Michel Fourniret affair: Is Cécile Vallin, who disappeared in 1997, another victim of the ogre of the Ardennes ?

Cécile Vallin a-t-elle été victime de Michel Fourniret ? MAXPPP – BRUNO ARNOLD

Le 8 juin 1997, Cécille Vallin, alors âgée de 17 ans, a mystérieusement à Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne en Savoie. Certaines déclarations de Monique Olivier lors de son procès ont relancé l'enquête sur l'adolescente.

If many questions remain unanswered regarding the mysteries surrounding Michel Fourniret, an investigation has been relaunched since the end of Monique Olivier's trial. This is the Cécile Vallin affair, who disappeared in Savoie in 1997. Did the 17-year-old girl cross the path of the ogre of the Ardennes ? C' ;#39;is an avenue that is increasingly being considered, reports Ouest France.

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As a reminder, Cécile Vallin disappeared on June 8, 1997, late in the afternoon in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne en Savoir, where she lived with her mother and stepfather. Multiple searches along a road where she had been seen remained unsuccessful, DNA analyzes using Michel Fourniret's van also yielded nothing. Since then, the young woman has never given any sign of life and remains completely untraceable.

The case was first relaunched in 2022 by the Nanterre judicial center, which is dedicated to cold cases after forgotten reports, the latter which had been made in 1995, 2004 and 2005 in Belgium. These also resurfaced during the trial of Monique Olivier, ex-wife of Michel Fourniret, last December.

"This lead reappeared at the trial of Monique Olivier, his ex-wife, at the end of last year in Nanterre. At the hearing, the kidnapping of a young woman by Michel Fourniret was mentioned who, before returning to the couple's home, then in Sart-Custinne in Belgium, had called his wife to tell her not to stay on place and take their son Selim. Only, in 2004 and 2005, to Belgian investigators, Monique Olivier recounted seeing Michel Fourniret arrive with a young girl aged 16 to 18 , who was no taller than him and who looked drugged'", explains Me Caty Richard, l& rsquo;lawyer for Cécile’s father, cited by Ouest France.

The latter also specifies that this happened at the end of the school year, and adds that Cécile disappeared in June.

"It’is really very important to check"

The teenager's father, Jonathan Olivier, is still searching for the truth, 26 years after the events. "The correspondence of dates between what Monique says Olivier and the disappearance of my daughter is alarming. It’s really important to check. And at the same time it’s alarming", he says.

He assures that the most important thing for him is not the fate of the ex-wife of the ogre of the Ardennes, but knowing what happened to his daughter, he testified to our colleagues at BFMTV. "I think about her, I talk to her every day. Cécile, it's the scar that won't heal until I know what has become of it…", he whispers.

Perpetuity

Tuesday, December 19, 2023, was a historic day for justice but also a chapter that closes.  Monique Olivier was sentenced to life imprisonment for complicity in the kidnappings and murders of Marie-Angèle Domèce, Joanna Parrish and Estelle Mouzin.

After more than ten hours of deliberation, the role of the ex-wife of "the'Ogre" was recognized in the kidnapping, sequestration and murder of Marie-Angèle Domèce and Joanna Parrish, aggravated by attempted rape for the first victim and rape for the second. She was also found guilty of complicity in the kidnapping, sequestration and murder of Estelle Mouzin.

"I beg your pardon" to the families of the victims "while knowing that everything I's done is unforgivable", Monique Olivier had declared earlier in the day to the last day of her trial in Nanterre for complicity in three kidnappings and murders of her ex-husband, serial killer Michel Fourniret.