A couple in their 70s and a woman have been
detained for questioning by police, 32 years
after a crime that horrified France.
Grégory Villemin was four when his body was
found in the Vologne river. His killer has never
been found.
All three held by police were described as
relatives of the boy's father.
The murder has continued to haunt France ever
since, but advances in DNA technology have
helped police shed further light on the case.
Years of mistakes
It was on 16 October 1984 that Grégory
Villemin's body was found and a magistrate
opened what became one of the biggest
mysteries in French criminal history.
Hours before the boy was discovered, his hands
and feet tied, his uncle said he had received a
phone call from someone claiming to have
kidnapped him. The following day, the child's
parents received a letter that said: "Your son is
dead, I have been avenged."
The next month, a cousin of the boy's father,
Bernard Laroche, was arrested when his sister-in-
law, Muriel Bolle, testified against him. He was
released in 1985 when she retracted her
statement, but shot dead by Jean-Marie Villemin,
the boy's father, weeks later.
The father went to jail for Laroche's murder for
several years. The boy's mother, Christine
Villemin, was also jailed for her son's murder but
later cleared. Both were later given
compensation by the state for miscarriage of
justice.
The anonymous phone-calls and poison-pen
letters continued over the years, and the case
was reopened first in 2000 and then again in
2008 in an attempt to identify the DNA on the
letters. Three separate traces of DNA were found
but not identified.
Three in police custody
Little news has been heard in the "Grégory affair"
since police said in 2013 that DNA tests had
brought the investigation no further.
That was until about 08:00 (06:00 GMT) on
Wednesday, when investigators from Dijon
detained a couple in their 70s in the village of
Aumontzey, in the Vologne river valley. Sources
told French media that they were the father's
uncle and aunt.
They were placed in police custody on suspicion
of complicity in the murder, failing to report a
crime or helping a person at risk, according to
L'Est Républicain website.
A third person reported to be the father's half-
sister was also being held. A fourth, said to be
the victim's grandmother, was taken in as a
witness. Her husband was also questioned.
Prosecutor Jean-Jacques Bosc said investigators
had targeted "people very close to the heart of
this case" and hoped to provide answers to the
questions they had.
Local reporters covering the case pointed out
that none of those held on Wednesday were
suspected of the boy's murder.
They also said that Muriel Bolle, who as a
teenager had initially blamed the killing on
Bernard Laroche, had been asked to provide a
DNA sample on Wednesday before later being
released.
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