In the second episode of “Monique Olivier: Accessory to Evil,” more details about the murder of Isabelle Laville were revealed; Monique had assisted Fourniret in the murder. According to the prosecution, Monique was responsible for Fourniret’s behavior. The documentary revealed shocking details about the gruesome murder of Elisabeth Brichet. Monique had lured her into her car by faking her son’s illness. In addition, Fourniret owned a mansion in Sautou, France, known as Château de Sautou, now popularly known as Fourniret’s secret grave. The bodies of several young girls were buried in the area surrounding the château. These bodies had been buried for more than 19 years, making it difficult to dig them up. The prosecution found out that Fourniret had buried these bodies with the help of an excavator, which was later confiscated by the police. At the beginning of the third episode, it was shown that the excavations began in 2004. Fourniret drew a sketch for the police to understand the entire structure of the site. Using his information, the excavators began searching for the bodies. The whole process was very uncomfortable for the police and the prosecution because some of the bodies were not fully decomposed. One of the bodies belonged to a 22-year-old woman named Jeanne-Marie Desramault.
Soon, more bodies appeared on the property, and the excavators even found the body of Elisabeth Brichet. They recognized her by the purple raincoat. On the day of her disappearance, Elisabeth was wearing the same raincoat before she left her house. The sight was too depressing for everyone, but Fourniret did not seem to mind. The prosecutor realized that Fourniret would never change. He even spoke of the prosecutor, Francis’ daughter, who was the same age as Elizabeth in 2004. Francis understood that Fourniret was an extremely dangerous person because he knew everything about Francis and his daughter. At that moment, Francis knew that Monique and Fourniret were akin to monsters.
How Did Fourniret Purchase The Château?
Fourniret had worked blue-collar jobs such as a woodworker and a miller. However, it was quite surprising that Fourniret owned a castle and 16 acres of land. People often thought of him as a quiet person, and his cellmate, Jean-Pierre Hellegouarch, believed the same thing. He had been convicted for his involvement with the Basque terrorists, and in addition to it, Jean was a member of the drug mafia. Fourniret knew how to deceive him, and to this day, Jean hasn’t understood Fourniret’s true character. In 1987, Fourniret was released from prison, and at the same time, Jean-Pierre started to get in touch with the Wigs Gang.
The Wigs Gang consisted of five people who stole money and other valuable items from various banks. They were also known to have robbed more than thirty banks. Before being sentenced to life in prison, Jean wanted to retrieve the gold bars and money that the Wigs Gang had hidden in the cemetery. Jean decided to inform his wife, Farida, but he believed that she’d not be able to recover the gold herself. So Jean had instructed Farida to take Fourniret with her. In the meantime, Fourniret had established a very friendly relationship with Farida and Jean; they trusted his actions, and Farida allowed him to work as well.
Fourniret was able to recover the gold and money very easily. He didn’t want to share the gold, but Farida would stand in his way. Fourniret and Monique strangled her to death. But her body was never found. Monique had tricked Jean into believing that Farida had escaped with the gold. Soon Jean learned of Fourniret’s château through his old contacts. He tried to turn him in for Farida’s murder, but the policemen didn’t trust Jean’s words. Monique had revealed more disturbing details about Fourniret, confessing to the murder of Selim’s babysitter, as the next morning, the girl was untraceable. Soon, the police began searching for the babysitter’s body, but they couldn’t find her. Apart from that, Fourniret had murdered other babysitters in Belgium.
The Joanna Parish Murder Case
In 1990, a young student named Joanna placed an ad in the newspaper for English tutoring. After the ad was published, Joanna disappeared and could not be found. Joanna’s parents came forward with their statements and reported their daughter’s disappearance. Officials informed them that Joanna’s body had been found in the river. Joanna’s autopsy revealed that she had been physically abused and murdered. Several young women had disappeared in the area, yet the police did not conduct an investigation to find out what had happened. At the time of Isabelle’s disappearance, Fourniret had lived in the same area. But the police did not take her case seriously and closed it. Similarly, Monique had assisted her husband in the murder of Jeanne-Marie. Prosecutors believed Monique was heavily involved in this case because they had committed the murder as a couple. They added another theory about Monique’s personality and concluded that she envied these girls for their beauty.
In the end, Monique was not only an accomplice but a murderer herself. Monique still claimed that she had been afraid of Fourniret. For all her faults, she wanted people to think differently about her. Many mothers had tried to communicate with Monique because she was a parent herself. So the prosecutors knew they had to take immediate action to resolve this case. The first trial of Fourniret took place in Charleville in 2008. The prosecutors were interested in Monique’s testimony. She began her trial by saying that women would not understand the pain she had gone through. Instead of apologizing, Monique began to justify her actions, and that was her biggest mistake.
