There was little doubt, for investigators, for several weeks. The first results of the genetic expertise have dispelled their last uncertainties: the body found in June, in Bagnols-sur-Cèze (Gard), is that of Lucas Tronche, said Thursday Eric Maurel, the prosecutor of Nîmes.
The DNA of the teenager, who disappeared in 2015 when he had to go to the swimming pool was found “on some of the bones”, confides the magistrate. Several objects belonging, or possibly belonging to the young man, had also been discovered not far from the house where he lived with his family. In particular a backpack, a jacket, a watch and a cell phone, which is being exploited by the investigators.
No hypothesis is preferred
From now on, a new phase of the investigations begins: how did Lucas Tronche die? “In view of the elements found, and pending forensic expertise, it is impossible to favor one hypothesis over another”, the prosecutor had confided, a few hours after the discovery of the clues. An accidental fall? Suicide? A third person ? According to the prosecutor, “the configuration of the land makes it difficult to imagine that someone has transported the body from the bottom of the cliff to the highest point. But we can’t rule it out either. “
But the investigation promises to be difficult. “The body has remained in nature,” said the Nîmes prosecutor. Nature has been there. The animals have been there. What are the elements that relate to possible blows, the results of the fall or the intervention of nature? Only specialists will perhaps be able to tell us. “
False leads
For more than six years, the mobilization was total, to try to find the trace of Lucas Tronche. Since 2015, however, the work of investigators has been marked by false leads. That of a man, who sent false letters giving news of the teenager to his parents, between 2015 and 2016, before being sentenced. Then, in 2016, of a bald man, tattooed on both forearms, who would have been seen near the place of the disappearance of Lucas Tronche. He was found, and exonerated. But also the track of Nordal Lelandais, explored, then discarded.
Thousands of volunteers have also contributed to spreading the face of the adolescent throughout France. Without knowing that his body would eventually be found 1 km from his house, on a steep cliff, a place where he liked to pick up stones. His passion.