Albert and Monique Villemin,
Grégory's grandparents, are a couple of retired textile workers. They raised six children: Jacky, 31, Michel, 29, Jacqueline, 28, Jean-Marie, 26, Gilbert, 22, and Lionel, 12.
Only one peculiarity, harmless and known to all: Jacky, the eldest, was conceived before marriage by another man but raised by his grandparents then recognized by Albert Villemin. In May 1981, this hitherto uneventful family became the target of a stranger who regularly persecuted them by telephone. Seven hundred anonymous calls spread over two years according to the grandparents, a few dozen containing more or less long and explicit messages.
Insults and death threats fall on Albert and Monique Villemin, his first victims, then on each of their children.
A young woman sometimes takes over this crow by announcing to their employers or neighbors imaginary deaths or accidents to terrorize them and push Albert Villemin to suicide. Very quickly, it appeared to the whole family that their persecutor was a 'loved one'. He said it to Michel himself one day:
"We were friends. We even did parties together. I know you very very well ...
He mentions too many intimate details, too many events or discussions that occurred during Sunday lunches for their being foreign. He even describes the recent actions of Albert and Monique Villemin, proof that he can observe them while talking to them and savor their reactions.
"Albert is there?" he asks one day. - No ! answers Monique Villemin. - My eye, I saw him at 5 o'clock ...! quips his interlocutor."
Who is he ? What is he looking for? Who informs him?
The family climate is deteriorating. Suspicion arises between brothers and sister.
In April 1983, Albert and Monique Villemin let it be known that their phone was listened to by the gendarmes. The information causes the calls to stop immediately. The crow then changed tactics and wrote several threatening letters.
Three in a matter of weeks. Then calm returns, bringing back a precarious peace within the family. Eighteen months later, on Tuesday, October 16, 1984, the voice, hoarse and breathless, resurfaced to claim the kidnapping and then the murder of Jean-Marie's son.
Marie-Jeanne Berrichon-Sedeyn wrote in 1979, for the International Journal of Criminology and Technical Police in Geneva, an article entitled: 'How to identify the author of anonymous letters'. Based on several hundred cases, this study reveals three constants in the author of anonymous letters.
- He is someone who does not show himself to be openly unpleasant and who seems to attach importance to respectability, to moral values. It is possible that the attitude is rather withdrawn, like a familiar element of the landscape to which little attention is paid.
- In general, this is someone whose material or sentimental life is not very satisfactory and who may have experienced some disappointments recently.
- It is also a person who is part of the geographic entourage of the recipient of the letter: someone who has the possibility of being aware of the reactions of their victim, possibly attending the opening of the letter, or at least seeing the effect it produces."
Finally, she explains that the anonymous letter quite naturally reflects a "state of crisis".
During all these years, the "guy", as the Villemin call him, feeds on three obsessions, expressed in his harassment by phone and letters:
First obsession: a deep hatred towards Albert Villemin,
which is found in particular in a letter with deliberately distorted spelling: "[…] you may not hang yourself but I don't care because my revenge is done. I hate you to the point of spitting on your grave, the day you die[…]"
Second obsession: Jacky's situation, says the bastard, whose the stranger vehemently defends:
"[…] Jacky and his little family were pretty much put aside. The boss' turn to be considered as a bastard ... Jacky is perhaps not more esteemed but I don't care, I took revenge […]"
Third obsession: jealousy towards Jean-Marie, "The chef", whose professional and personal success is a source of pride for his parents, especially since his promotion as foreman in February 1981.
A considerable advancement in this working environment where chiefs are not loved. For some of those around him, it was even staggering news. The frequency of Jean-Marie and his wife's visits to Albert and Monique Villemin seems to bother him: "[...] You should no longer associate with the chief. You have to consider him also a bastard, put him entirely aside for you and his brothers and sister […] The chef's turn to be considered as a bastard […]"
Actually, among these three leitmotifs, Jacky's defense is too ostentatious to be sincere. He has lived on the sidelines since his marriage because the family is unanimouly against this union. His wife Liliane is not appreciated by the family. The stranger's curious concern for Jacky in turn stirs suspicion on his couple and his parents-in-law, Roger and Paulette Jacquel.
