Thirteen years after the last sign of life given by a young man of twenty in the Var, his car and bones were discovered last Tuesday in Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), elucidating without doubt a disappearance that had never been reported.
The wreckage of a white Peugeot 205 and bones near the vehicle were found by chance Tuesday by a walker looking for a shortcut, according to a source close to the investigation.
The carcass of the car, invisible from the road, was in a difficult-to-reach ravine, 20 meters below, in an exit from a hairpin bend at the entrance to the tourist village of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon, detailed the same source.
Months of analysis to come
If the results of analyzes of the bones sent to the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN) will not be known for several months, investigators believe that the bones are undoubtedly those of the owner of the Peugeot 205, especially that an employer’s letter addressed to him was found in the car.
The disappearance of the 20-year-old man in 2008 had not been the subject of any report, neither to the police nor to the gendarmerie. Only his uncle had published a notice on the site www.personnedisparue.com.
The deceased was living at the time with his uncle and aunt in Pourrières, in the Var, and according to corroborating sources, he was not known to the courts. “Orphan, the young boy wandered easily between several members of his family and obviously had no fixed address,” said the source close to the investigation to AFP.
An investigation was opened by the Digne-les-Bains public prosecutor’s office to determine the causes of death.