The Dupont de Ligonnès murders and disappearance involved the murder of five members of the same family in Nantes, France, followed by the disappearance of the patriarch of the family, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès (aged 50). His wife Agnès Dupont de Ligonnès (48), their four children Arthur (20), Thomas (18), Anne (16) and Benoit (13) along with the family's two dogs were murdered at an undetermined date in early April 2011, and their bodies were found buried in their garden on 21 April. Xavier disappeared at the same time and has not been found. The exact nature of the events have never been determined, but Xavier is the subject of an international arrest warrant and is considered the prime suspect in the murders.
March 2011
Rifle bullets were purchased on 12 March.
Xavier registered at the Charles Des Jamonières shooting range to the north of Nantes, where he visited four times between 26 March and 1 April. He obtained his firearms licence on 2 February 2011. Thomas and Benoît had also started to learn how to shoot, while Arthur was scheduled to start.
A sales receipt from a DIY store was found at the family home. The store is located in Saint-Maur in the central French department of Indre, approximately 320 kilometres (200 miles) from Nantes, a 3.5-hour drive away. The receipt was dated to a Wednesday in late March – either the 23rd or the 30th – and listed several purchases, including a roll of large bin liners and a box of adhesive plastic paving slabs.
Friday 1 April
Arthur, leaves the college where he was studying and does not turn up at the pizzeria where he worked and was due to go to pick up his monthly wages. His boss is surprised by this, stating that Arthur always came to collect his wages on the first day of the month.
Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès buys cement, a shovel and a hoe.
Saturday 2 April
Xavier buys four bags of lime, 10 kg each, from different shops in the Nantes area.
Sunday 3 April
A neighbour, Fabrice, sees Agnès for the last time. Shortly afterwards, he sees Xavier "putting large bags into his car", a Citroen C5
The couple and three of the children dine in a restaurant in Nantes, then go to the cinema.
Monday 4 April
Anne and Benoît do not turn up at their school, La Perverie-Sacré-Cœur, "due to illness". Anne's and Benoît's friends become concerned when they are unable to reach them. They remember a rumour about the family leaving for Australia where their father had been given a job transfer, and they find it suspicious that their friends hadn't told them about this "departure". They attempt to contact Benoît and Anne online and by text.
Xavier speaks with his sister, Christine de Ligonnès, on the telephone for 20 to 30 minutes. She said that everything seemed normal.
Xavier dines alone with his son Thomas at La Croix Cadeau, a high-end restaurant in Avrille, near Angers. The pair arrived at about 9 pm. The two waiters remember Thomas feeling unwell near the end of the meal, and that Xavier and Thomas barely spoke to each other during the meal.
Investigators believe that Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès murdered his wife and three of his children on the night of 3 to 4 April, then murdered his son Thomas on the evening of 5 April.
Tuesday 5 April
The family's neighbours dispute Agnès's stated date of death. They have claimed that she was seen in front of her house on 5 April around 12.15 or 12.30 pm, and again on 7 April. The prosecutor in Nantes acknowledged that forensic experts were unable to narrow the exact date of death down to a specific day. In addition, an employee of a hairdressing salon near the house claimed on RTL to have seen Agnès on Tuesday 5 April.
A friend of Thomas who studied music with him confirmed that Thomas spent Tuesday afternoon with him at the friend's home in Angers, where they played music and watched television. Thomas had planned to spend the night at his friend's house, but Xavier phoned his son, asking him to return to Nantes, as his mother had been involved in a "cycling accident". Thomas ate quickly with his friend, then took a train home at around 10 pm. The following day, the friend tried to reach Thomas, but only received brief text messages in reply, such as "I'm not coming to yours. I'm ill" and "Really ill, I'm not coming to class". Two days after Thomas's departure, his friend received a text: "I'm out of battery, my dad's looking for a new charger for me." This is the last that Thomas's friend heard from him or anyone else in the family.
During this week, neighbours heard the family dogs howling for two consecutive nights and then never heard them again.
Wednesday 6 April
Arthur's girlfriend, who is concerned after not having heard from him, knocks on the door of the family home, where "a light was on on the first floor", but the family's two Labradors do not bark when she knocks.
Thursday 7 April
Xavier is seen making several return trips from the house to his car, loading the car with large bags. A neighbour also claims to have spoken to Agnès on this day.