“Great sorrows and small chicaneries ended up forming a whole, a sort of dark cloud with irritating vapors, which the Villemin constantly reject. In turn, Jacky pays the price. He tried to arbitrate, to play peacemakers. When Liliane complains in his ear, he relays her grievances, but his diplomacy fails every time. He had to choose his side, that of his wife."
“The others have got it into their head that she is leading the couple, including in the hypothesis that both hide behind the rain of anonymous calls. They never really thought that Jacky was "the guy." He may be a little original, he is too sweet, too kind to plot such perversions. But maybe he can be influenced ... Maybe he knows, at least, who the mystery man is without daring to say it."
"The name of Liliane, on the other hand, is essential. She would have a motive: her detestation for Albert. One evening, around ’77, did she not sigh with bitterness: "Revenge is a dish that can be eaten cold"? Albert still remembers it, he was there, sitting in the living room, when she shouted that when she left the room. The precise context was lost in the mist of his memory but years later, at the time of the phone harassment, the sentence took on a grim appearance."
Finally, a troubling detail, the crow's demonstrations ceased the day Jacky broke off all family relationships.
This is why, as of the announcement of the disappearance of his child, on the evening of October 16, Jean-Marie Villemin rushed to the Jacquels, a rifle in hand, persuaded to find Grégory there. The presence of two Renault 4s, which he mistook in the dark for gendarmerie vehicles, dissuaded him from going further. The same evening, the Jacquels were in police custody. Since then, investigators have shown that they were not involved in the murder, their alibis being irrefutable.
But two mysteries remain: what dispute opposes the "guy" and Albert Villemin? Why did Jean-Marie suddenly become his expiatory victim through the assassination of his son, as he expresses in his last letter?
"I hope you die of grief the chef. It’s not your money that can give you your son back. This is my revenge, poor asshole. "
Albert Villemin, constantly driven to suicide and object of all his resentment "I hate you to the point of spitting on your grave" and his wife Monique, accused of hiding the key to the enigma and the existence of a possible second "bastard".
Defeated by Albert's resistance, the crow transferred his hatred and jealousy to Jean-Marie "the chef, the strong guy", as he climbed his social ladder "You're going a bit too fast, you change of car, you build, you do too much ... " reproached the man with a hoarse and gasping voice.
This is therefore necessary to reconstruct the existence of Albert and to dwell on his acts which may have caused irreparable harm to someone around him.
Albert Villemin, ward of the Nation, had an unhappy youth, a more serene but hard-working life and is living a now tragic retirement. Her father-in-law greeted him without warmth, relieved nevertheless to find a name and a father for the child of Monique. Indeed, Leon Jacob "did not appreciate" his son-in-law. And the word is weak, he despised and hated him. For this man, Albert was solely responsible for his chaotic family past ... and therefore "a bearer of misfortunes". Leon reproached him his father’s suicide - Gaston Villemin hanged himself when he was only 12 years old, his wife had sold his property and left to live with a German soldier. Leon Jacob does not make a distinction.
He "mixed everything up" and was a man with "fixed opinions", presumably the consequences of his education and the social context of the time. In addition, the shameful conditions of Albert and Monique's marriage - her out of wedlock pregnancy greatly contributed to Leon's contemptuous behavior. This is a paradoxical situation: officially entering a family "to save the honor" and finally being totally rejected. Albert was, in the eyes of this family "a fool", "a poor guy", a man necessarily weak because he had been "manipulated" by a woman and was going to raise another's child. Unfortunately Adeline and Léon Jacob had no other choice than to consent to this union in order to avoid the shame it would cause if Monique became "a mother-girl".
Jacky will testify to having seen, more than once, his grandfather Leon welcoming Albert with a fork in his hands. On his wedding day, when Albert got up from the table to consume his wedding night, Leon will say:"No need to get tired, the job is already done". There is also this example where, in addition to insulting Albert, he disparages his daughter Monique: "Here is your 'mackerel' (a pimp) coming home!". Finally, Leon openly threatens Albert, sometimes violent with his wife and children: "If you hurt Jacky, I will kill you".
The Jacob brothers and sisters did not show him more sympathy, although relations with some of them have been smoothed out over time.
