Cold cases of the “Disappeared of Isère”: who is the arrested suspect, potential serial killer ?

Thanks to his DNA, a man in his sixties was taken into custody on Monday, November 25, in Grenoble. He is suspected of being involved in two cold cases, dating from 1988 and 2000.

On Monday, November 25, a suspect entered the premises of the gendarmes of the Grenoble research section. Aged around sixty, he is suspected of being involved in two cold cases (unsolved investigations) in Isère according to a source close to the case, confirming information from RTL. After being identified by his DNA, he was placed in custody at view to be heard by investigators. This provisional detention can be extended up to 96 hours.

He is suspected of the murder of two women. The first, that of Nathalie Boyer, dates back to August 1988. The body of the 15-year-old girl was discovered at the edge of a railway line in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, in Isère. The autopsy revealed a throat slit, suffered without traces of sexual violence. Twelve years later, in 2000, it was Leila Afif, 40, who was found dead in La Verpillière, shot dead. The proximity of these two towns, located in the same sector, reinforces the hypothesis of a geographical link between the crimes according to Midi Libre.

The case of the “disappeared women of Isère" has long been abandoned, due to lack of evidence. It was not until 2022 that the Nanterre cold-case unit, supported by the National Division of Unsolved Cases (DIANE) and the Grenoble research section, decided to relaunch it.

&Rightly so, since while searching through the seals of the Leïla Afif case, investigators discovered a trace of DNA, twenty-four years after the events. For Nathalie Boyer, no DNA was found, but some clues have made it possible to establish connections with the same individual. For the moment, the only information collected on her identity is her advanced age.

We do know, however, that the suspect lived nearby of Nathalie Boyer's home and that he has a criminal record that investigators consider troubling in the context of the investigation into the “disappeared persons of Isère”. “Are we on the trail of a serial killer” ? It is possible, “said Jacques Dallest, former attorney general of Grenoble, from France 3.