3,709, This story has been shared 3,408 times. Monique Villemin, Grgory's grandmother in 1985. The same night, his body was found in the nearby Vologne River - he was believed to have been thrown in alive. The circumstances surrounding Gregorys drowning made his death an international news story. She had given their four-year-old son, Grgory, a woollen hat to wear so he could play on the mound of builders sand still beside the house, but it was time for him to come in. A fourth, said to be the victim's grandmother, was taken in as a witness. The little boys mother, Christine Villemin, told police that her son was playing in the front yard of their home when he vanished. In 2004 French authorities are ordered to pay each of Gregory's parents 35,000 euros ($42,000) in damages. Mr Lambert had admitted making mistakes and the case was reopened last month when new evidence came to light. 3,098, This story has been shared 2,363 times. 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At 5.30pm that day, Gregory's uncle Michel received an anonymous phone call saying that Gregory had been kidnapped and dumped in the Vologne River. 1,701, This story has been shared 1,282 times. The story is obviously quite somber, but the pacing of the documentary, pairing archival footage with interviews and voiceovers, is brisk and tightly produced. Jean-Marie, Gregory's father, publicly vowed to kill Laroche. In 1984, the four-year-old disappeared from the front yard of his home in a small village called Vosges, in France. On Oct. 16, 1984, Gregory was found dead in the Vologne River near Docelles, France. Your email address will not be published. The case was reopened in 2000 for DNA testing on the stamp of the anonymous letter, but this proved inconculsive. Some family members were unhappy about it. An half-hour later, an unknown man called little Grgory's uncle and bragged about kidnapping the boy and drowning him in the Vologne river. Grgory Villemin, a four-year-old French boy who was abducted from the front yard of his home in a small village called Vosges, in France, on 16th October of 1984. "This is my vengeance, a--hole.". Grgory was kidnapped from his parents home and held for a certain time before his death, the prosecutor in Dijon, Jean-Jacques Bosc, said as he announced the charges. From the beginning, suspicion fell on the family of the boys father, 26, whose parents, brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins all lived nearby. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore. Get notified of the best best booming posts weekly. At 9:00 pm, Grgorys body was found in the Vologne with his hands and feet bound with rope and a woollen hat pulled down over his face. The scale of the media spectacle is evident photographers mobbed the funeral, capturing close-up pictures of the grief-stricken familys anguish that would be plastered in magazines and on newspaper covers across France. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Potentially vital evidence would later be thrown out. Meanwhile, the police turned their focus to Gregory's mother, Christine, who was then heavily pregnant. "Investigations corroborated by criminal analysis show that several people colluded in the realization of the murder," he stated. The pregnant woman collapsed after questioning and was taken to hospital, reportedly losing one of the twins she was carrying. Few cases beyond the disappearance of British three-year-old Madeleine McCann have aroused so much media interest, including a hit Netflix documentary series. hortly after 5.30pm on 16 October 1984, Christine Villemin abandoned her ironing in the newly built chalet that she and her husband, Jean-Marie, had moved into just over a year earlier, and stepped outside. She had given their four-year-old son, Grgory, a woollen hat to wear so he could play on the mound of builders sand still beside the house, but it was time for him to come in. Christine Villemin was cleared of the charges on 2 February 1993. But Thierry Moser, a lawyer for the Villemins, is quietly hopeful that Christine and Jean-Marie may soon learn the identity of their sons killer. Bound hand and foot and still wearing his woolly hat, Grgory was pulled from the Vologne river four miles (7km) from his home at 9.30pm on the evening of his disappearance, and buried four days later in the local cemetery. Its an exhaustive documentary series in the spirit of the best true-crime works, and a crime on the level of those that are immediately familiar by name to anyone here Adam Walsh, Etan Patz, Jon-Benet Ramsey. In December 2008, the parents fought to have the case reopened so that DNA testing could be carried out on the rope used to tie their son's hands and feet, as well as letters and other evidence. "I didn't devote the full attention I should have given to the case from the outset," he conceded. What We Know. No one had seen her son. In a suicide note he said he feared that reopening the case would discredit his own findings years earlier. Bolle herself went on to release a book in 2018 entitled Breaking