Bruno L. will not face justice. The man who was nicknamed the “predator of the woods” and prosecuted for five rapes of teenage girls between 1998 and 2008, committed suicide during his detention at Fleury-Mérogis prison (Essonne). Aged 64, he died on March 20.
The sixty-year-old was in pre-trial detention, awaiting trial for the kidnappings of five teenage girls aged 15 to 19, taken by car to a wooded area and raped at gunpoint. Operating with their faces uncovered, he then left them “almost naked”, according to investigation documents.
Although he left DNA traces at the crime scenes, he could not be found for more than twenty years, investigators not having found a match with the genetic profiles present in their files. It was finally confused with the help of the FBI, the American federal police, thanks to genetic genealogy, a technique unique in France consisting of comparing unknown DNA with American databases, hoping to find matches with ancestors or descendants.
New technique to find it
His DNA made it possible to identify a couple, who died in the 1970s, as being part of his ancestors. The investigators then exploited their family tree and were able to trace it back to him.
His age and his car matched the elements of the investigation. He was also convicted in 1983 of indecent assault.
Arrested at his home in Courtry (Seine-et-Marne), he was placed in pre-trial detention on December 13, 2022. In February, Bruno L. admitted before the investigating judge to having premeditated his actions, the first in La Rochelle on December 4, 1998, the four others in the Paris region, on April 1, 1999, April 16, 2000, July 3, 2000 and June 8, 2008.
“Injustice inflicted on victims”
“This sad conclusion is a new injustice inflicted on the victims, including my clients,” reacted Me Fares Aidel, lawyer for two civil parties including the first victim. “They are forever deprived of a trial that they have hoped and waited for for so many years. »
“One thing is certain, however: when it comes to genetic investigations, there will be a before and an after of this affair. We will now focus on repairing the immense suffering of our clients,” he added. The detainee’s lawyer, Me Emma Lesigne, could not be reached.