40 years on: ‘Grégory’ case remains one of France’s most notorious unsolved murders

The death of Grégory Villemin 40 years ago remains one of France’s most notorious unsolved murder cases, giving rise to countless theories, documentaries, false leads and media frenzy.

Known as the affaire (du petit) Grégory, the case has drawn national attention to the small village of Lépanges-sur-Vologne, Vosges, since October 16, 1984, when four-year-old Grégory Villemin’s dead body was found in the river Vologne four kilometres away. 

The shocking photo taken as his body was pulled out of the river, revealing how his hands and feet were bound, made the cover of newspapers around the country.

Although media interest has subsided, some inhabitants are still asked every now and then about the Villemins’ house, or the cemetery where Grégory was buried, despite radical changes to the scenery.

“The phenomenon is almost over now,” said Christian Deville, 71, the owner of the holiday cottage Marie-Claire along the river, adding that he has only been asked once in the past year about the cemetery’s location. 

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A village transformed

Mr Deville said he has never hosted clients for anything related to the murder case.

“I have been asked about four or five times since I moved,” said Annette Claudon, a retired woman who moved into her daughter’s house five years ago. 

Ms Claudon lives in a street near to Grégory Villemin’s parents’ house. Several people The Connexion spoke to in 2022 said that Grégory’s grave and the Villemins’ house underwent works over the years that have changed their appearance.

Grégory’s body was cremated in 2004 following his father’s decision to exhume the remains from the tomb.

The commemorative stone tablets bear no mention or photo of Grégory Villemin, but remain clearly distinguishable from the others after it was photographed many times by journalists following the case, said Ghislaine Rivat, owner of the wine shop Rg délice.

Ms Rivat said she had not seen anyone in the cemetery in the past year during her visits to place flowers on her father’s grave. 

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Residents told a different story, however, in the days and years that followed the disturbing case.

“We were bothered by onlookers in the days that followed because they confused our house with the Villemins’,” said Agnès Dubs, who has been living in a nearby house ever since the tragedy, referring to buses that stopped at the village that were often packed with people. 

Mr Deville said the packed buses continued to come for about six to ten years.

The Villemins’ property made the news again in 2018 after the new owner used a shotgun to bring down a drone flying over his house. The drone was shooting footage for a Netflix documentary about the case; the company had received authorisation from the mairie, of which the owner was unaware.

'Murder still weighs heavily'

Alain Dusart, a journalist who followed the case from the start for the local newspaper L’Est Républicain, said the phenomenon of the village being a macabre tourist attraction is a deep-rooted rumour he  has never been able to verify. 

However, Mr Dusart said pockets of “opportunistic tourism” could be still happening, since the village is near Lake Gérardmer, listed as one of France’s most visited holiday spots by the website HomeToGo, and on a route which takes drivers near Lépanges-sur-Vologne.

Mr Dusart said the village could be thought of alongside other places associated with tragic events, such as Vaison-la-Romaine, where 44 people perished in a mudslide on September 21 and 22, 1992. 

The cremation of Grégory’s body could have been motivated by the tourist value of his tomb, said Mr Dusart when asked to provide an explanation for the family’s decision. 

A spokeswoman at the mairie declined to comment for the story, adding that the events surrounding Grégory Villemin’s murder still “weighed heavily”.