Mme Gervais discovered the body of their son Léo, aged six. The child had been strangled in his bed with laces from a pair of hiking boots. Police were immediately called and suspicion rapidly centred on his nanny, Sophie Duguet (née Auverney), 28, who had been looking after the child and has not since been found. Early evidence seemed damning: there was no sign of forced entry to the apartment, Mme Gervais, Léo’s mother, had left Sophie Duguet in the apartment at 9 a.m. that morning, supposing her son to be still asleep. The autopsy has revealed that by this time the child had been dead for several hours, most probably havingbeen strangled in his sleep during the night.
The
police judiciaire
were all the more determined to make a quick arrest since, in the days that followed, the murder provoked a public outcry. The media circus around the case undoubtedly owes much to the fact that the victim’s father was a close associate of the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères. Farright parties, notably Pascal Mariani and several other organisations, some of which had notionally been disbanded, used the case to call for the reintroduction of the death penalty for “particularly heinous crimes”, and in this they were vociferously supported by the right-wing member of parliament, Bernard Strauss.
According to the Ministère de l’Intérieur, the suspect would not be able to evade justice for long since rapid police response would have made it impossible for Sophie Duguet to leave the country. All airports and train stations were swiftly alerted. “Those few suspects who manage to stay on the run succeed only by virtue of experience and considerable preparation,” commissaire Bertrand of the
police judiciaire
confidently assured the press. But this young woman had scant financial resources and no relatives or friends in a position to help her, with the exception of her father, Patrick Auverney, a retired architect who was immediately placed under police surveillance.
According to the Ministère de la Justice, apprehending the suspect would take “a matter of days”. The Ministère de l’Intérieur went so far as to say “eight to ten days, maximum”. The police were more prudent, suggesting “a few weeks at most”. . . Eight months have passed since then.
So what happened? No-one knows. But the fact remains that Sophie Duguet has literally vanished into thin air. With shocking audacity, the young woman left the apartment where the child lay dead, stopped at her apartment to pick up her passport and clothes, and went to the bank where she withdrew almost all the money she had. Police have confirmed that she was seen at the Gare de Lyon, but after that there has been no trace. Detectives are convinced that neither the murder of the child, nor the escape, were premeditated. If this is true, it gives a frightening insight into Sophie Duguet’s ability to improvise.
Almost everything about the case is shrouded in mystery. No theories have been advanced as to Duguet’s motive. The only inkling comes from the investigators’ assertion that Duguet was suffering intense emotionaltrauma as a result of two bereavements. Her mother, Catherine Auverney, to whom she seems to have been very close, died of cancer in February 2000, and her husband, Vincent Duguet, a 31-year-old chemical engineer, paralysed in a road traffic accident, committed suicide the following year. Duguet’s father – and her only surviving relative – is apparently sceptical about this line of thought, but has declined to talk to the media.
The case quickly became a headache for the authorities. On May 30, two days after the child’s murder, Véronique Fabre, a 32-year-old translator, was found dead in her Paris apartment by her boyfriend Jacques Brusset. The woman had sustained multiple stab wounds to the stomach. The time of death established at the autopsy confirmed that the murder took place on the day Sophie Duguet disappeared, sometime in the
The
police judiciaire
were all the more determined to make a quick arrest since, in the days that followed, the murder provoked a public outcry. The media circus around the case undoubtedly owes much to the fact that the victim’s father was a close associate of the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères. Farright parties, notably Pascal Mariani and several other organisations, some of which had notionally been disbanded, used the case to call for the reintroduction of the death penalty for “particularly heinous crimes”, and in this they were vociferously supported by the right-wing member of parliament, Bernard Strauss.
According to the Ministère de l’Intérieur, the suspect would not be able to evade justice for long since rapid police response would have made it impossible for Sophie Duguet to leave the country. All airports and train stations were swiftly alerted. “Those few suspects who manage to stay on the run succeed only by virtue of experience and considerable preparation,” commissaire Bertrand of the
police judiciaire
confidently assured the press. But this young woman had scant financial resources and no relatives or friends in a position to help her, with the exception of her father, Patrick Auverney, a retired architect who was immediately placed under police surveillance.
According to the Ministère de la Justice, apprehending the suspect would take “a matter of days”. The Ministère de l’Intérieur went so far as to say “eight to ten days, maximum”. The police were more prudent, suggesting “a few weeks at most”. . . Eight months have passed since then.
So what happened? No-one knows. But the fact remains that Sophie Duguet has literally vanished into thin air. With shocking audacity, the young woman left the apartment where the child lay dead, stopped at her apartment to pick up her passport and clothes, and went to the bank where she withdrew almost all the money she had. Police have confirmed that she was seen at the Gare de Lyon, but after that there has been no trace. Detectives are convinced that neither the murder of the child, nor the escape, were premeditated. If this is true, it gives a frightening insight into Sophie Duguet’s ability to improvise.
Almost everything about the case is shrouded in mystery. No theories have been advanced as to Duguet’s motive. The only inkling comes from the investigators’ assertion that Duguet was suffering intense emotionaltrauma as a result of two bereavements. Her mother, Catherine Auverney, to whom she seems to have been very close, died of cancer in February 2000, and her husband, Vincent Duguet, a 31-year-old chemical engineer, paralysed in a road traffic accident, committed suicide the following year. Duguet’s father – and her only surviving relative – is apparently sceptical about this line of thought, but has declined to talk to the media.
The case quickly became a headache for the authorities. On May 30, two days after the child’s murder, Véronique Fabre, a 32-year-old translator, was found dead in her Paris apartment by her boyfriend Jacques Brusset. The woman had sustained multiple stab wounds to the stomach. The time of death established at the autopsy confirmed that the murder took place on the day Sophie Duguet disappeared, sometime in the
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