April 12, 2003. In Grand-Bornand, in Haute-Savoie, young Mario, aged 14, finds his family’s chalet empty. He came to join his mother and stepfather as well as his three brothers and sisters to spend a few days in their company. On the spot, however, he finds the doors closed and no one responds to requests. After twenty-four hours without news, the young boy warns his grandmother who immediately calls the gendarmerie to report the disappearance of the Flactif family, as recalled in particular by the RTBF in an article of July 19, 2023. First hypothesis of the investigators: their car disappeared, they could have been victims of a road accident. However, no traces of accidents have been detected on the roads in the area. The track is abandoned. A few days later, their 4×4 is found in a parking lot near Geneva airport, some sixty kilometers from their residence in Grand-Bornand. Investigators then imagine that the family fled abroad. The father of the family was a wealthy real estate developer, who had made some enemies, after having rented non-compliant houses in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, where he was from.
The hypothesis of the leak quickly abandoned
However, the investigators’ hypothesis does not convince the relatives of the missing family. For them, it was impossible for Graziella to have considered for a moment leaving behind her minor son to flee with her husband and her three other children. And less than a week after their disappearance, evidence supports another theory. In the grooves of the chalet’s parquet floor, blood samples are found : the DNA of the five victims is identified, as well as a sixth unknown DNA, probably that of the family’s murderer. Among the potential suspects, more than 150 people are summoned to the gendarmerie to take samples, in order to confuse the perpetrator of the crime. A couple of neighbors and tenants of Flactif are soon suspected: in interviews given to the media, David Hotyat and his girlfriend Alexandra Lefèvre are particularly slanderous towards the missing family, reports France Bluewho returns to the case on April 11, 2023.
Four suspects arrested after family murder
The DNA results are conclusive. It was indeed David Hotyat’s blood that was found at the crime scene, in addition to that of the family. While in police custody, the thirty-year-old confessed to the quintuple murder. Always according to France Bluethis one, jealous of the financial success of Xavier Flactif, says he planned to kill the family in order to move into their chalet. After tapping him, the gendarmes discover that he was helped in his business by his partner, Alexandra Lefèvre, as well as a couple of friends, Stéphane and Isabelle Haremza. After killing them, he transports the bodies of the five victims to the Bois de Thônes, where he cremates the remains, and parks the car near Geneva airport to simulate an escape abroad. Stéphane Haremza will receive 15 years in prison for complicity and his wife Isabelle will receive 7 years in prison. As for David Hyotat’s partner, she will be incarcerated for 10 years. The murderer, on the other hand, receivesa life sentence, with a security period of 22 years. Behind bars since 2003, the now 50-year-old man will be able to request his release in 2025, because of his “exemplary behavior” during his time spent in prison.