A report by on the programme Envoyé spécial ("Special Correspondent"), which was broadcast on the channel France 2 on 24 October 2013, stated that more than two years after the events, this neighbour was still convinced that she saw Agnes on the 7th. The report revealed another witness who agreed with this: a saleswoman friend of Agnès who stated that she saw her in her shop on either Thursday 7 or Friday 8 April.
Friday 8 April
Xavier writes on the Catholic online forum cite-catholique.org. According to the state prosecutor, he "went online for the last time on 8 April from the IP address of the family home in Nantes."
Monday 11 April
Anne and Benoît's school receives a letter signed by Xavier, stating that Anne and Benoît will be leaving the school and the family will be moving to Australia due to "urgent professional changes". The Catholic school where Agnès works receives a resignation letter signed by Agnès, stating the same reason for leaving. The headmaster is unable to reach her by telephone.
A typed, unsigned letter dated 11 April (the date may have been added afterwards) is sent to Xavier's immediate family. This was revealed by the press on 5 May. In this letter, Xavier explains that after having worked covertly for the American Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the entire family has had to relocate to the United States as part of a Federal Witness Protection Program, and that no one will be able to contact them for a few years. He advises his relatives to circulate reports on social media that the family has in fact moved to Australia. There is no proof that this letter was written by Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès. To this day, results of DNA analysis (if any) are unknown.
Xavier spends the night of 11 to 12 April at the Hôtel Première Classe in Blagnac, near, Toulouse in southern France, and pays for his stay by credit card. He then leaves in his Citroën C5.
Tuesday 12 April
Xavier spends the night of 12 to 13 April at the Auberge de Cassagne in Le Pontet in Vaucluse, in south-eastern France, under the false name of Mr Laurent Xavier. He pays €214.59 by credit card.
Wednesday 13 April
Neighbours in Nantes become concerned and contact the police. The house's shutters have been closed for more than a week and Agnès's car has been parked outside on the street the entire time.
Xavier spends the night of 13 to 14 April at a hotel in La Seyne-sur-Mer in Var, south-eastern France. He had lived in the town in the 1980s. A former girlfriend from that time informed the police that Xavier had contacted her that evening, although they did not meet.
Thursday 14 April
Xavier withdraws €30 from an ATM in Roquebrune-sur-Argens in Var.
That evening, Xavier sleeps at the Hotel Forumle 1 in the town, where he is captured on film by a surveillance camera – the last known sighting of him.
Friday 15 April
Xavier checks out of the hotel, abandoning his car there.
Tuesday 19 April
An investigation was opened and revealed Xavier's purchase of the DIY materials.
Thursday 21 April
A "wanted" notice is issued for the whole family. During the day, investigators discover the remains of Agnès and the four children under the patio in the back garden of the house. The family's two Labrador dogs had also been killed and buried.
During the night of 21 to 22 April, the metallic-blue Citroën C5 with registration 235 CJG 44 is found in the car park of the Formula 1 Hotel in Roquebrune-sur-Argens by police equipped with an automatic number plate recognition system. The whereabouts of a Pontiac, which was also being sought, remain unknown to this day.
Investigators turn towards a line of inquiry involving a monastery. It is speculated that Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès could have withdrawn to a monastery, where he would be afforded discretion.
Friday 22 April
According to the autopsies, the victims were drugged and then shot dead with a .22 long rifle as they slept. Xavier has a weapon of this calibre, which he inherited from his father three weeks before the murders.
The prosecutor in Nantes states that he will allow the victims to be buried in the next few days. The surprising speed of this procedure, combined with the fact that relatives were advised not to view the bodies, leads Xavier's relatives to believe that the bodies recovered are not those of Agnès and her children.
An international arrest warrant is issued to locate Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, in order to obtain witness testimony from him with regard to the murders.
On 29 April, a search was carried out in the Var department. On 10 May, an international arrest warrant was issued for Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès.On 23 June, caving experts searched 40 natural caves in a 15-kilometre radius around Roquebrune-sur-Argens.
The investigation has been running since 2011 and has led to more than 800 tips, as well as searches that have led to dead ends.
On 9 April 2013, an operation was conducted to find the body of Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès. This led to a major search effort. Investigators, assisted by cave divers, searched the old Pic Martin lead mines in Cannet-des-Maures in Var. It was here that Jacques Massié and his family were found murdered in 1981.
On 2 May 2013, a search was carried out by 50 police officers and firefighters from a unit specialising in searching in dangerous and hard-to-access locations. The search proved fruitless.
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