For example Cécile Jacob, one of Monique's sisters will say: "Jacky is the best of the Villemin sons". Indeed, Jacky is not the biological son of Albert so necessarily the comparison is quickly made. Marcel Jacob, Monique’s lil brother, will play “the vigil” when Monique came to take refuge on the parental farm in order to flee Albert’s violence. Marcel does not carry Albert in his heart either. In a frivolous conflict with the latter, one had not said hello to the other, and Albert had hit his brother-in-law's car. Marcel Jacob had "seen red" and had grabbed Albert by the collar of his shirt. Jacqueline Jacob had followed her husband outside and participated in the scene. Marcel will say of this event: "He had spoken badly to my father". In addition, this animosity between the two men is reciprocal; when Albert receives Marcel, he adopts his usual behavior in the presence of someone he does not appreciate: "he sulks" and does not say a word.
In ’82, (Christmas event), when an argument broke out between the Villemins and the Jacobs. Marcel and Jacqueline erupt their hatred in the face of Jean-Marie while confirming their constant aversion for his father Albert.
Jacqueline Jacob: "You are just like your father Jean-Marie, the Villemin sons you are all scumbags like your father!"; Marcel Jacob: "I hate the chiefs... you're just a creeper who has no hair on his chest! "- means you’re just a kid, a brat ; "You can do karate, I will smash your balls".
Albert was easily, and often unfairly, blamed for the family's worst evils.
Leon was forced to explain himself to investigators of the time about Louisette’s incestuous pregnancy. He easily accused his son-in-law, without any remorse. At certain times in his life, Albert has sometimes attracted a lot of hostility from his intemperance, harshness and from real or supposed sentimental adventures. But nothing that can be really connected, twenty or thirty years later, to the assassination of his grandson.
1987
"The big Jacob family may block in front of Maurice Simon, there are a few to drop scraps of secrets. Are they intended to help or lead the magistrate astray? In any case, they bring him back to Bernard Laroche and a sad souvenir, present in all memories, the death of his mother.
Thérèse Jacob, Marcel Laroche’s wife, was one of Monique's sisters. This woman died in March 1955, the day after the birth of her only son, Bernard, Albert Laroche. Before dying, she had written a letter to her mother from the maternity unit which had caused, it seems, a great stir in the family.
Maurice Simon researched this letter for a long time, which had never been found. He suspects it of containing a part of the secret, reinforced in this by the resistances which oppose to him, visibly embarrassed, the main witnesses of this episode.
The numerous investigations carried out in the history of this family having brought to light no certainty or any irrefutable element, one can give them as an echo only this extract from the Non-lieu rendered in February 1993:
"Some have accused Albert Villemin of extorting money from Marcel Laroche, but this has not been demonstrated and this is even likely that the culprit is another family member also named Albert. And of having had with Thérèse Jacob, Bernard Laroche’s mother, an affair that has not been further proven. In 1982, after Marcel Laroche’s death, Monique Villemin and her sisters Yvette and Suzanne Jacob entered the home of the deceased and searched his belongings to retrieve, it was thought, compromising documents, but they would have been surprised by Bernard and Marie-Ange Laroche who would have chased them away.
Monique Villemin and her sisters denied it and this episode could not be elucidated. There was also talk of a second bastard in the family. Monique Villemin disputed this other illegitimate birth that has never been demonstrated. Even if it were real, the connection to the crime would not be established. Monique Villemin has been suspected by many of her relatives to hold the key to the puzzle. She has always maintained that this is not the case."
The question remained as it is, fueling suspicion over the facts, the connection to Grégory’s death appears tenuous, if not improbable. Nevertheless, the investigation seems to have touched on new fragments of truth or secrets that time has cemented to make them impenetrable. Later, in November 1993, during Jean-Marie's trial, Albert Villemin was heard by the Côte-d'Or assize court. At the end of his testimony, this little bearded man said, confirming the feeling of his son sitting in the accused's box: "I often think that Grégory died because of the stories of adults. Maybe my fault". It was late, the hearing had been trying, everyone was tired and Grégory’s grandfather left the bar without anyone noticing his words and asking more."
¬ Laurence Lacour, "The pyre of the innocent"Often questioned by her children, Monique Villemin has always denied the guy's allusions.
