Chevaline murders: Investigators hope to stage reenactment of 2012 attack with surviving sisters

French authorities want to conduct a reenactment of a notorious unsolved murder of a British family with the two sisters who survived the killing.

Following renewed interest in the case, investigators are hoping to stage a reenactment of the 2012 Chevaline murders, which saw four people including a British-Iraqi man Saad al-Hilli, his wife, and mother-in-law shot dead.

Investigators in France’s cold case unit (the Pôle des Crimes Sériels ou Non Elucidés based in Nanterre) want to conduct a ‘scene reenactment’ of the 2012 killings in Chevaline, (Haute-Savoie) to glean more information. 

Confirmed by the Nanterre public prosecutor on Tuesday, September 15, the unit also hopes to bring the two surviving daughters of Mr al-Hilli – Zeena and Zainab, aged four and seven at the time – to France from the UK to take part in the reenactment. 

Interest in the case, often called the ‘Alps murders’ in British media, was recently reignited after British tourists found a gun while swimming in Lake Annecy, close to the murder site, which was originally thought to be linked to the case. 

Analysis of the weapon by researchers in Chambéry confirmed the weapon was a different model than the one believed to have been used in the 2012 murders.

The cold case unit has nevertheless ordered a ballistic analysis into the gun to definitively confirm this, and are yet to publicly state that it has ruled out a link between the gun found in August and the murders. 

The case has never been ‘closed’ by the unit, and remains an active case that is being investigated.

Bringing sisters back to scene of shooting

Investigators want to “bring the al-Hilli sisters to France, to the scene of the incident, to try to work on their memories and perhaps obtain additional information,” said Nanterre deputy public prosecutor Marie-Céline Lawrysz to media outlet RTL. 

It is by no means an easy task however to organise a reenactment in the presence of the sisters, who have reportedly changed their identities since the killing.  

The public prosecutor acknowledged that it would be “very difficult to organise [and require] appropriate support at the scene.” 

The reenactment would use “very particular methods [including] specialised skills held by investigators highly experienced in interviewing traumatised victims… and can elicit specific details and new information from these witnesses or victims.” 

The elder daughter in particular may be able to provide new information as she came into direct contact with the killer during the incident, when he picked her up from behind and hit her with the pistol.

She has previously mentioned elements of the attacker’s profile – such as the fact that it was a man, and he had bitten his fingernails – but could not remember his face. 

Unsolved for over a decade

The murders remain one of France’s greatest unsolved mysteries.

On September 5, 2012, a gunman shot Saad al-Hilli, a 50-year-old British man of Iraqi origin alongside his wife Iqbal (47) and mother-in-law Suhaila al-Allaf (74) while they were sitting in a car parked in Chevaline, near Lake Annecy.

The gunman also shot dead Sylvain Mollier, a 45-year-old local who was cycling past at the time.

The seven-year old daughter was shot but survived, and the four-year old survived unharmed by hiding between her dead mother's legs until she was found. 

The assassin’s accuracy – letting off 21 bullets in the attack, 17 of which hit victims and all of the deceased had at least one head wound – point to him being a weapons expert.

This has fuelled speculation over the reason for the killings, including a potential family feud, or Mr al-Hilli’s previous work as an engineer in Iraq.

Mr Mollier is typically seen as an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time, but some people have posited the attack was targeted at him and the family were in the way. 

Either way, the case remains a mystery.

Unsolved for a decade, it passed to the Nanterre cold case unit in 2022, who staged a reenactment in 2024 without the sisters present in an attempt to learn more about the case, but this did not provide additional information. 

Weapons experts believe the gun used during the shootings is a rare 1935 model of Luger pistol (Luger P06-29, calibre 7.65 parabellum), based on fragments found at the scene of the crime. 

Only 940 of these pistols were made, so finding the gun used could be the key to unlocking the mystery.