Chief Warrant Officer Benitez left a bloody trail

The clues are accumulating around Chief Warrant Officer Benitez and his involvement in the disappearance of Allison and her mother Marie-Josée on 14 July in Perpignan.

Midi Libre : 27.09.2013

What can you do with eight litres of bleach, if not a major cleaning? In the middle of July, Francisco Benitez obviously had a big cleaning to do, since he bought this large quantity of disinfectant and corrosive product, with properties well known to crime fans, in Perpignan.

 © DR

Bleach degrades DNA and makes it difficult for experts to search for traces of blood that have been erased at the scene of the crime with special products such as Luminol or Bluestar.

Lots of blood

“He had to cut them up. We have the impression that it bled a lot”, explains a Parisian policeman, associated with the investigation led by the SRPJ of Montpellier on the disappearance of Allison and her mother Marie-Josée, on July 14 in Perpignan. Because there is a lot of blood in the elements gathered over the last two months by the investigators. First of all in the clues, taken during the searches in the family flat, as well as in the barracks of the Foreign Legion. “Stains invisible to the naked eye”, revealed at the family home. Allison’s blood, “in the drainpipe” of the family freezer, in “the seal of the window” of the washing machine, but also inside the flat occupied by the legionnaire in the barracks, said a source close to the case. The forensic identification technicians also found some at the foot of his bed in his bedroom: again, it was that of his own daughter.

A witness says

But there is also the blood that several witnesses saw and told the investigators about. Three days after the double disappearance, Francisco Benitez asked one of his comrades to come and help him carry the freezer that he had suddenly decided to donate to the barracks. The man later told the police that he had seen blood in a blocked sink in the Benitez flat.

Missing sheets at the barracks

Dark traces, taken from a tumble dryer used by the soldiers, are still being analysed. The disappearance in July of some thirty bed sheets from the barracks also intrigues the investigators: could they have been used to wrap bodies, or body parts? And then there is this sentence pronounced by the chief warrant officer in front of another soldier, which today takes on a sinister resonance. At the end of July, the latter was surprised to see him hosing down a blood-stained floor mat and sheets in a barracks washing machine. Francisco Benitez replied: “I defrosted some meat. “

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El suboficial mayor Benítez dejó un rastro sangriento

Las pistas se acumulan en torno al suboficial mayor Benítez y su implicación en la desaparición de Allison y su madre Marie-Josée el 14 de julio en Perpiñán.

Midi Libre : 27.09.2013

¿Qué se puede hacer con ocho litros de lejía, si no es una limpieza a fondo? A mediados de julio, Francisco Benítez tenía evidentemente que hacer una gran limpieza, ya que compró en Perpiñán esta gran cantidad de producto desinfectante y corrosivo, con propiedades bien conocidas por los aficionados al crimen.

 © DR

La lejía degrada el ADN y dificulta que los expertos encuentren los rastros de sangre que se han borrado en la escena del crimen con productos especiales como Luminol o Bluestar.

Mucha sangre

“Tuvo que cortarlos. Tenemos la impresión de que sangró mucho”, explica un policía parisino, asociado a la investigación dirigida por el SRPJ de Montpellier sobre la desaparición de Allison y su madre Marie-Josée, el 14 de julio en Perpiñán. Porque hay mucha sangre en los elementos recogidos en los últimos dos meses por los investigadores. En primer lugar en las pistas, tomadas durante los registros en el piso de la familia, así como en el cuartel de la Legión Extranjera. “Manchas invisibles a simple vista”, reveladas en la casa de la familia. La sangre de Allison, “en el desagüe” del congelador de la familia, en “la junta de la ventana” de la lavadora, pero también en el interior del piso que ocupaba el legionario en el cuartel, dijo una fuente cercana al caso. Los técnicos de identificación forense también encontraron algo a los pies de su cama en su dormitorio: de nuevo, era de su propia hija.

Un testigo dice

Pero también está la sangre que varios testigos vieron y contaron a los investigadores. Tres días después de la doble desaparición, Francisco Benítez pidió a uno de sus compañeros que viniera a ayudarle a llevar el congelador que, de repente, había decidido donar al cuartel. El hombre dijo después a la policía que había visto sangre en un fregadero obstruido en el piso de Benítez.

Faltan sábanas en el cuartel

Todavía se están analizando los rastros oscuros, tomados de una secadora utilizada por los soldados. La desaparición en julio de una treintena de sábanas del cuartel también intriga a los investigadores: ¿podrían haber sido utilizadas para envolver cuerpos, o partes de cuerpos? Y luego está esta frase pronunciada por el suboficial mayor frente a otro soldado, que hoy adquiere una resonancia siniestra. A finales de julio, este último se sorprendió al verle lavando con una manguera una alfombra y unas sábanas manchadas de sangre en una lavadora del cuartel. Francisco Benítez respondió: “He descongelado algo de carne.