Jean-Marie and Christine, for their part, see no other source of animosity than their social and financial success, even though this is the fruit of efforts and savings. At 24 and 26 years old, they have a beautiful house, new but largely built by Jean-Marie Villemin himself, helped by his father Albert and his brother Gilbert. Their two cars whet the envy. But the white Renault 18 was bought second-hand and the black R5 salvaged for scrap for 1,500 francs and entirely reworked. Their monthly income is around 11,000 francs. Eight days before their son’s murder, they obtained a loan which enabled them to acquire a leather salon worth 25,000 francs on credit. Perhaps a crucial detail. This ease - very relative - earned them to be called "Giscard" by the crow and cruelly illustrates the last letter: "It is not your money that can give you back your son, poor asshole."
The investigators quickly learned that Bernard Laroche is the person closest to the Villemin family. Jacky, Michel and their mother Monique cited him as the most informed cousin in their family’s life. 29 years old, he is more than an ordinary parent. After the death of his mother, Thérèse, who died at birth, he was raised by his maternal grandparents, Adeline and Léon Jacob, already in charge of little Jacky.
He has since become Michel’s confidant who tells him everything that happens with his parents, brothers and sister and complains of being kept away for the benefit of Jean-Marie and his wife in particular. Bernard admits himself being frustrated with this preference.
In his house which overlooks that of Albert and Michel Villemin, the gendarmes seized a spyglass and a cassette of the song "Chef, a little glass, we are thirsty ...", the one heard by Jean-Marie Villemin, during an anonymous call. They also discovered a letter from his hand containing two-sided insults: "[…] poor idiots you all are,". Bernard Laroche admitted to having discovered, on the death of his father in 1982, a handwritten note bearing this text: "Albert is blackmailing me, he is extracting money from me." He says today that the sentence was aimed at his uncle Albert Jacob and not Albert Villemin as investigators suspect.
They note his resemblance to the robot portrait of the mustachioed man carrying burnsides seen in Lépanges and Docelles the day before and the day of the murder at times when he was not working. He owns two cars, including a metallic green Peugeot 305. Finally, his schedule for the day of the crime showed a gap between 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., the time slot for the kidnapping of Gregory. Bernard Laroche denies having used all these elements against the Villemin family and being involved in the death of the little boy. He was submitted to the interrogation but was reluctant when asked to write with his left hand and only finally agreed to do it on the intervention of his wife.
Married since 1976 to Marie-Ange Bolle, he has a child, Sébastien, born in September 1980, ten days after Grégory. This child has a cyst in the head which forces him to carry a drain permanently and to be regularly followed. The main consequence of this handicap is that the boy is prohibited from certain activities, such as swimming.
"Marie-Ange Laroche, his wife, the opposite of Ginette, is an epicurean known for her "big mouth" (person who speaks loudly) and her taste for partying. "She drinks like a man," laugh those who have already dined at her table. She is able to take a beer out of the fridge and swallow it straight away, which probably explains her stomach problems."
¬ Thibaut Solano, "The hoarse voice".Her relationships with Bernard are strained. Marie-Ange had left him a few years earlier, claiming that she had married too young and had "not taken advantage of her youth". In addition, a few anonymous calls from a woman will disturb their peace of mind, rumors of adultery. Jacky and Liliane, invited to Bernard Laroche's house, attended one of these calls, which continued until Christmas 1980 - a woman simulating an orgasm. Marie-Ange had threatened to file a complaint and everything suddenly stopped. At the time, the installation of the telephone was recent in the region, it was not uncommon for jokers to have fun with this "new toy".
Bernard did not seem happy with his wife, Marie-Ange will deny besides constantly that his couple was tottering but will implicitly mention it in her book entitled "The forgotten tears of the Vologne", Bernard will ask to Jacky and Liliane "You still love each other so much after all these years, how do you do? "
Bernard’s father, to whom the latter was very attached, died in June 1982 of a long illness. The couple live a few hundred meters from the Villemin’s house, on the heights of the village. One of their closest neighbors is his uncle, Marcel Jacob, with whom he has many affinities given their small age difference. After three years of studying at the Gérardmer general mechanical school, Bernard Laroche was hired in 1972 at the Ancel weaving mill in Granges-sur-Vologne. The situation of Jean-Marie, a young foreman of 26, excludes the couple from the half-working, half-peasant society of the Vosges. Bernard Laroche certainly occupied a similar position, but had only obtained it very recently, at the end of a laborious journey - September 1, 1984, after having applied for six years the job. To achieve this, he followed two years of training at the spinning school of Épinal before obtaining, in 1980, a CAP as a weaver adjuster. Member and activist of the CGT, he kept the sense of social struggles without trying, like Jean-Marie Villemin, to distance himself from his origins. Bernard Laroche rarely evokes his feelings except his concern about the fragile health of his son to whom he is close. He is discreet and rather quiet, listening to the people around him. He sometimes does service to each other.
