Disappearance of Marion Wagon in Agen, 25 years later: justice is still studying “all avenues” – South West

November 14, 1996, Marion Wagon disappears in Agen after leaving school, Without leaving a trace. Twenty-five years after this never-to-be-elucidated tragedy which moved France, the courts are still studying “all avenues”, starting with the Fourniret hypothesis, which was recently relaunched in the light of scientific progress.

“Taking off the poster, that would mean giving up”

In the premises of the La Mouette association for the defense and protection of children in Agen, the poster, yellowed by the years, takes on a whole wall: above the well-known face of the girl with blue eyes and in a gingham blouse, words that always hammer, “help us find Marion”. “We would have to repaint… but taking off the poster, that would mean giving up,” says the president of the association Annie Gourgue, 85, who has been following the affair since November 14, 1996.

That Thursday, at lunchtime, Marion, 10, vanished just 400 m from her home, in the heart of Agen. After having considered a fugue, the investigators carried out intense research, until emptying the Canal du Midi for 14 km. A dog is mobilized… but it is already 5:00 pm. “The thesis of a fugue unfortunately undermined the first hours of the investigation. There were a lot of medieval practices in this case, ”says the historical lawyer for parents, Georges Catala today.

The little girl packs milk

At a time when the viral internet does not yet exist, an unprecedented call for witnesses campaign is launched. From the local associations, 15 million posters go out throughout France. Thanks to Jacques Pradel and his show “Perdu de vue” (TF1), the association also convinces the milk industry to print Marion’s photo “on 10 million packs”. Without success.

The enigma has never been resolved despite thousands of testimonies and hearings as far as Martinique and even magnetizers, dozens of investigators on the bridge, the broadcast in 1998 of an aged portrait of the girl. But justice does not “despair”. “The investigation has never been closed, it has been 25 years that specialized investigators have been working thinking that one day something may emerge”, underlines the prosecutor of Agen Manuella Garnier.

Exactly. In 2020, the name of Fourniret, who died last May while carrying his secrets, came back to haunt the case of the missing Agen. “We would like to know if it is Fourniret, but we pray that it is not him”, confides the lawyer of Michel and Françoise Wagon, a couple remained united. The hypothesis had already been studied in Agen after the arrest of the serial killer in Belgium in 2003 but “there was no evidence that Fourniret was in Lot-et-Garonne in November 1996”, underlines the prosecutor.

The DNA of the girl does not exist

Thanks to finer analysis techniques, the partial DNA of Estelle Mouzin, who disappeared in 2003, and a dozen unknown traces were discovered on a mattress that belonged to Michel Fourniret. Several files of unclear disappearances are then chosen for the purposes of genetic comparisons, including Marion.

But there is a “quack”: in the winter of 2021, the lawyer discovers amazed that the girl’s DNA does not exist. “Nobody cared about the seals for more than 20 years,” he said indignantly. The hair taken from Marion’s brush could not give DNA because it lacked a “bulb”. “The DNA of the mother made it possible to make all the useful comparisons, but until recently, we had nothing to compare”, defends the prosecution.

Twenty-five years later, parents have provided Marion with a toothbrush and toys in an attempt to piece together her DNA and confront her with the traces of the mattress. Analyzes are “in progress” in a Bordeaux laboratory specializing in cold-cases. But “it’s not just Fourniret, all leads are checked,” insists Ms. Garnier.

In the absence of success, the lawyer, who bears the “bitterness” of the parents, wishes at least that “lessons” be learned. And expects a lot from the future national center of magistrates specializing in serial crimes, “able to track the paths of killers.” Crushed by “their burden”, parents do not want any tribute on Sunday. Annie Gourgue wants to believe that all this mobilization will not have served for nothing. After “Marion”, the Abduction Alert plan was introduced in 2006 to massively relay the disappearance of children. The lady also said to herself that “there is always time”: “If someone knows something, you have to call”.