Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, suspected of ruthlessly murdering his wife and four children four years ago before disappearing, has apparently contacted the French press stating, “I am alive”, reports FRANCE 24.
French authorities have been searching for Dupont de Ligonnès without success ever since the bodies of his wife, Agnes, and four children – Arthur, Thomas, Anne and Benoit – were discovered shot dead execution-style buried under the terrace of their home in Nantes on April 21, 2011.
The murders involving this “ordinary middle class family” shocked France and dominated the front pages, but the vast manhunt for Dupont de Ligonnès failed to find the suspected murderer.
It appears that Dupont de Ligonnès sent what looks like a family photo of two of his sons sitting at a table to a journalist at AFP. On the back of the photo, scrawled in blue ink, were the words “I am still alive”. Just below, in smaller print was, “From then until this hour”. The message was signed: Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès.
The journalist immediately handed the photo over to the police, who have requested handwriting analysis as well as DNA and fingerprint testing.
Despite this new evidence, Brigitte Lamy, the prosecutor for Nantes, said that she had “no additional information.”
He was last seen on April 15, 2011 – a week before his family’s bodies were discovered – leaving a hotel in the southeastern town of Roquebrune-sur-Argens on foot with what looked like a rifle case on his back.
Before the murders, Dupont de Ligonnes told acquaintances that he was a secret agent and was leaving to join a witness protection scheme.