In the first episode of the documentary Doctor Godard – The Man Who Wanted to Quit Everything, broadcast this Sunday March 5 on TF1, Thierry Lezeau, director of the investigation into the disappearance of the Godard family, looks back on one of the last meetings of the father, Yves Godard.
But what happened to the Godard family? This is the question that has plagued the whole of France for almost 25 years. At the beginning of September 1999, the doctor Yves Godard and his two childrenCamille, 6, and Marius, 4, disappeared off Saint-Malo, in Brittany, after renting a pleasure boat. Shortly after, blood belonging to Godard’s wife, Marie-France, was discovered in the combi and the family home, suggesting that the father of the family had killed his wife. However, the investigation never succeeded in proving it…
If the investigators are so convinced that Yves Godard played a role in the disappearance of his family, it is because the father of the family had, before disappearing, demonstrated very suspicious behavior. In the first episode of the documentary Doctor Godard – The Man Who Wanted to Leave Everythingbroadcast this Sunday March 5 on TF1, Thierry Lezeau, director of investigation, tells the story of a very strange meeting between the father of the family and the customs officer Roberto F. on Thursday September 2, 1999. That day, Yves Godard was at sea with his children when Roberto F. intercepted him, finding it curious that he was sailing with a motor rather than a sail. “The customs officer and his colleagues on the boat are surprised by the presence of this sailboat, which is lowered sail, says Thierry Lezeau. He said to himself ‘Look at him, given the weather, he should be under sail and not under motor’. It surprises them a little bit and they say to themselves, we are going to go and check it.
“A bit curious behavior, as if no one should go digging in this boat”
Once on the boat, the customs officer notices “a windsurfing cover, gray in color”. He also seesa child“, as Jean de Mézerac, lawyer for the family of Marie-France Godard, explains. “The customs officer only sees a child on the boat, whom he sees lying on a bench. Is he sleeping? A priori, we are not sure..” According to the customs officer, Yves Godard then “a bit curious behavior, as if no one should go rummaging in this boat.” The father of the family even lets go of the helm of the boat to go get his papers in the cabin, forcing the customs officer to take the helm himself without being able to follow him.
“He checks and (…) he (Yves Godard, editor’s note) tells him ‘I rented a boat for five days, I’m going back to Saint-Malo on Sunday’continues Thierry Lezeau. When he gets on the boat, he says to himself, ‘That guy is weird, he gave me a funny impression. Looks like a guy who threw his wife overboard.'”
Was this grim impression the right one? Twenty-five years later, the question remains unanswered. In June 2000, the skull of little Camille was fished out by a shellfish collector in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, off Erquy. Yves Godard’s tibia and femur were also removed six years later, in September 2006. The bodies of Marius and Marie-France Godard, meanwhile, have never been found.