Within the Villemin family, he is appreciated by Albert and Monique and is very friendly with his cousin Michel. He maintains normal relations with Jacky, "the bastard", although they see each other less than before.
"At tea time, we return to Monique and Albert Villemin, where there is a very tense atmosphere. The Laroche couple’s arrest stunned everyone. Bernard is a parent above all suspicion, appreciated for his kindness. He is even the most assiduous to follow the evolution of the investigation, present from October 17 in the morning with Grégory's parents. His wife Marie-Ange watched over the child. A few hours before his arrest, he was still having a drink at this table around which we are seated."
Michel is crying, very agitated. He has just lost his friend, his confidant. Eyes bulging and hoarse voice, he gasps in our microphones: "I didn't think so ... I didn't mean it ... He had bought flowers to put on Grégory's grave ... Now, given his sister-in-law's confession, I'm not alone to believe it ... I ask for the death penalty ... ". Grégory's uncle is breathless while shouting: "Since baby, we have always been together ... We played together ... We made bullshit together ... We never left him… I can't admit that…"
According to the elements of the investigation, the raven's profile corresponds to Bernard Laroche's personality and his behavior / position within the family : The crow is someone who does not show himself to be openly unpleasant and it is possible that the attitude is rather withdrawn. This person is part of the geographic entourage of his victims, is animated by resentment, jealousy and attaches too much importance to his social image to openly express negative feelings. The crow has a dual personality, hides his "game" well and does not show aggressiveness before third parties. Finally, this is someone whose material or sentimental life is not very satisfactory and who may have experienced some disappointments recently, who feels emotional and / or socio-professional frustration.
This individual has buried his resentment, hatred, and jealousy behind a friendly face, he appears neither shady nor patibular. He does not participate in various conflicts and maintains impartial behavior. He is present and prowls around the members of this family, claiming courtesy visits, always in appearance. This individual therefore has an unsuspected duality, he is able to deceive a crowd of close people whom he frequents more or less regularly - the crow will repeat three times : "You never find who I was", capable of concealing his true feelings, thoughts and motivations without ever betraying oneself in front of the individuals in question. On the other hand, he is unable to face Jean-Marie - and the other members of the family -, the use of anonymous calls and letters indicates his inability to disclose his true feelings and fears the truth about his identity.
Bernard lives in Aumontzey, he is able to follow all that is happening in the family and know the effects of calls and letters. Finally, although he remains in the background and shows a certain indifference to the ambient climate, the fact remains that his personal and family life could justify the animosity expressed with regard to Albert and a jealousy towards Jean-Marie. Bernard was a very secondary character. He did not take part in family conflicts. And precisely, if he is the crow, he was all the more successful in going unnoticed, since no one could really suspect him of harboring a particular hatred towards the Villemins. But when we look at the file, we realize that Bernard Laroche could feed a real frustration.
However, information gleaned from various books and testimonies allows us to flesh out a less shiny side of Bernard’s personality. First of all, Jean-Marie, who was raised with him, will always say of him that he was
"false, liar and elusive".
His statement is supported by his repeated attempts to charm in turn, Liliane, Ginette and Christine Villemin, the own wives of his cousins. Bernard was very close to Michel, he was his best friend and saw him several times a week. What "friend" would court your wife in this way? Furthermore, these events seem to confirm the evidence that Bernard was not really satisfied in his love life. It appeared - as early as 1979 - that he coveted in vain what did not "belong to him", married women. His reputation as a "womanizer" was quickly revealed, without stopping him; indeed he will try three times to get closer to Ginette in particular, even when she was pregnant with her son Daniel. Bernard divides his life between his house in Aumontzey located on the heights and the parental farm of the Jacobs in which his aunt Louisette and her daughter Chantal live, a little below. He inherited this home from his own father Marcel Laroche, a man described by all as a saint and extremely helpful.
