It’s a 35-year-old mystery that is set to be solved this Thursday night. The genetic fingerprints taken from several crime scenes attributed to “Hail” correspond to those of the former gendarme who committed suicide on Wednesday in the seaside resort of Gruau-du-Roi, confirmed the Paris prosecutor’s office. The man is suspected of having committed three murders in Paris: that of Cécile Bloch, 11, stabbed and raped in May 1986, of Gilles Politi, 38, and Irmgard Mueller, 20, both killed in April 1987. He was also wanted for a series of six rapes between 1986 and 1994.
It had been more than 35 years that Crim ‘investigators had been on the trail of this man, nicknamed “the Hailed” because of the scars on his face described by several victims. DNA had been collected from several crime scenes but no match could be made. “In recent months, the investigating magistrate has summoned for hearing or on rogatory commission around 750 gendarmes stationed in the Paris region at the time of the facts”, specifies the prosecution.
The noose had tightened around this former gendarme, who became a police officer, now retired, a few days ago. Summoned on September 24 for a hearing to be held on Wednesday, this man, 59 years old and living in the south of France, was declared missing on Monday by his wife. He was found dead in an Airbnb rental on Wednesday. The investigators discovered at his side a letter of remorse but without a detailed confession.