Widow of serial killer Fourniret "admits everything"
The crimes of serial killer Michel Fourniret shock France. He died in 2021 during his life imprisonment. His widow is once again on trial for aiding and abetting. Some of the bodies of the young female victims of the "Ardennes Monster" have still not been found. Relatives are hoping for clues.
The widow of French serial killer Michel Fourniquet, accused of aiding and abetting, has confessed to all the crimes she is accused of. "I admit everything", said Monique Olivier on the second day of the trial in Nanterre. The 75-year-old, who has already been sentenced to life imprisonment in an earlier trial, is on trial for aiding and abetting in three cases.
Among other things, the trial concerns the then nine-year-old Estelle Mouzin, who did not come home from school two decades ago. Her body has still not been found despite numerous searches. This is the third trial concerning the victims of the serial killer Fourniret, but the first in which Olivier is sitting alone in the dock.
The relatives are likely hoping that the trial will provide details about the disappearance of the girls, as well as clues to the locations of their remains or confessions to previously unsolved cases. On the one hand, the trial is frightening, but it is also a "liberation for the family", said lawyer Corinne Herrmann, who represents the relatives of one of the two young women whose disappearance is also the subject of the trial.
"I am sorry for everything that has happened"
At the start of the trial, the accused had stated that she regretted what she had done. She testified that her former husband had "used" her to commit his outrages. However, she rejected accusations that she had entered into a "criminal pact" with him.
Olivier had met Fourniret through a classified ad when he was in prison for rape. He wrote about his obsession with virgins in his letters from prison. After his release, the perpetrator known as the "Ardennes Monster" abducted, raped and killed numerous young girls with the help of his wife. Fourniret was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in 2021.
Without her, the serial killer might have abducted, raped and killed fewer victims. At the start of the trial, the grey-haired woman in a white sweatshirt appeared slightly confused. Her defense attorney had explained the defendant's surprising agreement to be photographed. "If you stand by your actions, then you also stand by your picture," explained lawyer Richard Delgenes.
"I will do my best," said the defendant when asked by the judge whether she would answer his questions. If convicted, Olivier will again face a life sentence. The verdict is scheduled for December 15.
Relatives of the victims live in uncertainty
Nine-year-old Estelle was Fourniret's last known victim, but it took 17 years for the crime to be solved. Investigators had initially suspected him, but did not pursue this lead any further. His wife finally invalidated his alibi, whereupon Fourniret confessed to the crime in a roundabout way. Estelle's father is still counting the days without his daughter: according to his website, it had been 7628 by Tuesday.
Marie-Angèle's father had lived for more than 35 years in uncertainty about what had happened to his daughter. He died a few days before the trial against Olivier began. His then 18-year-old daughter disappeared on her way from a home for people with disabilities to Auxerre train station in Burgundy. Her body was never found.
The third case concerns Joanna Parrish, a British woman aged 20 at the time, who worked as an English teacher in Burgundy. Fourniret had responded to her ad and explained that he was looking for a tutor for his son. Her body was found unclothed in a river. She had been raped and strangled.
The ongoing trial in Nanterre, France, focuses on the widow of serial killer Michel Fourniret, who confesses to aiding and abetting in the international crimes of murder and manslaughter. The trial involves three cases, including the disappearance of British citizen Joanna Parrish.
Despite numerous searches, the body of nine-year-old Estelle Mouzin, one of the victims, has yet to be found. Her father continues to hope that the trial will provide new information and potentially locate her remains.
Source: www.ntv.de
