For four years, Christophe Petitgas has been fighting to elucidate the disappearance of his daughter Léa. He will be live on the set of Call for Witnesses, a program dedicated to unresolved cases, Monday January 31 at 9:10 p.m. on M6.
At the time of her disappearance, your 20-year-old daughter Léa was making a new start…
Christopher Petitgas: Yes, she had left her boyfriend with whom she lived in Vannes to come back and settle in Nantes, near my home. The breakup had gone well, I had found him a studio, in a lively area with public transport nearby. I thought it was safe, and then I only lived 20 km away if necessary.
Did she have a job?
She had found a contract within the framework of civic service and, in addition, she had also undertaken to look after a child at the end of the day. Really, everything was going in the right direction.
When was the last time you spoke to him?
The day before she disappeared, Wednesday, December 13, 2017. I called her to dot her i’s a bit because she was careless with the paperwork. She had not done what was necessary with the CAF for the payment of aid and, suddenly, I found myself having to pay her rent for the third month in a row.
How did she take your focus?
On the phone, she didn’t seem more affected than that. I learned later that a friend was with her that evening, and he confirmed to me that she had not even spoken to him about it after hanging up.
How do you learn that disappearance ?
I tried to call him on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, without success. I said to myself: “She has not taken the steps with CAF so she is ostrich.” But on Monday, it was the police who contacted me at my work to inform me of his disappearance.
On what basis?
The concern of a friend of Léa, without news when they were to spend the weekend together. Léa was unreachable and silent on social networks, it was not like her.
You then take the road to Nantes. What do you discover there?
Two policemen, who had to force the door of the studio because no one answered. On the other hand, Léa’s two cats were meowing… The apartment was normal, the Wednesday evening dishes were still in the sink, but everything indicated that she had left for work on Thursday morning, taking her bag, her laptop , his computer, his khaki jacket, his scarf and his white hat.
Since Wednesday evening, when she had spent at home with a friend, no one had heard from Leah?
No. We know that his cell phone connected to the building’s wifi on Thursday around 8 a.m. and that he hooked up a relay antenna in the street not far away around 10 a.m. And after that, nothing. The police call it “a dry disappearance”. The public videos that probably filmed her, in the street or on the tram, are only kept for 72 hours. Monday was too late…
What is the most credible track today?
I exclude suicide, my daughter was not at all depressed. The disappearance on a whim, I believed in it at first but it wouldn’t have left me four years without news. We were very close, she came to live with me when she was 15, because she couldn’t stand her stepfather’s brutality (Léa’s parents are divorced, editor’s note). Besides, she wouldn’t have let her cats starve like that. No, unfortunately, I think she had a bad encounter that morning.
A serial rapist, François Vergniaud, was rampant in the Nantes region at that time. Are the police investigating this?
Of course, especially since the man in question admitted to the murder and rape in August 2020 of a 15-year-old schoolgirl, found 2 km from Léa’s apartment. But he denies.
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