• The skull of Eric Foray, a 47-year-old Drômois missing since 2016, was found in the Vercors massif.

  • The Valence prosecutor's office does not exclude the track of intentional homicide.

  • The disappearance of Eric Foray is one of the hundreds of files re-examined to detect a possible involvement of Nordahl Lelandais, even if at this stage, nothing allows to link it to the former soldier.

The skull of Eric Foray, whose disappearance in 2016 is one of hundreds of files re-examined to detect a possible involvement of Nordahl Lelandais, was found in the Vercors massif, the Valence prosecutor's office said on Wednesday without specifying the circumstances of this discovery.

The rest of his body has not yet been found.

“The causes of death remain to be discovered.

For the time being, no hypothesis has been ruled out, including that leading to intentional homicide, ”said the public prosecutor of Valence, Laurent de Caigny, in a press release.

He believes that the discovery and formal identification of the skull via "forensic analysis" was a "major development" in the investigation.

“There is nothing at this stage to link him to Nordahl Lelandais”

“This discovery, as sad as it is, confirms what we feared.

Now we need to know more about where the skull was found (…) to know if we are on a confirmed homicide case”, reacts Bernard Valézy, the national vice-president of the ARPD (Assistance and Search for Missing Persons), which notably supports Régis Pique, the companion of Eric Foray.

Some families, members of this association founded in 2003 and which helps relatives of the disappeared, demand in particular that checks be made with the course of Nordahl Lelandais, sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of Corporal Noyer and to criminal imprisonment at life for that of little Maëlys.

“There is nothing in the file at this stage to link him to Nordahl Lelandais.

However, that does not mean that there is nothing to do, hence the launch of the two calls for witnesses, then explained General Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, at the time deputy director of the police. judiciary of the General Directorate of the National Gendarmerie.

What we are looking for is the small detail that will make the difference”.

Investigations carried out by the “Cold case” group

Left on September 16, 2016 to run errands in Chatuzange-le-Goubet, Eric Foray, 47 years old, short hair and athletic look, had disappeared.

Despite the searches carried out, the man had not been found, nor his vehicle.

"By an additional indictment dated January 3, 2023, the Valence public prosecutor's office extended the referral to the investigating judge to the qualification of murder, so that he now continues to elucidate the circumstances, if any, criminal of the death of the disappeared, further specifies the public prosecutor.

The initial investigation had led the prosecution to open a judicial investigation for kidnapping and forcible confinement.

The investigations were carried out by the "Cold case" group of the Grenoble research section, supported by the Drôme gendarmerie group, according to the same source.

On June 11, 2018, the gendarmerie had launched a call for witnesses as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Eric Foray and that of a young woman, Nelly Balmain in August 2011.

Justice

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Nordahl Lelandais cases: Investigators establish a link with Eric Foray, who disappeared in 2016

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  • Murder

  • Disappearance

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  • Nordahl Lelandais

  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes