Michel Fourniret Serial Killer
A Criminal Network
Initially the authorities ignored Jambert's theories, but an incident in 1984 led them to reconsider the idea that there was indeed a sex ring in the area. That January, a 19-year-old girl was found wandering the streets of Auxerre in a confused state. When the police picked her up and questioned her, she claimed that she was held captive in the basement of a nearby house, where she was sexually abused and tortured.
The girl's testimony led the police to the home of Claude and Monique Dunand, known friends of Emile Louis. Stuart Jeffries wrote that when police searched the house, they found another girl in the cellar, "naked and suspended from a ladder by her wrists." Jeffries claimed that for approximately 15 years, local handicapped girls were lured to the house, locked up, fed dog food and repeatedly raped and tortured by invited guests. However, there was no indication that any of the girls were murdered.
Claude Dunand was eventually convicted of kidnapping and given a life sentence in 1991. His wife Monique received two years for accessory to the crimes. According to Andrew Alderson and Kim Willsher's article 'I Want Justice for Joanna,' Yonne crime reporter Ludovic Berger stated, "Claude Dunand has always said that politicians, industrialists and magistrates were involved but he has refused to name them." The article suggested that a list of at least 50 clients "rumored to include several French 'notables' who paid to torture and abuse" captive girls was discovered by police and handed over to the Auxerre Courthouse. However, the list mysteriously disappeared from a courtroom and has never been found.
It was not the only document that went missing. In fact, there were more than 100 murder and missing person case files from between 1958 and 1982 that vanished from the courthouse. Moreover, the court ledger documenting the investigations also vanished. It became increasingly clear that someone was either trying to cover up the crimes or the Auxerre Courthouse had a serious management problem.