The 2012 Alpine Murders Conspiracy – Unexplained and Unsolved

a reply to: Kandinsky

Couldn't find the R4 version but Radio Surrey have a 13 min update on the case.


www.bbc.co.uk...

A brief summary is that

* The French authorities appear unable to solve the case as they have no suspects, are unable to trace the owner of the weapon and although the case remains open they are not moving forward at all.

* Zeena and Zainab al-Hilli have been given new identities.

* Zaid al-Hilli is no longer considered a suspect.

* Zaid claims the investigations to have been a total failure and has no faith in the French authorities to resolve it. He believes the real target was cyclist Sylvain Mollier. Mollier had 7 bullets in him (more than any other victim).

* British journalist Tom Parry who wrote "The Perfect Murder" detailing the case now also agrees that Mollier was likely to have been the intended murder victim and this was a locally motivated crime. Suspecting the killer headed into the mountains where it is possible to then be in Switzerland or Italy within hours.


Now looking at comments on Amazon about Parry's book one that caught my eye says this

.....sylvain mollier had 5 bullets in him[ was it 5 or 7? - nobody seems to be able to verify it.], the al-hilli's bmw rear tyres has his blood on them proving he was shot thoroughly first. Mollier organizes to take a 3 year sabbatical from his work in a local factory and live off his girlfriends money, he is riding a 4000 euro bike bought no doubt by his rich girlfriend, and her father tells him the night before to go up that road as it was the best place to test the new bike....

Link

Not sure there is anything to verify that assertion.

There is also some commentary from the UK Telegraph from Dec 2012 on Mollier.

Sylvain Mollier, 45, was shot seven times [how many?]...
Though prosecutors have said no stone was being left unturned in the still unsolved investigation, the focus has remained on the al-Hilli family....

According to reports, Mr Mollier, a divorced father of two, was also involved in "a bitter dispute" over a £1.1m inheritance, belonging to Claire Schutz, his partner.....

Ms Schultz's family reportedly disapproved of the way Mr Mollier was living off of his partner's money.

Nearly a year before the shootings, Ms Schutz reportedly inherited the ownership of the Schutz Morange Pharmacy in Grignon, from her parents, valued at £1.1m.

But Ms Schutz' family was reportedly increasingly concerned about Mr Mollier's potential claims over the money.

Eric Maillaud, state prosecutor in charge of the investigation, has confirmed tensions existed between the Schutz family and Mr Mollier, but he dismissed them, said: "they were not something I particularly wanted to make public. The family is entitled to their private life."

Mr Maillaud has long held that, "there is no possible reason to imagine [Mr Mollier] is for whatever reason directly implicated in his death. He seems to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Link

Seems strange that the privacy of the French family was deemed not something to be made public but the al-Hilli's dispute over their inheritance was.

originally posted by: gambon
The murderer would also have had to reload 3 times,

Right.

With the Biker getting the most shots.

My guess was first shot 7 year old girl and assumed she was dead. (though hit in shoulder)

Then body shots to family in car s it tried to flee. Biker incapacitated my the car winging him.

Reload. More body shots and head shots to family.

Reload 7 shots to biker (target)

then realizes girl alive and bludgeons her (out of ammo)

originally posted by: gambon
Good post Mirageman,I not been active on here for a long time,nice to see something so well constructed.
I have a question,Was the motorcyclists story corroborated by the 2 Park Rangers, I cannot find any info on them at all.

I too have been wondering about what role the Forest Workers played in all of this. So far all I've found is this referring to the mystery motorcyclist who was eliminated from enquiries.

.....The man was seen by members of the National Forests Office (ONF) near where the bodies of the murdered al-Hilli family members were discovered by a British cyclist only moments after they had been killed. "What is more interesting then the photofit itself is the type of helmet," Lt Col Benoît Vinnemann, the gendarme heading the investigation, said.....

I cannot find any testimony from the forest workers except where the motorcyclist is mentioned. Were they never questioned about anything else? Did they not hear the gunshots?

France has two national police forces called "Police nationale" and "Gendarmerie nationale". The Gendarmerie is part of the French armed forces and has responsibility for rural and small towns. I don't really know if that would mean investigations are different nor how it would affect the case. But it may be significant.


ETA: I did find this description of differences with the Gallic justice system and the British system used by most English speaking nations and of course many others.

The legally constituted role for the victim’s family as partie civile is distinctive in the French system. their right of access to information regarding the enquiry is visually symbolised by their presence, or at least representation, at the reconstruction and their right to have questions asked.

Once an instruction is begun, the family of a victim of murder, in common with victims of other serious crime, can constitute themselves as parties civiles. This means they are able, through a lawyer, to have access to the full dossier, have opportunities to speak to the juge in the case directly, are kept informed of developments and can petition the juge for ancillary investigations (demandes d’acte
) to be carried out.

Investigating homicide investigation in France - Charlotte Harris

I don't know if that becomes complicated for Zaid el-Halli as both a family member and a suspect.
He also refused to travel to France during investigations. But Zaid is also a lawyer and the above suggests he has the right to ask for a the full case file and be kept up to date with the investigations.

Now has he ever exercised that right. If not why not?

Or did I get that all wrong?

