On the morning of December 14, 2017, Léa Petitgas’ cell phone was for the last time in the Canclaux district, where she lived in a small apartment. Four years later, the disappearance of this Nantes woman, then aged 20, remains a mystery for investigators. The young woman, who has never shown up for her work, has vanished without anyone knowing today what may have happened to her. His father, Christophe Petitgas, confides in 20 minutes.
Four years later, still no trace of your daughter … How is the investigation progressing?
The police have nothing at all, but I know they won’t give up. They don’t call me much anymore, but I know very well that their job is not to support families in their pain. For my part, even if I go around in circles, I always do my own research to get the truth, helped by Amélie, Léa’s little sister who has just turned 20, and asks herself a lot of questions. We will be doing the show soon Calls for witnesses on M6. This is the last chance operation because for the moment, nothing has led us to my daughter. What I have been hoping for for a long time is for someone to finally speak. If it doesn’t work, it would be like an empty bottle thrown into the sea …
A few months ago, the police took an interest in a man, indicted in August 2020 for the rape and murder of a high school student in Nantes …
The police returned to Léa’s district to show photos of this man to residents. It was very hard for me when I found out, because since Léa’s disappearance, I read the various facts a lot so I was aware of what this gentleman had done to this young girl. I was told that a reconciliation could be made, but no connection has since been established.
You never believed in the fugue thesis. What is your conviction today?
My daughter was attacked, I’m sure. I have met her superior, her friends, her neighbors… Neither I nor anyone believes in leaving. Lea lived scantily, but she was well, surrounded, she had taken two cats. Even though she was having rent issues, I was there to help her, but also wanted things to move forward, so I was bothering her a bit. During our last exchange, I had reprimanded her on this subject. It remains a regret today …
You recently returned to this apartment …
When the seals were removed, I went there, I got Lea’s drawing books, some jewels of hers. I also took a soft toy that I had given her when she was ten years old, and that she had always kept with her. Léa wrote a lot but her private notebooks were kept by the police. I hope I can get them back one day, find out what she was thinking just before she disappeared.
How have you been all these years?
The more the years go by, the harder it is. At first I was in the action and hoped things would change, I really meant it. After four years, we fall a little into despair, we tell ourselves that we will never know what happened. How could she disappear like that in the street, in a lively neighborhood? In the morning, his phone is dead, and then nothing. Nothing on accounts, nothing on social networks… I want to know, but I’m also very scared. In the meantime, I continue to live, for my other children, the family. I try to tinker around the house, to do things, but of course I think about it every day. There are more difficult times, like the Christmas periods which always bring back bad memories.