No significant discovery in the Ardennes castle of Fourniret

Sautou castle (illustrative image) -

Does the park of the Château du Sautou hide the body of Estelle Mouzin, who disappeared in 2003?

A little over a month after Michel Fourniret's trip to the Ardennes, new excavations began on Monday, this time without the serial killer, for an unsuccessful first day.

It is on this vast 15 ha property, isolated in the middle of a wood a few kilometers from the Belgian border, in the town of Donchery, that the bodies of two young victims had already been found in 2004.

The operations, ordered by the Parisian examining magistrate Sabine Kheris, present on the scene, began Monday morning, in great cold, on this site where the excavation machines have been sent for several days.

Significant human and technical resources deployed

There was no "significant discovery, but research is planned for the whole week, so we can hope since there are very characteristic places that have not yet been worked on," said on site at the press Me Didier Seban, one of the Mouzin family lawyers.

About 1.5 ha were cleared "inside the forest surrounding the castle," said Me Seban, listing significant human and technical resources, including two 20-ton excavators.

The access road to the castle is blocked by the gendarmes, AFP journalists noted.

In June, investigators trying to shed light on the disappearance of the 9-year-old girl had already explored the place, without result.

Then in October, Judge Kheris, who resumed the investigations in 2019, had first brought Michel Fourniret, indicted in this case for "kidnapping and sequestration followed by death", to Guermantes (Seine-et-Marne) , where the little girl had disappeared on January 9, 2003 when she was returning from school, then in the Ardennes.

The magistrate hoped to "trigger memories" in the septuagenarian with the faltering memory, who had ended up confessing in March his responsibility in this affair.

Two months earlier, his ex-wife, Monique Olivier, indicted for “complicity”, had accused him of having raped and killed the child.

“The great mistake of justice (…) for a long time was to consider that Michel Fourniret, being a pervert, was lying.

He has certainly lied sometimes (...) but in general when he gave indications, they have been verified so we believe that despite his memory become faulty, he must be listened to ", insisted Monday Me Seban, saying his" hope "To find" Estelle's remains and give it a decent burial ".

Hurry up

According to Richard Delgenes, lawyer for Monique Olivier, Michel Fourniret would have indicated certain places in the park of the castle to explore.

The serial killer knows the place well: the couple lived there from 1989 to 1991, and he continued to return there regularly until his arrest in 2003.

Fourniret had acquired the mansion with the money from the loot of the "gang of hairpieces", after having unearthed a treasure on the indications of a former co-inmate and murdered the latter's wife.

An incredible episode that marked a turning point in his murderous journey.

Monique Olivier was questioned again on Friday by the judge who is trying to determine if she knows more in this case.

Time is running out, especially as Michel Fourniret's state of health is deteriorating.

At 78 years old, the latter, whose neurological condition is inconstant, has been hospitalized since he was uneasy on November 20 in his cell in the prison of Fresnes (Val-de-Marne), according to the Ministry of Justice .

Justice

Disappearance of Estelle Mouzin: In the footsteps of Michel Fourniret's criminal past in Guermantes

Justice

Disappearance of Estelle Mouzin: Research continues on the Ardennes lands of Fourniret

• Justice

• Investigation

• Estelle Mouzin

• Michel Fourniret