Missing-tot mystery

Did this sobbing mother know more than she was letting on?

THE STORY

Super smiley – that’s how everyone who met little Fiona Chafoulais, 5, described her.

‘She was very sociable and loved being around people,’ her father Nicolas Chafoulais said.

Fiona lived with her mother Cecile Bourgeon, 30.

Cecile had split from Nicolas in March 2012.

Soon after the break-up, Cecile fell in love with Berkane Makhlouf and he moved in.

A year later, on that sunny afternoon in May, Cecile took Fiona to their local park.

Cecile said she’d fallen asleep on a bench for 15 minutes, as her daughter played.

She was six-months pregnant with Makhlouf’s child at the time, and often felt tired.

But when she woke up, little Fiona had gone.

Distraught, Cecile called police that evening to report her daughter missing.

Had she wandered off alone?

Or had she been taken..?

A massive public appeal was launched.

Dozens of officers combed the park, searching for Fiona.

The community in Clermont-Ferrand, France, where the little girl lived, was horrified.

They rallied around Cecile, pitching in where they could to help find her child, putting up posters and handing out leaflets.

A hotline was set up so anyone with information could get in touch.

But, months later, there was still no sign of her.

Beside herself, Cecile appeared on TV several times, tearfully appealing for the safe return of her daughter.

‘We just want to find her. We really need help,’ she told cameras. ‘If anyone sees Fiona, if anyone has information about her, then please bring her back.’ She played her part well. Even accusing police officers of not putting enough effort into the search.

But disturbing details were starting to emerge.

Fiona’s family life was far from idyllic.

Bourgeon and Makhlouf were drug addicts, and Fiona often witnessed them openly taking narcotics at home.

On one occasion, she was forced to accompany her mother on a visit to a run-down squat, as Cecile frantically searched for a dealer who could provide her with her next hit.

Then, people who’d seen Fiona in the days before she disappeared started to come forward.

A teaching assistant at the little girl’s school said she had looked like a ‘travelling cadaver’ the last time she’d seen her.

And a ticket collector at a local cinema, who’d spotted Fiona four days prior to her disappearance, said she appeared like a ‘zombie’.

He’d noticed she was wearing a yellow band across her head, which seemed to be covering a swelling.

It was enough to convince the police to bring both Bourgeon and Makhlouf in for further questioning. Their suspicions were confirmed, when Bourgeon cracked in September 2013.

She admitted she and Makhlouf had

Fiona had reportedly looked like a ‘travelling cadaver’

buried Fiona, completely naked, on the edge of a nearby forest.

She claimed Fiona had been punched by Makhlouf after he flew into a drunken fury.

The little girl had then vomited in the night, and was found dead in bed by the couple the next morning, she said.

Bourgeon revealed she and Makhlouf had put Fiona’s naked body in a bag. They’d dug a hole on the edge of the wooded area and buried her.

Later that day, Bourgeon reported her daughter missing, fabricating the visit to the park to throw them off the scent.

But Makhlouf’s account was different to that of his lover.

He accused Bourgeon of kicking Fiona in the stomach and head – which might have explained the injuries seen by the cinema employee.

But he maintained violence was not the cause of death.

He claimed Fiona choked on her own vomit in the night, and Bourgeon panicked when they found her dead in the morning.

During the trial, the prosecutor described Bourgeon and Makhlouf as a pair of ‘torturers’ who’d ‘collaborated in the ongoing violence suffered by Fiona in the days and hours leading to her death.’

But both defendants maintained little Fiona died in a ‘domestic accident’.

Without a body, the prosecution didn’t have enough evidence to prove it was murder.

In 2016, Makhlouf was handed a 20-year sentence for causing Fiona’s death.

Bourgeon was acquitted of murder, instead sentenced to five years in prison for lying.

Yet, following an appeal this year, Bourgeon and Makhlouf were both found guilty of causing acts of violence that resulted in death without intent.

Makhlouf, 36, kept his 20-year sentence. Bourgeon’s five years was quadrupled to match her partner’s.

Tragically, Fiona’s body was never found.

On one occasion, the couple even led the police to the area where they said Fiona was buried, but officers have yet to find her.

The pair now both claim to have forgotten where the child is buried. And the saga continues. In February 2018, both Bourgeon and Makhlouf appealed their sentences.

Will this tragic little girl ever be able to rest in peace?