Disappearance of Estelle Mouzin

The Estelle Mouzin case is a French criminal case which began on 9 January 2003 with the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin in the city of Guermantes in France. Estelle Mouzin was a nine-year-old girl who was returning from school when she disappeared. For a long time, this disappearance was not solved and the investigation remained at a standstill. But sixteen and a half years later, on 27 November 2019, Michel Fourniret, a pedophile serial killer already sentenced to life imprisonment, became the main suspect: he was indicted for "kidnapping and false imprisonment followed by death". Then, on January 24, 2020, Monique Olivier, his former wife, claimed that he had indeed killed Estelle Mouzin; finally, on March 6, 2020, this claim was confirmed with Michel Fourniret's confession. Disappearance: On Thursday 9 January 2003, Estelle Mouzin, a nine-year-old girl, disappeared on the way back from school in Guermantes. She was seen for the last time in front of a bakery, while she was coming back to her mother's home, Suzanne Mouzin, who was in the process of divorce with the girl's father, Eric Mouzin. Her mother reported the fact she was missing to the local police station shortly after 7 P.M. Her disappearance had a huge media coverage all over the country. Investigations- First suspect: The first person to be suspected was serial killer Michel Fourniret, who was arrested in June 2003 in Belgium. However, after consideration, the police discounted Fourniret because he had an alibi: a phonecall was made from his home at the time of Estelle Mouzin's disappearance. Two weeks before Estelle's disappearance, a girl of the same age was almost kidnapped by a man in a white van, from which she was able to make a facial composite. When Fourniret was suspected, investigators showed his photo to the girl, who said it wasn't him who tried to kidnap her. While taking the police to a place he buried one of his victims, Fourniret described the clothes his victim was wearing, and it was very close to those Estelle wore the day she disappeared. Despite his alibi and the fact Fourniret denied any involvement in this case, the fact it could be Fourniret was taken into consideration when the police found a television recording and photos of the girl at the suspect's home and on his computer. The hypothesis of the implication of Fourniret is abandoned in 2007, for lack of sufficient proofs, and the fact he has an alibi. The inquiry, led by the commissioner Jean-Marc Bloch, employed unprecedented means in French history; more than 130 persons were interrogated by the police and all the houses of the city were seized. Each year, a march is organised in memory of Estelle Mouzin. 2008 investigations: Several arrests took place on Thursday 31 January 2008 in the cities of Brie-Comte-Robert and Lognes (Seine-et-Marne). A search was conducted at the Royal Wok restaurant in Brie-Comte-Robert, where it was suspected human remains were used. On February 1, this track proved to be unsuccessful; only the remains of an animal were found in the place. 2009 onward investigations: In 2010, the French justice launches a new call to witnesses by diffusing an aged portrait of Estelle Mouzin. In March 2020, Michel Fourniret confessed to having killed Mouzin. 2020 investigations: Excavations are planned in 2020 at two sites in the Ardennes. On 23 January 2020, Michel Fourniret, in front of judge Sabine Khéris, asserted that his memory "got the better of him" but that he had to be "considered guilty" of Estelle Mouzin's disappearance. "I urge you to treat me as guilty," Michel Fourniret said. In order to verify whether his confession holds up, Monique Olivier, the condemned man's ex-wife, must be heard again. According to her, Fourniret did kidnap and kill Estelle Mouzin. On 24 January 2020, Fourniret's wife, Monique Olivier confirmed to the investigating judge Sabine Khéris that it was indeed her who had phoned the home of Michel Fourniret's son on 9 January 2003, the day of the girl's disappearance and that the girl presented the profile her husband was looking for. She added that Michel Fourniret had made sightings in the days preceding the abduction and that he has returned from his hunt, one evening, stating that he had spotted "a beautiful little subject".