It is the story of a Parisian serial killer like the 1980s produced which has just been resolved. Alongside the Guy Georges or Thierry Paulin files, the “Hail” case appeared on the premises of the capital’s criminal squad: at least five murders committed between 1986 and 1994 but never elucidated.
On September 30, the DNA found at certain crime scenes spoke, by confusing a former gendarme, François Vérove, found dead, committed suicide, in the Gard, the same day he was summoned by the police to be questioned in the context of this survey, relaunched in recent months. 20 minutes takes stock of what we know about the “Hail affair”, which has just found an epilogue.
What were the charges against “Hail”?
The killer nicknamed “Le Grêlé” is suspected of having committed five crimes between 1986 and 1994. A judicial investigation was opened for assassinations, rapes of minors of 15 years, attempted voluntary homicide, theft with a weapon, use of false quality, kidnapping and forcible confinement of a 15-year-old minor. He is suspected of having stabbed and raped Cécile Bloch, 11, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, in 1986; for killing Gilles Politi, 38, and Irmgard Mueller, 20, on the same day in 1987, in the Marais in Paris. It is only more recently that the murder of Karine Leroy, 19, who died in 1994 in Seine-et-Marne, has been attributed to “Hail”.
All of his victims were found tied up by the wrists, ankles or arms. All show traces of strangulation, carried out using the Spanish tourniquet technique. Midi-Free describes it as a method “particularly perverse because of the slowness” with which it brings death. In addition, six cases of rape could also be attributed to “Hail”. The name of “Grêlé” was attached to this file from the first murder attributed to him. On the robot portrait produced at the time, the suspect’s face is strewn with traces of acne pimples. The nickname stuck. This robot portrait, as well as DNA traces, will long be the only leads for investigators, before the discovery of François Verove’s confession on Wednesday.
How has “le Grêlé” been confused?
The investigation has been relaunched in recent months by the examining magistrate Nathalie Turquey. Clues have directed investigators to the possible responsibility of a member of the police. It is the track of a gendarme that was finally retained, the investigators thus decided to summon nearly 800 gendarmes stationed in the Paris region at the time of the facts in order to be questioned and to give a DNA sample. .
François Verove, “le Grêlé”, had been summoned a few days ago on September 29 … It was on that day that he was found dead in Grau-du-Roi (Gard). On September 30, DNA analyzes on his body confirmed that it was indeed the same one found at several crime scenes in this file. The man also left a letter in the apartment where he killed himself, AFP said. In it, he accuses himself of the murders but gives no victim name or dates. He justifies his actions by “past impulses” but claims to have taken charge and not to have “done anything since 1997”.
Who was François Verove?
François Verove, who therefore committed suicide on Wednesday, was 59 years old. According to AFP, he had lived in the town of La Grande-Motte, in the Hérault, for a few years. From 1983 to 1988, he was a gendarme in the cavalry of the Republican Guard and had left the army for the police at the end of the 1980s.
François Verove was retired, married and father of a family. Until the municipal elections of 2020, he was municipal councilor of Prades-le-Lez. Asked about BFMTV, the mayor of this town of 5,000 souls, Jean-Marc Lussert, indicates that he has never seen “no sign, absolutely no” at his former elected official.
What will happen now?
By definition, there will be no trial of François Vérove since we do not judge the dead in France. “For the victims, this epilogue is both a satisfaction and a heartbreak, explained to the Parisian Me Didier Seban, the lawyer for the families of Cécile Bloch and a rape victim. It is positive to see that this investigation is on the way to completion, but disappointing to see that the man suspected of being The Hail ended his life. Families also fear that the investigation will end there. “The lawyer wants in fact to ask the justice to continue its investigations to” know if he had accomplices and to determine the number of victims “. François Vérove having also worked in the Bouches-du-Rhône, Didier Seban would like to meet the possible cold case of the department.