It was April 12, 2017, six and a half years ago now. This morning, the young corporal Arthur Noyer does not report of the 13th Battalion of Alpine Hunters, based in Barby, of which he is a part. Which is not like his habits. The rest, unfortunately, everyone knows: part of his bones will be found five months later by a walker, on a forest path near the Marocaz pass, in Savoie. We will then have to wait until December 2017 to obtain an indictment in this case, that of Nordahl Lelandais, already accused at the time of the murder of little Maëlys from Araujo. Finally, the former soldier will be convicted of both crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of the 8-year-old girl, as well as 20 years in prison for that of the 23-year-old young man. A sentence of which Arthur Noyer’s parents said “overall satisfied” at the end of the trial, which was held in May 2021. Two and a half years after this conviction, Didier and Cécile Noyer decided to speak again to discuss the tragedy of their lives.
Cécile Noyer recounts the ordeal of the first months of investigation
The couple agreed to discuss the loss of their son and the investigation that followed in front of the cameras of RMC Storyfor the next issue of Let the accused enter. Current wife was able to watch this episode entitled The secrets of Nordahl Lelandaisbefore its broadcast scheduled for Sunday September 17, 2023. Arthur Noyer’s parents, moved of course, break their silence and talk about the beginnings of the investigations, when their son was still nowhere to be found. “I still have hope during these first few days, but very quickly, I know that I will not see Arthur again”, says Didier Noyer. His wife, on the other hand, could not bring herself to imagine the worst. “Hope, I have always kept it. There was no way I was going to say that Arthur was dead until I was told that he had been found and that yes, he was dead.”, she confides in turn. These long months of waiting, without answers or clues, were particularly difficult for the mother of the young corporal.
“From April to the end of June, I did not work. I was unable to work”, remembers Cécile Noyer. A professional nurse, she feared “do something stupid” by inattention. Because all her mind was focused on the mysterious disappearance of her son, and on the hope of finding him one day: “I was waiting for a phone call. I didn’t let go of my phone.” The voice knotted by emotion and tears in the eyesshe also recounts the particularly difficult nights she spent in the early stages of the investigation. “I didn’t turn off the light on the bedside lamp. I said: ‘Good Arthur, I have to sleep, but you’ll find me.’ For months I left the light on”reveals Arthur Noyer’s mother.