2012 Chevaline (French Alps) massacre / UNSOLVED

[sandman]

-- THIS IS A WIP!!! --

The Chevaline massacre​

On September 5, 2012, an unidentified gunman killed three Iraqi tourists and a local jogger in a secluded road near camping grounds in the town of Chevaline, located in the heart of the French Alps, in what GQ described as "the perfect murder". The attack was seemingly random, with no clear motive, the gunman fired 21 shots, including 8 head shots, most towards a moving vehicle before fleeing and leaving behind little to no forensic evidence.

Ran out of bullets and began hitting Zainab in the head with his weapon, leading to part of the pistol's butt to fall to the ground. The part as well as ballistic analysis led to police identifying the murder weapon as

Crime scene photos taken by the Gendarmerie of Haute-Savoie and leaked to BFMTV showing Sylvain Mollier's body, the channel won a lawsuit filed by Mollier's family for "violating the secrecy of judicial inquiries" and "violation of the integrity of a corpse".


Press photo of Zaid al-Hilli's body


The victims


​

Sylvain Claude Mollier, born 12 April 1967 in Annecy, was a father-of-three living in Ugine who worked as a welder in the Cezus nuclear fuel factory ran by the multinational Areva group (which was involved in a number of scandals before closing doors in 2018). He was raised as a Jehovah's Witness before leaving the faith at a young age and was deeply involved in trade unions. He was deeply passionate about sports, heading the employee football club at the factory and spending most of his free time playing rugby or cycling. He had an amicable divorce with the mother of his first two children, Lydia, and was planning to remarry his live-in girlfriend, Claire Schutz, who he had an infant son with. (1, 2)

Saad Al-Hilli, worked as a mechanical engineer at Surrey Satellite Technology, a subsidiary of the former aerospace and defense giant EADS. His father, Kadim al-Hilli, was a Shiite Iraqi lawyer and businessman who gained a fortune before and after the rise of Saddam Hussein by selling poultry, tissues, and building materials. Kadim and his family moved to London in 1971 after his uncle was tortured by Saddam's intelligence service. He returned to Iraq in 1974 before retiring in Britain in 1982. (1, 2)

Suhaila Saleh M. Al-Allaf, born 25 February 1938 in Nineveh (Iraq), was the mother of Ikbal al-Hilli, she sought asylum in Sweden and was living near Stockholm with her family. Her son, Haydar Thaher Abdul-Amir Al-Saffar, was arrested in Sweden in 2007 for repeatedly abusing Suhaila. According to police reports, Haydar Thaher has a history of mental illness including OCD and schizophrenia. (1, 2)

Profile of the shooter
​

Recent inquiries by the Nanterre National Cold Case Unit which involved psychological profiling that the suspect was likely:

1. A European male aged 45-55 with ties to Switzerland and Belgium;
2. Had prior experience in advanced military or paramilitary training, may have been assigned to the DARD (equivalent of SWAT) in the nearby Swiss canton of Vaud or even the 1er RPIMa in France;
3. Experienced "psychological destabilization" before the murder spree, did not target any of the victims;
4. Involved in gun-collecting circles, has experience with WW2-era Swiss weapons, and often roams around camping grounds.

The surviving daughters reluctantly gave the Unit the following physical description:

1. Bald, fair-skinned European male aged 40-60;
2. Average build, blue eyes, grey hairs on his round face;
3. Wearing dark jeans or leather pants as well as a leather jacket;
4. Badly-shaven facial hair and bitten nails.

By using software analysis which the Unit previously successfully used to tie unsolved crimes to serial killers François Vérove and Michel Fourniret, the Chevaline shooter's weapon and modus operandi was tied to the unsolved shooting death of Xavier Baligant a year prior.

Theories

​

Random attack
This is the police and cold case unit's leading theory. (1)

Pros

1. the pistol used, a collector's item from WW2, would not have been used by a trained hitman;
2. a hitman also would not have ran out of bullets, nor would he have begun pistol-whipping Zainab.

Cons

1. the shooting technique used by the shooter was only taught in military academies.

Saad Al-Hilli was the target
This theory, first set forth by the investigating magistrate, claims that the family were murdered due to Saad's supposed family ties to Saddam, a family feud, or his work as a satellite technician. (1)

Pros

1. a high-voltage Taser was found in Saad's home despite it being illegal in Britain, a risk he could have been willing to take if his life was threatened;
2. he was working for a subsidiary of the defense giant EADS, and could have been working on spy satellites;
3. his father reportedly had a Swiss bank account with money tied to Saddam Hussein, he was driving to Geneva to inquire about the account;
4. after his father's death, he had a lengthy family feud with his brother Zaid over his father's inheritance;

Cons

1. he was only known to work on civilian satellites, and never had a security clearance;
2. nothing indicates he knew the ties between Saddam and his father's bank account;
3. Zaid was arrested and cleared after a search of his house yielded nothing;
4. the Gendarmes concluded, after reviewing hours of CCTV footage, that the al-Hillis were not being followed and that they were likely lost around the camping grounds.

Sylvain Mollier was the target
This theory, set forth by some gendarmes, claims that Mollier was the initial target -- either for his work in a nuclear fuel factory or spousal jealousy -- and that the al-Hilis were simply collateral. Some even claim that Mollier was intending to sell nuclear secrets to Iran or Israel, with the al-Hilis as intermediaries, with that deal going sour and leading to both of their deaths. (1, 2)

Pros

1. worked in the nuclear industry for the Areva group which suffered from controversies including corruption in Niger;
2. worked with zirconium, which is sometimes used for explosives and fuses in nuclear weapons;
3. possibly had a past reputation as a playboy;
4. he was the first person shot according to the Gendarmes, and had the most bullet wounds out of any victims.

Cons

1. police profiled him as a well-liked and popular man with little to no enemies, let alone any willing to murder him;
2. he never held a security clearance nor did he have access to classified information;
3. his work in the factory and in the trade unions were very low-level;
4. he had been unemployed since the beginning of the year after negotiating a two-year leave with the factory;
5. police were unable to find any tangible link between him and the al-Hilis.

Ikbal al-Hilli was the target
A number of tabloids adopted this theory, claiming that Ikbal was killed at the same time as his American ex-husband. (1, 2)



Pros

1. Ikbal secretly married an American man, James Dudley Thompson, in 1999 -- this was possibly in hopes of getting a Green Card in exchange for Thompson getting a Honda Accord;
2. Thompson died in Natchez, MS, of natural causes seven hours after shooting;
3. Saad apparently did not know of this marriage, which she took under the name "Kelly".

Cons

1. a coroner ruled Thompson's death as natural and from coronary heart disease;
2. Thompson was overweight and smoked cigars, at 60 years old, which were contributing factors to his death;
3. Thompson was a former cop turned oil rig worker who was a general contractor, far from a spy.