By Timothée L’Angevin
Published on 11 Mar 21 @ 17:20
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A riddle. Both for the investigators and for the inhabitants of Montfort-sur-Meu, near Rennes. Thursday, February 11, 2021 disappeared Magali Blandin, a 42 year old woman.
A month later, no trace of this mother of four children has not been detected, despite the hard work of the gendarmes, both in the field and during the judicial investigation.
“Close the doors one after the other”
This Thursday, March 11, the soldiers continue their investigations without excluding any hypothesis, whether it is a suicide, an accident, a voluntary disappearance, or even the malicious intervention of a third party.
Squadron leader Laurent Chapparo, commander of the Montfort-sur-Meu gendarmerie company, ensures news Rennes that the research system be maintained “according to needs”, whether at the “pedestrian, aquatic and aerial level”, in addition to judicial work.
Our goal is to close the doors one after the other and remove the points of doubt. But for the moment the situation has not changed.
She did not come to pick up her children from school
The questions remain as numerous as ever: how could this woman have evaporated without leaving the slightest clue?
Her last sign of life was on Wednesday, February 10, when she made a phone call to her children. The next day, his cell phone marked a last time in the north of the town, along the Garun, a river. Since then, nothing.
To disappearance was only reported on Friday evening when she was due to pick up her two youngest children from school. Not seeing her arrive, the establishment called her work in the north of Rennes (where she works as a special educator), which had not seen her all day either.
A colleague warned the gendarmes. The latter immediately opened an investigation for a disturbing disappearance and deployed a large device to find her.
Magali Blandin gave her last sign of life three weeks ago. In Montfort-sur-Meu, his disappearance remains on everyone’s lips ⬇ https://t.co/6aGPiGoHca pic.twitter.com/b0b4zbO9O8
– Timothée L’Angevin (@t_langevin) March 3, 2021
Colossal research resources
With the very first hours being the most crucial, investigators wasted precious time. Especially since the weather situation were very bad at the time of Magali’s disappearance: the temperatures were well below zero, it had snowed in abundance and the rivers were overflowing.
But the means implemented were colossal: from the first days, no less than 150 soldiers (along with dozens of citizens) combed ten square kilometers around the 40-year-old’s home. Divers have probed ten kilometers of waterways (the Garun and the Meu) and ten static water points.
Difficult family context
After ten days, the family context was clarified by the public prosecutor of Rennes, Philippe Astruc. The latter mentioned tensions within the couple and a difficult separation occurred in September 2020.
A complaint for domestic violence had been filed, before it was discontinued. Magali Blandin had indicated “to have been able to show herself violent”, according to Philippe Astruc.
The four children were in joint custody pending a court decision. They were with their father in Montauban-de-Bretagne at the time of the disappearance. Magali had also had “difficult telephone contact” with them the day before.
Would this context have pushed the mother to have suicidal thoughts ? Once again, the investigators do not close the door to this hypothesis, without favoring it. Especially since the absence of a body still leaves many doubts.
If you have information or elements allowing the investigation to advance, contact 17 or the Montfort-sur-Meu gendarmerie brigade on 02 99 09 00 12.
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