The body of a man found beheaded in 1995 in Busset, a town in the Allier region south of Vichy, was exhumed this Friday morning, April 15, as part of a new judicial investigation, said the local prosecutor’s office in a statement.
“The body of this man, whose head has never been found, was exhumed this (Friday) morning at Vernet”, near Vichy, to carry out new “medico-legal” findings because techniques are evolving”, a clarified to Agence France-Presse the prosecutor Eric Neveu.
A new judicial investigation for “voluntary homicide” was opened following investigations carried out since May 2020 in this case which has never been elucidated, added the magistrate.
“No track is ruled out,” he said. The exhumation was carried out by two investigating judges.
Found after an evening spent at his brother’s house
This case dates back to December 25, 1995, when the headless body of Christophe D., a 28-year-old factory worker, was found on Christmas Day in a ditch by hunters.
The victim could be identified thanks to his papers and his clothes. The young man had disappeared about ten days earlier after an evening spent at his brother’s.
Christophe D. had left shortly before midnight and had indicated that he wanted to go hunting the next day.
His car was found on December 18 in Cusset, just next to Vichy, without anyone seeing him again. The investigation had given nothing and led to a first dismissal in 2000, then to a second in 2007.
Not enough, however, to discourage the prosecutor who “considers that there is no case not prescribed on which we cannot take a fresh look. We have to give ourselves a chance to investigate,” he said.