In this affair so old and weighed down by the weight of silence, will salvation come from science? This Wednesday, the investigating chamber of the Dijon Court of Appeal (Côte-d’Or) must rule on the latest requests made by Christine and Jean-Marie Villemin, the parents of little Grégory. On December 16, the lawyers of the parents of the boy found bound hand and foot in the waters of Vologne (Vosges) on October 16, 1984 requested a new series of scientific expertises. “We must absolutely try everything to try to solve this abominable crime: the murder of a 4-year-old child,” insists Me François Saint-Pierre, one of the councils of the Villemin couple.
These requests relate in particular to new genetic comparisons. Nine unknown DNA profiles were isolated in the file: fingerprints found on letters from the crow, on the tip of the insulin syringe that could have been used to put the child to sleep or on clothes. Comparisons with the National Automated DNA File (FNAEG) have so far never “matched”. No more than with people whose profile has been taken since the start of the investigation.
“But, for a case of this magnitude, the number of samples is relatively low, pleads Me Marie-Christine Chastant-Morand, the historical lawyer of the couple. There were only 373 of which 244 were only used to eliminate possible pollution of seals (magistrates, gendarmes etc.). In the end, that only makes 129 people, including a hundred from the more or less distant family unit. We requested the collection of 37 new people, mainly in the professional world of the protagonists of the time. “
In order to broaden the chances of success, Grégory’s parents also requested a “kinship search” in the FNAEG. This involves looking for comparisons between a genetic fingerprint with others likely to come from the same family. Since a person’s DNA is made up of equal parts of maternal and paternal inheritance, broad comparisons are possible. The use of this technique had notably made it possible to advance the investigation into the murder of Elodie Kulik in 2002 in the Somme.
The genetic robot portrait
In the same vein, the Villemin couple have requested recourse to the technique of genetic robot portrait. This involves, from a DNA fingerprint, defining the morphological features (eye color, hair color, etc.) of its owner. Still from a scientific perspective but in another area, Grégory’s parents wanted new comparisons on paper of the letters of the crow. “Two reports have reported printing defects,” notes Me Chastant-Morand. It could be interesting to make comparisons with the notebooks found in each other. “
The general prosecutor’s office was generally favorable to these requests during the hearing. “If it was necessary, I repeat all our determination to do everything possible, in this case, to discover the truth”, indicated the Attorney General of Dijon, Thierry Pocquet du Haut-Jussé in a recent interview with to our colleagues from Eastern Republican.
Finally, there is another particularly awaited expertise. Three years ago, the previous judge in charge of the investigation commissioned an expertise in “stylometry” from a Swiss laboratory. This innovative technique allows a text to be attributed to its author from the semantics and syntax of a text. As Le Parisien had revealed, this analysis would implicate a key player in the file. But it is also such an iconoclastic method that it is already arousing strong criticism. Surprisingly, the report is still not on file.
Newsletter Morning essentials
A tour of the news to start the day
—
“As it is a technique very rarely used, the judge wished to have additional information on the method employed”, advance a source close to the file. There is no doubt that the conclusions of this expertise will be widely discussed. A request for a second opinion is not to be excluded when the time comes.
The investigation into the death of Grégory had experienced a sudden acceleration in June 2017 when Marcel and Jacqueline Jacob, the great-uncle and the great-aunt of the child, had been indicted for “kidnapping and forcible confinement followed by death” . The preferred hypothesis is then that of a collective crime. The following year, these indictments were lifted for procedural reasons. But in recent weeks, the investigation has once again been in an active phase.
–
