A new crime perpetrated by Francis Heaulme? This is the question that justice tries to answer whilehe was indicted for the murder of Jean-Joseph Clémentaccording to information from franceinfoFriday October 20, 2023. In fact, the public prosecutor has decided to reopen the case of this murder committed in 1989 when it would have “new charges”. If the serial killer is automatically indicted, it is because “he has already been targeted in this same file”. The day Jean-Joseph Clément was beaten to death in the face, in Bédarrides, near Avignon, Francis Heaulme had been checked just a few meters from the crime scene. Prosecuted for the murder of the 59-year-old man, he even admitted having killed him before retracting and obtaining a dismissal in 2002. Since then, the daughter of the alleged victim, Christine Clément, has been fighting for her father to obtain justice. This reopening of the case, and the indictment of the man nicknamed “the criminal backpacker”, is a first victory for her.
Francis Heaulme would deny being the author of this crime
“For once, I was heard. It’s really a hope that Francis Heaulme will be tried for the murder of my dad. I tell myself that I didn’t fight for nothing. Until then, I had concrete walls in front of me. I will continue until the end, I will not stop. I want an answer to all the questions I’ve been asking myself for 34 years: if he suffered, if he died straight away… I want an answer.”, she confided to our colleagues. For his part, the one who is already sentenced to life imprisonment for having killed 11 people, would deny the facts. As the dismissal of the case had been pronounced by an investigating judge in Reims in 2002, the case was reopened in Reims. A few weeks ago, the main suspect for the murder of Jean-Joseph Clément was heard by a judge in Reims and would have once again assured not to be the author of this crime. His lawyer, Liliane Glock, told franceinfo that his client would have remained in his last position. The serial killer is currently serving his sentence at the central prison in Ensisheim, in Haut-Rhin. The file could be sent to the cold case center in Nanterre. Francis Heaulme remains presumed innocent of the new facts against him, pending a trial.