Murder of Grégory Villemin

From then on, the unidentified author was referred to in the media as Le Corbeau ("The Crow"), French slang for an anonymous letter-writer, a term made popular by the 1943 film Le Corbeau.

Bernard Laroche, a cousin of Jean-Marie Villemin, was implicated in the murder by handwriting experts and by a statement from Laroche's sister-in-law Murielle Bolle.

Grégory Villemin (24 August 1980 – 16 October 1984) was a French boy from Lépanges-sur-Vologne, Vosges, who was abducted from his home and murdered at the age of four.

His body was found 4 km away in the River Vologne near Docelles.

The case became known as the Grégory Affair (l'Affaire Grégory) and for decades has received public interest and media coverage in France.

The murder remains unsolved.

From September 1981 to October 1984, Grégory's parents, Jean-Marie and Christine Villemin, and his paternal grandparents, Albert and Monique Villemin, received numerous anonymous letters and phone calls from a man threatening revenge against Jean-Marie for some unknown offense.

The communications indicated he possessed detailed knowledge of the extended Villemin family.

Shortly after 5:00 pm on 16 October 1984, Christine Villemin reported Grégory to police as missing after she noticed he was no longer playing in the Villemins' front yard.

At 5:30 pm, Gregory's uncle Michel Villemin informed the family he had just been told by an anonymous caller that the boy had been taken and thrown into the River Vologne.

At 9:00 pm, Grégory's body was found in the Vologne with his hands and feet bound with rope and a woolen hat pulled down over his face.

On 17 October, the Villemins received another anonymous letter that said, "I have taken vengeance".

He was taken into custody on 5 November 1984.

Bolle later recanted her testimony, saying it had been coerced by police.

Laroche, who denied any part in the crime or being "the Crow", was released from custody on 4 February 1985.

Jean-Marie vowed in front of reporters that he would kill Laroche.

On 25 March 1985, handwriting experts identified Grégory's mother Christine as the likely author of the anonymous letters.

On 29 March Jean-Marie shot and killed Laroche as he was leaving for work.

He was convicted of murder and sentenced to five years in prison.

In July 1985, Christine was charged with murdering Grégory.

Pregnant at the time, she launched a hunger strike that lasted eleven days.

Christine was freed after an appeals court cited flimsy evidence and the absence of a coherent motive.

She reportedly collapsed and miscarried, losing one of the twins she was carrying shortly after being questioned by authorities.

With credit for time served awaiting trial and a partial suspension of the sentence, he was released in December 1987 after having served two and a half years.

She was cleared of the charges on 2 February 1993.

The case was reopened in 2000 to allow for DNA testing on a stamp used to send one of the anonymous letters, but the tests were inconclusive.

In December 2008, following an application by the Villemins, a judge ordered the case reopened to allow DNA testing of the letters, the rope found on Grégory's body, and other evidence.

This testing too proved inconclusive.

Further DNA testing in April 2013 on Grégory's clothes and shoes was also inconclusive.

On 14 June 2017, based on new evidence, three people were arrested: Grégory's great-aunt and great-uncle, as well as an aunt—the widow of Michel, who died in 2010.

The aunt was released, while the great-aunt and great-uncle invoked their right to remain silent.

Murielle Bolle was also arrested and held for thirty-six days before being released, as were the others who had been detained.

On 11 July 2017, the magistrate in charge of the first investigation, Jean-Michel Lambert, committed suicide.

In a farewell letter to a local newspaper, Lambert cited the increasing pressure he felt as a result of the case being reopened as the reason for ending his life.

In June 2017, Bolle's cousin Patrick Faivre told police that Bolle's family had physically abused her in 1984 in order to make her recant her initial testimony against Laroche.

Bolle accused Faivre of lying about the reason why she recanted her initial statement.

In 2018, Bolle authored a book on her involvement in the case, Breaking the Silence.

In the book, she maintained her innocence and that of Laroche, and blamed police for coercing her into implicating him.

In June 2019, she was indicted for aggravated defamation after Faivre lodged a complaint with police.

In January 2020, the Court of Appeal of Paris determined that Bolle's 1984 detention by police had been unconstitutional; the court ordered removed from the investigative file the statements Bolle had made while in custody.