ON THE TRAIL OF THE KILLERS & THE TRUTH AT ALL COSTS | TF1 | Reportages

On the trail of the killers (42’)

In criminal investigations, when a case becomes “cold”, an unsolved case, it is often because the investigation got off to a bad start. Most frequently, the police or the gendarmes followed a trail that proved to be fruitless. While the investigation went off in the wrong direction, other trails were not explored. This is what happened in 1983, in Isère, in the case of little Ludovic Janvier, aged 7. He disappeared 25 years ago and has never been found. At first, investigators suspected his parents then the case was dropped and forgotten. Last year, the case took an incredible turn: a man introduced himself to the family, he had been adopted at the age of 7… and he believes he is Ludovic Janvier. In another case, investigators have never given up. The Perpignan murders is one of the greatest crime mysteries of recent years. Its epilogue was played out in 2014. When they carried out fresh DNA tests, investigators discovered the profile of a serial rapist, Jacques Rancon, aged 56. For 15 years he wriggled through the net. The police looked for him everywhere, but he was living right there, next to the scene of the killings. On two occasions the police even missed a perfect opportunity to arrest him.

The truth at all costs (42’)

For 9 years a mystery has been hanging over Barcelona. That of the disappearance of a young 20-year-old Breton, Romain Lannuzel. The Erasmus student was due to spend a year in the Catalonian capital. But on November 13 2007, Romain disappears, for no reason. Romain was a well-adjusted young man. All the investigations carried out by the Spanish police led nowhere. “It’s as if the Earth opened up and swallowed him,” says one policeman. We followed the fight carried on by Mireille, his mother, who is doing all she can to find out the truth. Consulting a medium, putting up posters… Recently, she also hired a detective, who has discovered a trail.

Another mystery has been haunting the tiny village of Lisle in the Dordogne for 18 years. The murder of a women of 46. It happened at the end of August, 1998. Very soon, the police believed they had the guilty party. Pascal Labarre, a 33-year-old council worker. According to the gendarmes, Labarre was the victim’s lover and he couldn’t accept that she was ending the relationship. He is thought to have killed her in a fit of rage. In custody, Pascal Labarre confesses. But a month later, he withdraws the confession and repeats that he has nothing to do with it. In 2002, he is sentenced to 20 years in jail. Then acquitted six months later on appeal. If not Pascal Labarre, who is the killer? 18 years later, as the case lies sleeping, a detective discovered witnesses who may reopen the case.