"Sometimes if Louisette becomes too annoying, Bernard slaps his aunt."
¬ Thibaut Solano, "The hoarse voice"."Hatred, I felt it in the early morning of October 23, 1984, in the old Laroche farm. I was the first journalist to overcome the distrust of Aunt Louisette, whose language was chastised but disjointed. I knocked on her door with, in hand, the portrait robot obtained the previous day at the gendarmerie. This face rimmed with glasses hardly seems to inspire Aunt Louisette. Suddenly the door to the room opens behind me. A short, stocky, unshaven, mustachioed man readjusts his shirt in his pants. Without a word, he grabs the enameled coffee pot from the roaring stove and pours himself a full bowl of coffee, then sits down, as if I don't exist. I'm trying to joke: "I didn't know you had a boyfriend at your place, Louisette. The man stares at me with his dark eyes: "I am Louisette's nephew, he said, I am Bernard Laroche."
He disappears into the next room where I hear the barking of his dog, Prince. His aunt accompanies me on the veranda and I ask her, "Is he nice to you, your nephew?- Yes, but sometimes he gets angry and bangs hard. I still have a bruise on my shoulder."
¬ Jean Ker.
Jean Ker is the great reporter-photographer for Paris Match, who covered the biggest criminal cases of his time: little Grégory’s death, the case of the poisoned Josacine, the disappeared of Mourmelon among others ... He wrote a very well documented and very precise book, with many very different details from the instructional file 'Le fou de Bruay', the fruit of thirty years of investigation, by Editions Privé released in 2006.
"This tumult, covered by the noise of the engine and that of the sirens, the accused did not hear. He seems unwilling to let go of his amazing placidity. The prison director, responsible for monitoring this resident who was threatened by the other detainees, even found him peacefully asleep at 8 p.m. in his cell."
"On the other hand, his behavior intrigues us. At first, he shows himself serene, almost casual, a surprising attitude in view of the gravity of the situation and our suspicions ... Then, seeing that we check his every word, he becomes nervous and attentive to everything he hears. For the new dictations which are imposed on him, he gives the impression to the chief Hazotte, who controls the exercise, of "playing the fool". He accumulates coarse spelling mistakes and writes poorly while some of his letters show regular writing and correct spelling."
"I bring Bernard and Marie-Ange home. She is passive, withdrawn, while her husband is surprisingly relaxed. He even laughs when we run into the vehicle and hide him and his wife under a blanket in the back seat. During the journey, as during all police custody, there will be no revolt at the accusation of such a crime, no crying, no vehement or desperate denials."
¬ Étienne Sesmat, "The two Grégory cases".The couple however intrigue the investigators since the first days. Marie-Ange Laroche’s behavior, launching, three days after the crime, different suspicions on Jacky Villemin then on the Hollards. Her call was made from a public booth rather than her home for fear, she said, of waking her husband while their phone is away from the bedroom. Her suggestion to the gendarmes to submit Jacky's young son to the writing exercise.
Her sick leave, October 18, two day after the crime. Her spontaneous presence, despite the lack of intimacy between her and Christine and Jean-Marie Villemin, during the vigil of Grégory. The feeling that she gave that night to everyone to spy on their conversations.
Bernard admitted that he was frustrated by the special attention given to Jean-Marie and that he had been kept informed of the whole matter for three years by Monique and Michel. After trying to hide that he also knew how to write in cursive, Bernard will confirm this important fact: "Since my apprenticeship in 1972, because of industrial and technological drawing, I prefer to write in script than in normal writing [linked]. But I write in two ways."
"We notice his relative dexterity to write with the left hand as with the right hand, and his capacity to form linked letters - we discover it on documents and notebooks seized at his place - whereas he affirmed us to write only in script."
Bernard Laroche is therefore an ambiguous protagonist who displays, at the whim of his various interlocutors, a troubled personality. The attempts of his wife only 3 days after the tragedy in order to lead the investigators on varied family tracks, his neutral, erased personnality and his withdrawn, impartial behavior within the family, "almost as invisible as a piece of furniture"; his writing facilities - thanks to his studies, and the testimonies of various people who were able to interact with him on the one hand, clash with what we know in the first place of this nice, helpful and appreciated man by many and on the other hand, reinforce the suspicions around him.
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