What happened Thursday in Montreux, a quiet Swiss town on the shores of Lake Geneva, at 35, avenue du Casino? Around 7 a.m., the bodies of five people lay on the ground of a tourist axis, in the heart of the famous Vaud Riviera. A couple of parents, a third adult and a young child died after falling 25 meters from the seventh floor of their home. A 15-year-old boy survived but remains in serious condition. The witnesses of the scene speak of “masses” fallen to the ground, without really being aware of the past horror. Without realizing that the “masses” before their eyes are human beings.
Quickly, the first investigations indicate that two gendarmes went to the accommodation of this family “to execute an arrest warrant issued by the prefecture in connection with the home schooling of a child”. The mandate concerned the father. The gendarmes claim to have knocked on the door and heard a voice asking them who they were. After announcing themselves, they then heard no more noise in the apartment. Unable to make contact with the possible occupants, the gendarmes left the scene. But in the meantime, a witness called the police to report that people had fallen from an apartment balcony.
A few hours later, after the departure of the police, scientific experts and forensic experts, the ground no longer retains any trace of the bodies. And questions take the place of dread. What happened ? Who are these people ?
A teleworker and sister doctors
In the Swiss press, residents of the same building describe the French family’s apartment as idyllic, with a breathtaking view of Lake Geneva. Since 2019, a 40-year-old father, his 41-year-old wife and his twin sister have been housed there, as well as the couple’s children, an 8-year-old girl and her 15-year-old older brother. In the weather, some neighbors argue that the French were only slightly present. Others provide the opposite, in the morning : “They lived recluse, withdrawn into themselves, they did not want contact. They didn’t even respond to our “Hello”. There was something wrong. They weren’t normal.”
The profession of the father is debated among the witnesses. He was definitely working from home. It was probably commercial, so online. And he received parcels almost daily. The twin sisters, born on July 23, 1980, were both doctors, in different sectors, indicates the Tribune of Geneva. The mother, who moved around with a cane without anyone knowing exactly why, was a dentist. She had practiced in France, where she had settled on her own, in the northwest of Paris, in 2008. Her sister was an ophthalmologist, specializing in inflammatory diseases of the eye and retinal inflammation.
The couple’s children were not educated in the town of Montreux. The municipal authorities would never even have known of the existence of the younger of the two. The visit of the gendarmes, this Thursday, was only linked to the situation of the big brother, schooled at home.
The improbable track of collective suicide
And that’s about all we know about this family at the moment. Their profile remains mysterious, rumors of belonging to a sect are mentioned in the Swiss press, without much basis for the moment. A single detail testifies to the probable religious belief of the family: on the front door of the apartment, in a heart, is written the sentence: “Jesus is the reason for the season.”
The facts, violent, seem incomprehensible. This visit by the gendarmes could not justify a total panic going so far as to push anyone to jump seven floors. So, take your family with you… The track of collective suicide, with two children, seems unlikely.
According to the weather, the first findings point to the father, unknown to the police, who would have pushed his family into the void: his wife, his sister-in-law and his little girl. The fraction of a second later, he would have jumped, holding his son who was resisting him, the only seriously injured survivor. His possible testimony would be particularly valuable for the investigators. Local authorities have announced that they will not communicate for several days.