“Le Grêlé” case: the “hard work” of the investigating judge praised – LCI

This is the end of a 35 year old “cold case”. Thanks to DNA expertise, the serial killer nicknamed “Le Grêlé” was identified in the person of François Vérove. A former gendarme, who committed suicide during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday in Grau-du-Roi, in the Gard. The ex-soldier left a confession letter with details of the facts: he is suspected of having committed four murders and six rapes, between 1986 and 1994.

For decades, a judicial investigation had been open to the Paris judicial court on the counts of rape of minors under 15, assassinations, attempted voluntary homicide, false quality uses, thefts with weapons, kidnapping and forcible confinement of a 15-year-old minor.

In December 2014, Nathalie Turquey, vice-president in charge of investigation at the Paris judicial court, took over the case. In a press release published this Friday, the first president of the Paris Court of Appeal, Jean-Marc Hayat, makes him a pity, stressing his “extraordinary professional commitment”.

“This magistrate, discreet by temperament, knew, as soon as she took up this case in December 2014, relaunch the investigations with a rare perspicacity, with the constant support of the criminal brigade”, he says, praising the “courage”, the “determination”, and the “hard work” of the judge. “Nathalie Turquey honors the entire judicial institution”, he concludes.

François Vérove, 59, had notably been, between 1983 and 1988, a member of the Republican Guard. He worked in Île-de-France during the period when the murders and rapes were perpetrated, before joining the national police. After retiring in 2019, he joined the city council of Prades-le-Lez, in Hérault.