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L’adjudant-chef Benitez a laissé un sillage sanglant

Les indices s’accumulent autour de l’adjudant-chef Benitez et de son implication dans la disparition d’Allison et de sa mère Marie-Josée, le 14 juillet à Perpignan.

Midi Libre : 27.09.2013

Que peut-on faire avec huit litres d’eau de Javel, sinon un très grand nettoyage ? A la mi-juillet dernier, Francisco Benitez avait visiblement un gros ménage à faire, puisqu’il a acheté à Perpignan cette importante quantité de produit désinfectant et corrosif, aux propriétés bien connues des amateurs d’affaires criminelles.

 © DR

L’eau de Javel permet de dégrader l’ADN, et complique considérablement cette recherche des traces de sang effacées que les experts mènent sur les lieux du crime avec des produits spéciaux, le Luminol ou le Bluestar.

Beaucoup de sang

« Il a dû les découper. On a l’impression que ça a saigné beaucoup », explique un policier parisien, associé à l’enquête menée par le SRPJ de Montpellier sur la disparition d’Allison et de sa mère Marie-Josée, le 14 juillet à Perpignan. Car du sang, il y en a beaucoup, dans les éléments rassemblés depuis deux mois par les enquêteurs. Tout d’abord dans les indices, prélevés au cours des perquisitions dans l’appartement familial, comme à la caserne de la Légion étrangère. « Des taches invisibles à l’œil nu », révélées au domicile familial. Du sang d’Allison, « dans le conduit d’évacuation » du congélateur familial, dans « le joint du hublot » du lave-linge, mais aussi à l’intérieur du logement qu’occupait le légionnaire à la caserne, indique une source proche du dossier. Les techniciens de l’identité judiciaire en ont aussi trouvé au pied de son lit, dans sa chambre à coucher : là encore, il s’agit de celui de sa propre fille.

Un témoin raconte

Mais il y a aussi ce sang qu’ont vu plusieurs témoins, et dont ils ont parlé aux enquêteurs. Trois jours après la double disparition, Francisco Benitez demande à l’un de ses camarades de venir l’aider à transporter ce congélateur qu’il a soudain décidé de donner à la caserne. L’homme racontera ensuite aux policiers avoir vu du sang dans un lavabo bouché de l’appartement des Benitez.

Disparition de draps à la caserne

Des traces sombres, prélevées dans un sèche-linge utilisé par les militaires, sont toujours en cours d’analyse. La disparition courant juillet d’une trentaine de draps de lit à la caserne intrigue aussi les enquêteurs : ont-ils pu servir d’emballage pour des corps, ou des morceaux de corps ? Et puis il y cette phrase prononcée par l’adjudant-chef devant un autre militaire, et qui prend aujourd’hui une sinistre résonnance. Ce dernier, fin juillet, s’étonnait de le voir nettoyer au jet d’eau un tapis de sol et des draps tâchés de sang, dans une machine à laver de la caserne . Réponse de Francisco Benitez : « J’ai décongelé de la viande. »

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The Flactif case: An investigation solved with Bluestar

At a crime scene, he makes the bloodstains talk

“When I entered the Flactif house, I immediately noticed the traces of sponge strokes in the small living room and suspected that the chalet had been cleaned thoroughly. “Warrant Officer Philippe Esperança, 39 years old, will never forget this 18 April 2003.

 A French specialist in the morpho-analysis of bloodstains, he had to wait his turn to go through the house with a fine-tooth comb: “We only intervene when all the other findings are complete. “

The Bluestar, world star

The result was worth it. “Like at every crime scene, I sprayed our usual product, Bluestar. Its great quality is that it leaves the DNA prints intact,” explains Philippe Esperança. Another advantage is that it allows us to work in semi-darkness, whereas previously we had to work in total darkness. In three days in the chalet, the analysis of the few visible traces of blood and the use of this chemical revealed five bleeding sites – as many as there were victims – and one storage site. “The hypothesis of a quintuple murder on the spot was emerging. “From that moment on, my gendarme colleagues stopped looking for the Flactif family elsewhere than in Grand-Bornand. “

DNA analyses showed that among the bloodstains, some of them tiny, there were those of the five members of the Flactif family. But also traces left by employees or visitors to the chalet in recent years. Plus two unknown DNAs. One was David Hotyat’s.

