Why did massacre family leave campsite in a hurry?
Murder victims switched base two days before bloodbath
FRENCH Alps massacre victim Saad al-Hilli and his family abruptly switched campsites two days before they were gunned down, it was revealed last night.
A Dutch couple said the family had intended to stay for a week at the threestar Village Camping Europa site in the village of St Jorioz.
But they left after two nights and moved to the La Solitude du Lac campsite, which overlooks Lake Annecy.
The revelation prompted speculation that Mr Al-Hilli, 50, his dentist wife Ikbal, 47, and mother-in-law Suhaila Al-Allaf, 74, may have had a disagreement with someone at the first site. All three were killed in last Wednesday’s massacre in the mountains.
The Al-Hillis’ eldest daughter Zainab, seven, survived after being pistol-whipped and shot in the shoulder while her four-yearold sister, Zeena, lay undiscovered under her dead mother’s skirt in the family’s BMW for eight hours.
A source close to the investigation confirmed detectives were in the process of identifying several people who met the family during their brief stay at the Village Camping Europa site.
According to witnesses, Mr Al-Hilli, an aeronautical engineer, was seen regularly leaving the campsite alone – while a mystery man was seen wandering around during the time the family was there.
Dutch campers Jan Janssen and AnneMarie Souderman said the Al-Hilli family checked in on Saturday September 1 and left two days later. They did not book in advance and used a discount voucher to claim a reduction on the 30 euros (£24) a night charge. They were given a prime spot close to the swimming pool.
Mr Janssen said: ‘ We were told they planned to stay all week but they left suddenly. The father left the site in his car alone four or five times each day. He went out for 20 or 30 minutes each time.
‘The first time we thought he was going to the shops, but it was very odd to go out so often. We saw the grandmother and the older girl. They only had the caravan and we thought it looked cramped for five people.’
They added that they did not see anyone visit the family, but noticed an unusual man dressed in a smart jacket at the campsite at the time the Al-Hillis were there.
The couple described the man as of ‘eastern European appearance like someone from the Balkans’.
Last night the manager of the familyowned site, who declined to give her name, said: ‘We have told the police everything we know. The family arrived on the 1st of September and left on the 3rd of September. They were a very nice family.’
It also emerged yesterday that a single weapon was used to carry out the murders.
Detailed ballistic analysis of 25 spent cartridges found at the murder scene close to Lake Annecy has shown they all came from one 7.65mm automatic pistol. This meant it may have required reloading in an extremely short period of time.
The revelation prompted fresh speculation that just one person – a highly-trained contract killer – was responsible for the frenzied shootings.
Saad Al-Hilli had blocked his late father’s will just four weeks before he was murdered, it was revealed last night. Documents reveal how Mr Al-Hilli had taken out a caveat effectively to stop his brother Zaid, 53, from receiving part of their father Kadhem’s fortune. It was put in place on August 8.
The formal legal notice reveals the bitter dispute at the heart of the the Iraqi refugee family. Wealthy Kadhem, a retired factory owner, had been missing from his home in Malaga, Spain, for six days before he was found dead in August last year.
He is understood to have owned a multi-million pound portfolio covering properties in Spain, France and Switzerland, together with a £1million mock-Tudor home in Claygate, Surrey, where Saad lived with his family.
French prosecutors have previously revealed that British police have said they are investigating a ‘conflict about money’ between the Al-Hilli brothers.
Details of their relationship came to light over the weekend when it
‘It was very odd to go out so often’
emerged that Saad had written a letter last year describing his older brother as a ‘control freak’ who he wanted to ‘wipe’ out of his life.
Zaid, a former public relations executive, has strenuously denied there had been any feud and is said to be ‘ devastated’ by the massacre.
French cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, was also shot dead after apparently stumbling on the bloodbath.