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Police hunt for 'courteous and discreet' 50-year-old father after macabre discovery in Nantes family home
At first, it seemed like a bizarre case of a middle-class family who packed up their home and fled to another continent for a new life. Neighbours of the Dupont de Ligonnès and their four children called the police when they noticed the family home in the north-western city of Nantes seemed unusually deserted. The children's school had been notified of a "sudden job transfer" to Australia, the family's wardrobes had been emptied and the letter-box was taped-up with a note "return all mail to sender".
But this week when police looked closer at the townhouse – and the suspicious building work on the patio – they found a severed human leg buried in the garden. Further digs revealed a one-legged corpse, and four others: believed to be the bodies of the mother Agnès, 49, and children Arthur, 20, Thomas, 18, Anne, 16, and Benoît, 13. They were thought to have been killed by shotgun, and were wrapped in hessian sacks and buried under quicklime, all recently purchased. With them were the corpses of the family's two labradors, Leon and Jules.
Police are searching for the father, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, 50, described by neighbours as "courteous and discreet". His car was found on Friday in the car park of a cheap hotel on the French Riviera where he is thought to have spent one night in mid-April. The devout Catholic family, originally from Versailles, have been missing since 3 April.
The investigation is complicated by the bizarre and contradictory messages seemingly left by the family. Earlier this month, the private Catholic school of the two youngest children received a note saying their father had been "urgently" transferred to Australia for a job. A cheque was enclosed to cover fees for the rest of the year. Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès told another school – where his wife worked as an assistant and taught catechism – that she had been hospitalised for gastroenteritis. But the school then received a letter announcing her resignation. Europe 1 radio reported that she had told a friend: "Pray for me, I'm going to need it." Her car, a black Volkswagen Golf, was found parked near the house, covered in the yellow pollen of spring. Someone had written on the bonnet with their finger: "You had no right. We miss you. PK"
Her husband was thought to work either selling advertising space or running a company dealing with tourist guide listings. He told some people that he was a US secret agent and had to leave under a witness-protection scheme because he had given evidence in a big drug case.
Forensic experts were analysing small brown traces in the house, which could have been blood. There was no sign of a struggle. The bins had been emptied, sheets were folded on beds and in the dishwasher were six plates and sets of cutlery from their last meal. The family had showed no sign of using their phone or internet connections since 3 April.
