Jean-Baptiste Marty // Photo credits: Serge Tenani / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
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9:28 a.m., December 1, 2023
After four days of trial for Monique Olivier before the Hauts-de-Seine Assize Court, the time has come for questioning on the part of the civil parties. Eleven murders committed by Michel Fourniret and his ex-wife, accomplice, between 1988 and 2003, and one question: how did investigators miss the trail of the evil couple for so long?
Fourth day of trial for Monique Olivier who appears before the Hauts-de-Seine Assize Court for complicity in the murder of three young girls between 1988 and 2003: Joanna Parrish, Marie-Angèle Domece and Estelle Mouzin. The opportunity for the civil parties to shed light on many gray areas including the work of the investigators during this period. How could they have missed the trail of Michel Fourniret and his ex-wife Monique Olivier for so long?
A former Reims investigator on the stand
Dressed in a dark suit, with graying hair, a former commander of the Reims judicial police now accepts it: “We may have made a mistake.” The mistake ? Not having made the connection between several murders and the evil Fourniret-Olivier couple. In several cases that remained unresolved for a long time, the name of Michel Fourniret is never mentioned.
This is the case of Céline Saison, found dead in 2000, just one kilometer from the Château du Sautou, residence of the Ogre of the Ardennes. “How were the investigations carried out at the time?” said angrily Master Seban, lawyer for the families of the three young girls found dead for whom Monique Olivier is currently appearing for complicity in murder.
Free between 1987 and 2003
Already convicted of rape, Michel Fourniret was free between 1987 and 2003, the date of his arrest. 16 years of atrocities, rapes and murders. 11 in total are confessed, but there may be more. Ultimately, it was a failed kidnapping attempt in Belgium that put an end to this macabre journey. “If we had suspected it in 2000, perhaps other victims would not have been killed,” Master Seban lambasted yesterday in front of a packed courtroom.
Other investigators will also have to explain themselves. Those of the Versailles judicial police who have long ruled out the Fourniret trail in the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin due to a fragile alibi. They must be heard next Tuesday by the president.