Also three was said to be a right hand drive bmw 4x4 seen leaving the scene, but this was never traced or seen again,
this is strange considering the police said they had traced the victims car all through france looking to see any cars were following it ,this suggests a good traffic camera system etc,
did this BMW 4x4 even exist , or was it mentioned to solely divert investigations towards the British Mainland and the relations of the family in Britain?

Very great thread!! S&F!!! I had never heard of this case, and am now hooked. I did a google search and first link that popped up, from 2016, states a man is being looked at as the perpetrator... See here

originally posted by: Menrva
Very great thread!! S&F!!! I had never heard of this case, and am now hooked. I did a google search and first link that popped up, from 2016, states a man is being looked at as the perpetrator... See here

Yes, Michel Hecht had a rather suspicious past. But it seems to have been yet another lead that went nowhere. There are so many loose ends in the case that remain unresolved and even the media reporting seems to be confused with the smaller details. It almost feels like the authorities don't want to resolve it.

originally posted by: mirageman
a reply to: Kandinsky

Couldn't find the R4 version but Radio Surrey have a 13 min update on the case.

www.bbc.co.uk...

A brief summary is that

* The French authorities appear unable to solve the case as they have no suspects, are unable to trace the owner of the weapon and although the case remains open they are not moving forward at all.

* Zeena and Zainab al-Hilli have been given new identities.

* Zaid al-Hilli is no longer considered a suspect.

* Zaid claims the investigations to have been a total failure and has no faith in the French authorities to resolve it. He believes the real target was cyclist Sylvain Mollier. Mollier had 7 bullets in him (more than any other victim).

* British journalist Tom Parry who wrote "The Perfect Murder" detailing the case now also agrees that Mollier was likely to have been the intended murder victim and this was a locally motivated crime. Suspecting the killer headed into the mountains where it is possible to then be in Switzerland or Italy within hours.


Now looking at comments on Amazon about Parry's book one that caught my eye says this

.....sylvain mollier had 5 bullets in him[ was it 5 or 7? - nobody seems to be able to verify it.], the al-hilli's bmw rear tyres has his blood on them proving he was shot thoroughly first. Mollier organizes to take a 3 year sabbatical from his work in a local factory and live off his girlfriends money, he is riding a 4000 euro bike bought no doubt by his rich girlfriend, and her father tells him the night before to go up that road as it was the best place to test the new bike....

Link

Not sure there is anything to verify that assertion.

There is also some commentary from the UK Telegraph from Dec 2012 on Mollier.

Sylvain Mollier, 45, was shot seven times [how many?]...
Though prosecutors have said no stone was being left unturned in the still unsolved investigation, the focus has remained on the al-Hilli family....

According to reports, Mr Mollier, a divorced father of two, was also involved in "a bitter dispute" over a £1.1m inheritance, belonging to Claire Schutz, his partner.....

Ms Schultz's family reportedly disapproved of the way Mr Mollier was living off of his partner's money.

Nearly a year before the shootings, Ms Schutz reportedly inherited the ownership of the Schutz Morange Pharmacy in Grignon, from her parents, valued at £1.1m.

But Ms Schutz' family was reportedly increasingly concerned about Mr Mollier's potential claims over the money.

Eric Maillaud, state prosecutor in charge of the investigation, has confirmed tensions existed between the Schutz family and Mr Mollier, but he dismissed them, said: "they were not something I particularly wanted to make public. The family is entitled to their private life."

Mr Maillaud has long held that, "there is no possible reason to imagine [Mr Mollier] is for whatever reason directly implicated in his death. He seems to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Link

Seems strange that the privacy of the French family was deemed not something to be made public but the al-Hilli's dispute over their inheritance was.

Looks like my original interpretation seems to be the general consensus in the UK.

I knew the inheritance was a red herring. If it was over the inheritance the children would not have been spared.

a reply to: mirageman

One of the key points I remember from this case was that he had to reverse his car at high speed and it caused a gouge in the earth bank behind him. It's what prevented escape?

In recent days there has been an update on this case. A news suspect is serial killer Nordahl Lelandais.

Suspected serial killer Nordahl Lelandais is being investigated over a string of unsolved disappearances in the French Alps – and the murder of the British al-Hilli family in 2012.......

Lelandais, 34, last week admitted accidentally killing an eight-year-old schoolgirl on the other side of the Bauges mountain range where the al-Hillis were murdered.....

His probable knowledge of the narrow mountain tracks which could have been used as a getaway route from the crime scene are also being looked at as a major line of enquiry......

Full story : www.mirror.co.uk...

I don't know how I missed this when it was first posted, but thank you. I am eager to learn more about this case.

This always bothered me... its just to.... weird. I dont think it will ever be solved because someone or somthing is hiding or protecting something.

I want to know what the people in the car knew..

a reply to: Ghostsinthefog

I agree, I don't think it gets solved, at this point only a confession concludes this.

Glad to see you are here

We are now almost 10 years on from the original incident and 5 since the thread began. The case now almost forgotten. With the trail appearing to have run cold. That was until the middle of January this year.

French media reported that a retired police officer had been arrested and brought in for questioning. However he was released after questioning.

See BBC News