the Silence. Since 1981 the child's parents had been receiving anonymous phone calls and hate mail from someone calling himself "Le Corbeau", or the crow. Two days later, however, Bolle retracted her story. The case came to national attention and gripped France for the next three decades. She was accused of carrying out his murder in 1985 but eventually cleared in 1993. They went to school together and even then, Jean-Marie would have better grades, more friends, have girlfriends, etc. - MARCEL MOCHET / AFP Key figure in the Grgory case, Monique Villemin, the grandmother of the little boy and mother of Jean-Marie Villemin, died on Sunday in a nursing home in the Vosges, after being contaminated by coronavirus, confirmed Jean-Marie Villemin's lawyer 20 minutes away. Just like the mysterious caller, who was nicknamed The Crow" by French media, had proclaimed. Muriel Bolle was also arrested and she was held for 36 days before being released, as were the others who had been detained. In June 2017, Gregorys great-aunt and great-uncle, Jacqueline and Marcel Jacob, were arrested and charged with his kidnapping. Then came the arrest of Muriel Bolle amid similar allegations. The judge was 32 when he was given the role of investigating a case that was to be a cause celebre for decades to come. French media reveals in December 2020 that a Swiss firm's analysis of the threatening letters points to a single suspect without saying who. He was in his first job when given the task of investigating the 1984 murder of four-year-old Grgory Villemin. Three locals swore they had seen Grgorys mother at the post office on the day before his death, when the revenge letter had been posted; graphologists argued there was an 80% chance she was the letters author; string identical to that used to tie the boys hands and legs was found in the chalets cellar. Grgory Villemin is a French boy from Vosges, born 24 August 1980, and killed in 1984. Your money will not bring your son back. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Few cases beyond the disappearance of. The recent detective work, he said, is monumental, and of high quality. Who Killed Little Gregory? The case became known as the Grgory Affair and for decades has received widespread media coverage and public attention in France. It was getting chilly. That same year, the magistrate leading the investigation, Jean-Michel Lambert, committed suicide and cited the pressure resulting from the re-opening of the case in a suicide note. Shortly after 5.30pm on 16 October 1984, Christine Villemin abandoned her ironing in the newly built chalet that she and her husband, Jean-Marie, had moved into just over a year earlier, and stepped outside. Police discover Gregory's body in a river in October 1984, his hands and feet bound, hours after he disappeared from the yard of his home in rural Lepanges-sur-Vologne in the Vosges region of eastern France. The unidentified authors written and telephone communications since 1981 indicated he possessed detailed knowledge of the extended Villemin family, who was referred to in the media asLe Corbeauthe Crow its French slang for an anonymous letter-writer. Father Jean-Marie Villemins success as a factory foreman is referenced in a letter left by the murderer on the death of the childs death I have taken the bosss child, it notes. The little boy's mother, Christine Villemin, told police that her son was playing in the front yard of their home when he vanished. There were numerous theories and speculations, not supported by evidence. She has rejected investigators firm belief and the testimony of a cousin that she was bullied by the family into retracting her 1984 statement incriminating her brother-in-law. Distractify is a registered trademark. 16 ancient cities and settlements that were mysteriously abandoned. 1,199, This story has been shared 1,172 times. COPYRIGHT UNSOLVED MYSTERIES & PARANORMAL ACTIVITIES, 2017-2018. Lawyers for the accused couple say they strongly deny the allegations. Search instead in Creative? Murielle admitted this in front of the police only weeks after the actual crime but withdrew her statement a couple of days later. is the latest true crime documentary on Netflix that will enthral and disturb you as it tackles the long-unsolved case of who killed Gregory Villemin. 2,299, This story has been shared 2,248 times. The Jacobs alibis, Bosc said, were unconfirmed and unsubstantiated. The local reports stated that Grgorys father Jean-Marie Villemin was an arrogant person and liked to brag about his wealth, and that had caused a falling out with his cousin Bernard Laroche. Grgory Villemin's body was found with his hands and feet bound in the Vologne river in the north-east of France on 16 October 1984. He turned himself in immediately, and would not be released from jail until late 1987. And there laffaire du petit Grgory rested until this summer. I learned why. Jean-Marie Villemin vowed in front of the press that he would kill Laroche. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The circumstances surrounding .