THE DARCY CASE: MURDERER OR MIRACLE SURVIVOR? | Enquêtes criminelles | W9

Saint-Lambert-des-Bois. Saturday February 26 2012. It’s 11pm and a man calls the police. His name: François Darcy. Half-conscious, he explains that he was driving along with his wife when he stopped for a pressing call of nature and got out of his car. It was then that an unknown person shot him in the back. François passed out and when he came to his car was on fire with his wife inside. When the emergency services arrive, François Darcy, 46, 6’7 and weighing 300lbs is taken to hospital. The bullet is removed from his left shoulder blade. The car was burnt to the ground… and with it the body of Sylvie, his wife and mother of his two children. The husband is devastated, especially so because the couple were spending a lovers’ weekend in the Chevreuse valley to celebrate ten years of marriage. Even though Darcy took a shot, the gendarmes doubt the surprising story he gives them. In such a peaceful area it’s difficult to imagine an ambush like this. And then the autopsy is clear: Sylvie was already dead when the fire broke out. Worse: François Darcy has gunpowder residue on his hands as well as traces of vegetable oil, an inflammatory accelerator. And the cherry on the cake: despite appearances, the couple’s relationship was highly strained. Sylvie, the principal earner, was apparently thinking of leaving her husband.Did François Darcy prepare a meticulous plan to get rid of his wife: kill her and then claim that he was a victim by shooting himself?It’s an attractive theory, but there’s just one problem: investigators scoured the scene of the crime, but never found any weapon… and, highly important, how did the presumed perpetrator manage to shoot himself in the back?Either François had a miraculous escape, or they are dealing with a fiendish murderer.”