From April 10, a new series will appear on Netflix. Her name is Anthracite and delves into the disappearance of a journalist through the investigation of his daughter, a fan of Web sleuthing. While the practice is not new – citizens always invite themselves into investigations – the Internet and social networks open a new window of opportunity for apprentice investigators. Immersion in the (merciless) universe of Web sleuthing.
Online, the passion for unsolved investigations, cold cases, is clearly shared. On the famous Reddit forum, some surveys have even become “subs”, communities dedicated to an online subject. This is the case of “Grateful Doe”, a young American who died in a road accident in Virginia in 1995, but whose identity was never found until 2015… thanks to online investigators . One of them actually managed to reconstruct his portrait digitally and sent it to the local newspaper in his hometown, South Carolina, before having his DNA identified by his mother.
Now on the forum, other apprentices are trying to find missing people and even looking for matches between several disappearances. Latest, “Tinycole” wonders if Cheryl Dole – a teenager who disappeared in Nashbville in 1976 – does not coincide with the identity of Sonya Redbird, who disappeared in 1974 in Dallas. “They both look very similar: height, weight, hair color, age range. The dates match.”
“Collective impact will move things forward”
Over time, the popularity of forum surveys spread to sites dedicated to online surveys, such as “Uncovered”. “We are building a platform to help uncover answers to famous cold cases and unsolved mysteries through collective impact,” boasts the site, which offers a $97 per year subscription to gain access to a private community and access to privileged resources.
A guide is even distributed to “develop abilities, test knowledge and discover new talents”. Through its lines, the site specifies its ambition. Recalling the number of murders each year in the United States, “Uncovered” insists: “These are not just numbers, they are people, who have families and loved ones for whom the investigation has never been closed” . For them, “collective impact will move things forward”.
Effective skills
Across the Atlantic, private investigators also helped unblock files considered closed. In the Grêlé affair, for example, it was a Swiss engineer under the pseudonym “Dummhet” who was able to advance the investigation by comparing each robot portrait of the serial killer using the morphing technique which draws the transformation continues from one image to another.
“He started from the principle that everyone must have seen something of the Grêlé’s face. Depending on the relevance, the number of people who recognize this or that robot portrait, he classified them and was able to refabricate the robot portrait, then aged it,” remembers Patricia Tourancheau, journalist specializing in news items and author of Le Grêlé, the killer was a cop, published by Seuil. A significant use for the investigation. “Everyone thought it was done by the gendarmerie.”
“There, I told them “stop””
The problem is that all apprentice investigators do not necessarily have the same skills as Dummhet and in fact, the same legitimacy. Online finds can sometimes bypass searches. “The other side of the coin is that a person can reveal parts of the investigation of a criminal proceeding. There, it’s more embarrassing, since the principle for the police is to keep the investigation secret”, estimates Christophe Korell, former officer of the judicial police and president of the association “Agora of citizens, of the police and of the justice “. For him, it is a double-edged action, “it can help but it can be problematic”.
During her career, journalist Patricia Tourancheau also encountered fake investigators who were a little too intrusive. After the release of the documentary she co-directed on the Grégory affair, the journalist received numerous messages from young people who had just discovered the affair and were going to the Vosges to “explore the places”. “There, I told them ‘stop’,” says Patricia Tourancheau, who recalls the need for “safeguards”. For her, the enigma dimension fascinates in unsolved cases – “they have the impression of being in a giant Cluedo” – but can also go beyond the border of what is tolerable.
Violent investigations for the victims
For both experts, these online investigations can become violent for the victims of the case. “If the idea is to approach people and witnesses fifteen years later, that could be problematic. What right do you have to question people for the sake of an investigation? », asks Christophe Korell. It is the same for the journalist Patricia Tourancheau who had seen, for the affair of little Grégory, tons of Facebook pages attacking years later the guilt of Christine Villemin, who benefited from a definitive dismissal in 1993. “I found all these rumors about her dangerous, all these micro-elements that were coming out.”
From now on, the journalist is banking on collaboration. If the apprentice investigators have a doubt about a lead, Patricia Touranchau prefers to answer it. “If there is a good lead, they need to get in touch with professionals.” Christophe Korell is much more severe towards them. The former judicial police officer finally decided: “Everyone has their own job. »