Since helping to solve the Grand-Bornand mystery, Philippe Esperança has lectured around the world and worked with the Americans at the FBI. Trained as an entomologist (study of insects), he was a naturalist at the Jardin des plantes before becoming a gendarme. After three years of training in Canada, he created the blood trace morpho-analysis service at the IRCGN (1) in Rosny-sous-Bois in 1999. And as the previous chemical products did not suit him, he developed Bluestar himself. “This product went around the world in one year. It is so powerful that DNA has been identified on machine-washed clothes and in a high-pressure kitchen. “The oldest blood trace found in France in a criminal case was 17 years ago.

About 100 cases per year

Philippe Esperança can give you a lecture on the difference between the shape of degraded blood traces (when a hand has moved them from one place to another); passive blood traces, due to gravity, and projected blood traces, when a force – that of the aggressor – is added to gravity. “As the blood sprays quite far, these analyses can allow us to calculate the trajectory of the blow, the position of the victim or the aggressor, the nature of the weapon used, the distinction between a blow and a shock, etc. “During a suicide in a cornfield near Toulouse, specialists had found drops of blood carried by insects.

The week we met him, Philippe Esparança had three crime reconstructions on his agenda, including one in Guadeloupe, and two testimonies in a criminal court. “Our colleagues in the gendarmerie, and even the investigating judges directly, call us on about a hundred cases a year. “But the gendarmes are not there “only” to serve the prosecution. Warrant Officer Esperança remembers concluding that a drunkard had died in an accident after falling on a bottle of champagne. In March 2005, before the Nantes assizes, his expertise also contributed to the acquittal of Joaquim, a young man accused of the murder of a friend. “For us, it was a suicide. “

Michel TANNEAU.

(1) Criminal Research Institute of the Gendarmerie Nationale.

Jealousy – RTL – 16/09/2003

The scenario of what happened on April 11 at the Flactif’s chalet is being confirmed, written by the investigators according to the confessions of suspect n°1, dissatisfied tenant, shuffled from one flat to another by his landlord. Well decided, his scenario in place, David Hotyat enters alone in the chalet between 18h30 and 21h in the kitchen where Xavier Flactif and two of his children are. He fired his 6.35 revolver. The mother hears the shots and is shot as she goes up the stairs. He shot the last child upstairs in his room, he would have told during his hearing, it is there that the investigators find the most clues: blood, pieces of teeth, and a shell of the revolver. It is on this order of the victims that David Hotyat contradicts himself, suggesting that there are still grey areas. He explained that he then burned the bodies of Xavier Flactif, his wife and their children in a forest in the region, after having loaded them into a vehicle and driven 10 km away. He then returned to Grand Bornand, seemingly out of the blue, making up a story to explain their disappearance.

How David Hotyat was identified

The Gendarmerie’s criminal research institute was dealing with traces of blood in the empty Flactif chalet, traces of blood that had been washed away. In spite of everything, the scientists of the gendarmerie first managed to identify the origin of this blood, it belonged to the five members of the Flactif family, and then very thorough analyses made it possible to establish that the blood of several of the members of the family was mixed with another blood, another genetic trace, it is this genetic trace, this DNA belongs to David Hotyat.

It is because this DNA was found mixed with the blood of several of the victims that the gendarmes, before the arrest, were already convinced that the owner of this genetic trace was the murderer. It was thanks to this DNA that the gendarmes were able to trace the case. Since May, the gendarmes have taken DNA samples from 130 people, business relations, craftsmen and people close to Flactif. This is how the investigators were able to target the main suspect.

France Info – 17/09/03

David Hotyat was confirmed by DNA samples taken from nearly 130 people who had relations with Xavier Flactif and his family, or who lived in the region. David Hotyat’s genetic fingerprint matched the mysterious sixth DNA found in the chalet alongside the fingerprints of the five family members. The property developer, his wife, Graziella Ortolano, and their three children were last seen on 11 April in the late afternoon. Investigations found multiple traces of blood belonging to the family members, a shell casing and splinters of teeth in their cottage. Blood also belonging to the missing persons was found in Xavier Flactif’s vehicle, abandoned near Geneva-Cointrin airport on the Swiss side on 13 May.

According to Alexandra Lefèvre, Hotyat told her that he had first shot two children, alone at the chalet, then their mother, the last child and finally the father. As he was cleaning up the traces of blood, with a flashlight in his mouth, Hotyat, overcome with nausea, was disturbed by the call of a tenant of Flactif and then the arrival of a pizza delivery man…

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