He would have spent his early years in France. This is why a British association specializing in unsolved disappearances and never-identified bodies is launching a call for witnesses on Friday. The organization Locate International is trying to identify the “barn man”, who died in 2017 in the United Kingdom. The body of this man, approximately 1m75 tall, was found in a barn near Winchester in Hampshire (southern England) six years ago to the day, reports this association.
He was already in the state of a skeleton, suggesting that the man aged between 35 and 50 years old, without identification papers on him, had died for some time. An autopsy was unable to determine the cause of his death and no DNA matches were found. “After a while, it is very difficult for investigators to devote time and resources to these types of cases,” Roland Hughes, a volunteer with Locate International, told AFP.
A diet rich in fish
Hampshire police therefore asked this association, founded three years ago by two former detectives, to support it in its investigation, he explained. Locate International contacted the forensic team from the University of Reading, England, who carried out an analysis of isotopes – a certain type of atoms – in the bones of the unknown to try to trace its origin or even his diet.
Based on the polluting substances found in the skeleton and the fact that this man had a diet rich in fish, researchers determined that he had spent the early years of his life in the southeast of France, in Corsica. or possibly in French-speaking Switzerland.
A “strong French accent” and gardener by Catherine Deneuve
This analysis corroborates testimonies collected in 2019 after the publication of his composite portrait. Witnesses claimed to have encountered this man, who according to them spoke with a “strong French accent”. Locate International also lists some leads based on these testimonies: this man could have served in the French army, been deaf in one ear… and even been a gardener for the actress Catherine Deneuve.
“The key to solving this mystery lies in France,” estimated the organization, which relies on some 300 volunteers and has solved “around twenty cases” in 2022, according to Roland Hughes. Any information can be sent to the following link: https://locate.international/appeals/lhomme-dans-la-grange.