the most infamous
murder in modern France. Tonight on Dark Curiosities, The Unsolved Murder of
Grégory Villemin. It was the 24th of August 1980 when Jean-Marie Villemin and his wife,
Christine welcomed a son who they named Grégory. Grégory's parents were known to
be very successful in both their professional and personal lives,
Jean-Marie worked as a supervisor at a factory which produced car parts and
Christine was a factory worker. In 1983, he and his wife purchased a chalet and
according to some sources, the couple owned two cars and high-quality
furniture. All in all, they were doing very well for themselves and seemed like
a perfectly content little family. Sadly, their happiness would not last long. In
the years leading up to 1984, the couple had been unsettled by anonymous phone
calls and letters, all of which consisted of threats of revenge against Jean-Marie.
This mysterious person appeared to have in-depth knowledge about the Villemins
and their extended family. In 1983, three threatening letters - two of which were
typed and one of which was handwritten - were sent to Jean-Marie and his parents,
Albert and Monique Villemin. Soon, the unidentified man or woman would
be dubbed Le Corbeau, 'The Crow', by French media - a slang term used to describe an
informant. Disaster struck on the evening of the 16th of October 1984 when
Christine and Jean-Marie experienced every parent's worst nightmare. At 5:32
p.m. on that October night, Gregory's uncle Michele Villemin answered a
call to an unfamiliar voice which stated in a neutral, loud and nervous tone, "I got
revenge. I got the boss's son and I put him in the river." At around this time,
Christine Villemin stepped outside to retrieve her son from playing in the
garden as the temperatures were dropping. She had left him playing by a mound of
builders sand beside the house and had earlier given him a woolen hat to wear
to keep him warm. She was panicked when she realised that her son was nowhere to
be seen. Frantic, she jumped into her car and
began searching the streets of Lépanges-sur-Vologne. Asking around, it appeared
that not a single person had seen Grégory. Authorities swiftly confirmed
that Grégory was now classed as a missing child. Sources vary on the precise time,
but between 9:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on the 16th of October 1984 -
just hours after vanishing - the body of Grégory Villemin was pulled from the icy
waters of the Valogne River, which lay approximately 7 kilometres from the
Villemin's home. He was found wearing a blue anorak, his knitted hat was pulled over
his face and his hands and feet were bound by rope. His neck also had rope
tied around it. Grégory was laid to rest a few days
later, some even speculating that the murderer was among the mourners. On the
day of their son's death, a letter was posted to Jean-Marie and Christine. Again,
sources differ on exactly what was said. It was typed out and supposedly said, "I
hope you will die of grief, the boss. It's not your money that will bring back your
son. This is my vengeance you bastard." The following morning on the 17th of
October, Christine and Jean-Marie received yet another letter, saying, "Your
son is dead. I have been avenged." Bernard Laroche, who was the cousin of Jean-Marie
Villemin, was identified by handwriting experts and his 15 year old
sister-in-law Murielle Bolle, as the person who wrote these messages. His
sister-in-law claims she had been with Laroche that night, who picked up Grégory
and the two of them travelled to the river, with Laroche returning to his
sister-in-law alone. Laroche was taken into custody for a short while until his
sister-in-law retracted her statement and he was released.
Jean-Marie was enraged by this and publicly declared that he would kill
Laroche and he did indeed stay true to his word, murdering him with his hunting
rifle on the 29th of March the following year. He was convicted and served five
years in prison also during the spring of 1985, other handwriting experts
suggested that they strongly believed that the handwritten letters were in
fact penned at the hand of Grégory's mother Christine, who at this point was
pregnant with a second child. Three locals believed that they saw Christine
at the post office the day before Grégory's death and the rope used to tie
Grégory's hands and feet was actually found in the cellar of the Villemin Chalet.
With another twist in the tale, during December of 1986, Christine Gilman was
charged with the murder of her son. Due to lack of evidence however
Christine was released in early 1993. In 2004, Jean-Marie and Christine were
awarded 35,000 euros in compensation for the failures during the case and the
trauma they suffered. In 2000, 2008 and 2013, multiple DNA tests were conducted
on the evidence found at the crime scene. A stamp found on an envelope from one of
the letters was examined but the results were inconclusive, as were the tests on
the other letters, the rope, Grégory's clothes and shoes. With
progression in handwriting analysis, authorities identified the handwritten
letter of 1983 to Jacqueline Jacob who was married to Monique Villemin's
brother Marcel. The Jacobs were arrested in June 2017 as well as Jean-Marie's brother,
Marcel's widow. Police state the reason for taking them into custody was
'suspicion of complicity in the murder, failing to report a crime or helping a
person at risk'. Following the 2017 arrests of Grégory's great-aunt and
great-uncle as well as an aunt, police stated that they still have no
definitive answers as to who killed Grégory and why, however they are
confident and that they have found new suspects who are currently being
investigated. The magistrate leading the initial investigation was found dead in
June 2017, the cause of death being suicide. Jean-Michel Lambert had written
to a local newspaper before his death, citing his reason as being the increased
pressure as a result of reopening the case. L'Affair Grégory, as it was known in
France, remains to this day as a case which fascinates and terrifies. According
to the newspaper Le Parisien, Grégory Villemin's name was published in over
3,000 newspaper articles, 50 university research projects, a television film and
15 books. A young boy torn from life at such a
tender age, leaving a broken family with nothing but memories.