Grégory Villemin: a last roll of the dice?

Church of Saint Libaire, Lépanges-Sur-Vologne

May 2017: In the village church of Lépanges-Sur-Vologne, where Grégory Villemin lived his short life, a Sunday school teacher passes the time while waiting for children to arrive for a confirmation class by flicking through the visitors' book on a table by the main door. Among the prayers and compliments on the floral displays she sees an entry which pulls her up short:

It really was Bernard L. who killed Grégory. I was with him.

Murielle Bolle - 13th May 2008

The teacher immediately recognises the names on the page; Bernard Laroche: the cousin of Grégory's parents who was initially suspected or the kidnap and murder, before being released and shot dead by Grégory's father, Jean-Marie Villemin in 1985. Murielle Bolle: Laroche's sister-in-law who was the primary witness against him before dramatically retracting her statement in the wake of what has been suggested were violent threats from family members.

After the initial shock of recognition, the teacher calms herself, assuming that it is probably just a bad joke made by a local youth or any one of the numerous "fait diversiers" (true crime afficionados) who still frequent the area to this day. Nonetheless, the next day she shows it to a former mayor of the commune who, 'just in case', passes it on to the Gendarmerie. They decide to take it more seriously.

Unknown to the ex-mayor, a new review of the case has been underway in secret for several months in Dijon, so when the visitors' book is received, it is added to the case files and a DNA analysis commissioned. Six unique DNA traces are identified on the page where the message was written, of which one corresponds to... Murielle Bolle. Almost unbelievably, after 33 years, it appears she has decided to end her silence.

Monique Villemin

At the beginning of June 2017, a new series of police interviews is scheduled. First to be called in is Grégory's grandmother, Monique Villemin. Prior to the discovery of the visitors' book, DNA testing has revealed that she is the author of a threatening letter to the Dijon judge whose investigation cleared Christine Villemin of all charges relating to Grégory's death. At the time Monique wanted the inquiry to continue to focus on her daughter-in-law Christine, perhaps with the aim of protecting her son Michel, a friend of Bernard Laroche, who had previously been accused of colluding with him. She is released without charge.

Next to be interviewed are Marcel and Jacqueline Jacob. Marcel is the brother of Monique, but considered to be part of a 'clan' within the family which included Bernard Laroche and Michel Villemin. When suspicion first fell on Laroche, it also spread to the others in the group as possible co-conspirators. Following interview, the couple are charged with the "kidnap resulting in death" of Grégory, but released on bail with the conditions that they have no contact with each other and live separately, away from their home in Aumontzey.

Jacqueline and Marcel Jacob

Murielle Bolle is scheduled for interview after the Jacobs' release. But before confronting her with the new evidence of the visitors' book, further verification is sought. On the day the Jacobs are brought in for questioning, a new DNA sample is taken from Murielle. To the horror of investigators, it does not match the DNA profile from the book. Were samples mixed up in the laboratory? Did Murielle Bolle somehow manage to provide a false sample? Either way, police face the possibility that they have been working with an incorrect DNA profile for Murielle Bolle since samples were taken in 2009.

What course the investigation has followed since the second sample was taken on June 14th 2017, I cannot say. Other items of evidence have previously been subjected to DNA analysis which proved inconclusive - no doubt investigators will have looked again at some of these in the light of the newly-discovered error. Or did the discovery of a mix-up of samples in the lab point instead to a relative of Murielle in whom she had confided as the author of the book entry? Whatever the case, Murielle Bolle was brought in for interview on Wednesday 28th June; police deciding to use the remaining 25 hours of the 48 originally available to them when she was first questioned in 1984.

After suggestions from her lawyer that she was now under investigation for failure to report a crime and conspiracy to murder and an interruption of several hours when Murielle was taken to hospital following a fainting fit, she was transferred to Dijon on Friday to appear before an investigating magistrate. As a result, as I write this she remains in custody in Dijon pending a remand hearing on Tuesday 4th July; once again charged with the kidnap of Grégory Villemin in 1984.

UPDATE 11/7/17: Murielle Bolle's detention was extended at the July 4th hearing. She remains in prison pending a confrontation with a new witness; a cousin who claims that she was subjected to violence by family members on the evening of 5th November 1984, following her statement which implicated Bernard Laroche in the kidnap of Grégory Villemin. The confrontation is currently scheduled for 28th July 2017.

UPDATE 12/7/17: Jean-Michel Lambert, the first investigating magistrate in the case, found dead at his home in Le Mans on the evening of 11/7/17. Initial investigation suggests suicide.