Police check Alps murder link to serial killer suspect
Was man arrested over two killings in France behind the unsolved shooting of British family and cyclist?
FRENCH police are looking into whether a suspected serial killer could be behind the unsolved Alps murders in which a British man, his wife and mother-in-law were killed in a forest car park.
Saad al-hilli, Iqbal al-hilli and her mother, Suhaila al-allaf, were shot dead on holiday in Chevaline, near Annecy, in September 2012, along with Sylvain Mollier, a passing French cyclist. Despite a massive manhunt, the investigation has all but petered out.
Police are now questioning a 34-year-old former soldier who is the main suspect in two other cases in the area. One relates to the disappearance of a nine-year-old girl in August at a wedding where the suspect was a guest, the other to the killing of a hitchhiking soldier in April.
Nordahl Lelandais has been in custody since September as part of the investigation over the disappearance of Maëlys de Araujo in the Chambéry region of south-eastern France. He has been charged with kidnapping the girl, which he has denied.
“We are going to look at all the disturbing disappearances which have taken place in this region,” Thierry Dran, the Chambéry prosecutor, said.
When asked about the Alps murders, Mr Dran told Le Parisien: “Given this new development, we will be verifying (any connections), and that will naturally be done, to rule out or include (the suspect in the investigation). It would be wrong not to.”
No motive has been found by police despite exhaustive investigations in Britain, France and Iraq. Investigators have previously suggested the murderer’s profile could be military.
Other potential cases that may be linked to Mr Lelandais involve Adrien Mourial, a 24-year-old Belgian citizen who went missing near Lake Annecy in July, and Jean-christophe Morin and Ahmed Hamad, who vanished in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
The cases of Arthur Noyer, the 24-year-old missing soldier, and the little girl have gripped France and returned to the media fore this week.
Mr Lelandais has denied all charges against him, either replying calmly to questions while in custody or simply refusing to respond to allegations put to him by investigators.
The skull of the missing soldier was discovered by a hiker in early September, while Maëlys’s body has not been found despite intensive efforts by hundreds of police, backed by dogs and helicopters, as well as volunteers. She went missing at around 3am at a wedding in August where Mr Lelandais was a guest of the groom.
The suspect is an unmarried dog lover with no long-term job who drove a black Audi, which has emerged as a crucial piece of evidence allegedly tying him to both murder cases. The girl’s DNA was found in the car, which he washed the following day.
Mr Lelandais, who has short cropped brown hair, lived with his parents in the village of Domessin and was found by investigators to be a frequent watcher of online pornography.
Analysing his internet searches, investigators also found that the martial arts fan had looked up “decomposition of a human body” after the disappearance of the soldier.
Alain Jakubowicz, his lawyer, criticised police and prosecutors for leaking damaging information against his client.