A "cold case" elucidated thanks to new DNA techniques.

The double murder of Sassenage near Grenoble in 1993 may have found its conclusion.

Marian Marinescu, whose solid alibi appeared to clear him of the murder of his wife and daughter, was confused by traces of his semen.

In Isère, a family double murder has just been solved, 28 years after the events.

In January 1993, a mother and her 13-year-old daughter were found with their throats cut at their home in Sassenage near Grenoble.

But the investigation never led to any leads, despite large resources.

The father had a strong alibi.

However, advances in DNA research have revealed traces of his semen on his daughter's pants.

Investigators arrested and indicted him for "murder" and "murder preceded or accompanied by rape" on Wednesday. 

The gendarmes "never gave up the search for the truth"

In 1993, in the days and months following the tragedy, the investigation did not lead to any convincing leads, and the multiple calls for witnesses, including one in the television program

Witness number one

 by Jacques Pradel in 1995, did not lead to no significant progress.

Since then, the gendarmes "never gave up the search for the truth", explained during a press conference Colonel Lionel James, commander of the research section of the Grenoble gendarmerie, in charge of the investigation since the beginning.

For 28 years and with five different investigating judges, the investigation has not stopped. 

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At the beginning of 2021, all the seals in the file were re-examined in the light of new techniques in the laboratory of the criminal research institute of the gendarmerie.

They revealed "numerous traces of Marian Marinescu's sperm on the pants of her daughter Christine" explains Grenoble prosecutor Eric Vaillant.

“Before, we needed greater amounts of blood, DNA. Today we can discover in much finer traces,” he says.

"Of all the hypotheses, the one that presents itself is the worst of all"

The father's alibi, a trip to Romania, his native country with his family for the end of the year holidays, was considered very solid at the time. It was therefore also reviewed. The 2021 investigators were convinced that the man had been able to make a round trip between the two countries to commit his crime. Marian Marinescu, 72 years old today, was therefore arrested.

In front of the gendarmes, he simply explained that he did not remember anything. He has so far chosen to remain silent in front of the investigating judges. Me Hervé Gerbi, lawyer for the sister of the murdered mother, explains that "of all the hypotheses that may have turned in the heads of my clients, the one that presents itself is the worst of all". He thus recalls that his clients "have during all these years rebuilt a family life around the one who is today implicated. Relations have always been supported".