Clotilde Dumay 09:24, March 01, 2023

The Chevaline massacre, the missing from the A6, the kidnapping of Estelle Mouzin: these media cases are all "cold cases".

But what exactly are we talking about and how do you know if a case is a "cold case"?

Europe 1 takes stock.

They are often found in American TV series... "Cold cases", these unsolved legal cases... In France, they are now examined by a national center which set up a year ago, to the day, in court. from Nanterre.

This "cold cases" center has already analyzed more than 200 files, but has so far only opened 77 procedures.

So what business are we really talking about?

The French "cold cases", such as the Chevaline massacre, the missing persons from the A6 or the kidnapping of Estelle Mouzin are cases that the justice system has not yet succeeded in resolving, and which are therefore considered complex.

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Often a "serial" character

A "cold case" can only be crimes: murders, assassinations, rapes, kidnappings and/or sequestrations.

They sometimes have an international dimension, and often have a "serial" character, that is to say that they are repeated crimes, committed on different dates by the same person.

But it can also be a crime committed at least 18 months ago, without the perpetrator being found.

Some "cold cases" are quite recent, and date from 2020. Others are older, such as the disappearance of the Méchinaud family, in Charente, in the 1970s. The main thing is that they are not prescribed.