French judges pin hopes of solving notorious Grégory Villemin killing on fresh ‘familial’ DNA tests

Could 'familial DNA' tests solve the Gregory Villemin murder 36 years after the crime?

Credit:  AFP

A French court on Tuesday granted a request to widen DNA tests on the entourage of a four-year old boy whose murder has haunted France for almost four decades.

Gregory Villemin disappeared in 1984 while playing in the garden of his home and later was found in a river in France’s eastern Vosges region, hands and feet bound and his woolly hat over his face.

An unknown caller rang the four-year-old’s uncle to declare: “I’ve kidnapped the boy. I’ve strangled him and I’ve thrown him in the River Vologne. I have my revenge.” The following day, the boy’s father received a letter apparently posted around the time of the kidnap and murder, saying: “I hope you die of grief, boss. Your money won’t bring back your son. Here’s my revenge, you bastard.”

L’affaire de Grégory, as it is known, has seen other victims: the child’s father shot dead his cousin, believing him to be the killer, and the judge who oversaw the first, reputedly botched, investigation killed himself.

But the mystery has never been elucidated.

On Tuesday, the appeals court of Dijon, in Burgundy, gave the green light to so-called “familial DNA searching”, which involves the use of DNA profiles of relatives, often from genetic databases or samples volunteered by individuals, to create new investigative leads.

One of its first uses was in Wales in 2000, leading to the identification of Joseph Kappen, who murdered three teenage girls in South Wales in 1973. The familial DNA tests led police to the killer, dubbed the Saturday Night Strangler, via his son’s genetic prints.

In this case, judges agreed to take 37 new genetic profiles from Gregory’s entourage and seek a match with nine DNA traces from anonymous letters, a syringe containing insulin used to drug the victim and his clothes.

They also agreed to the creation of a “genetic facial composite” of the suspect, including eye and hair colour, from the DNA collected.

“This is a very positive decision as almost all requests (from civil plaintiffs) were granted,” said Marie-Christine Chastant-Morand, lawyer for the Grégory’s parents.

After decades of twists and turns, last month, the investigation was reopened after Swiss specialists examined the style of the threatening missives, leading police to think they may have unmasked the individual behind the anonymous communications.

Dubbed “stylometrics”, the tool has allowed them to compare the style, syntax, punctuation and “turns of phrase” of different letters that could help identify the author, and hopefully the murderer.

However, some lawyers argue that only scientific proof, notably DNA, will solve the case.