The means of investigation were enormous. But until December 8 and the alert given by a woman living in Gironde, the gendarmes still had no idea where to find Morgane. Missing since November 25 and her departure from her home in Pabu, in Côtes-d’Armor, this 13-year-old girl was found safe and sound on Tuesday morning in a young workers’ home in Coutances (Manche). No injuries or lesions were discovered in the young victim. But if the investigators were able to find the schoolgirl, it was mainly thanks to a testimony from Val-de-Livenne.
It is in this small town near Blaye, north of Bordeaux, that the 21-year-old man suspected of harboring the teenager since she ran away went on the night of December 7 to 8. “A woman came to the gendarmerie to explain that a young individual had come to her home on December 8 around 2:30 a.m. This man was standing outside a small Citroën C1 and a young girl was in the passenger compartment, lit by the ceiling light. The young man asked to speak to his 16-year-old son, who was sleeping,” said the public prosecutor. According to this witness, “the young man seemed to want to leave the young girl and leave alone”.
A “golden group” on Snapchat
It was by questioning her son that the mother made the connection. The latter told him that the night visitor was “an acquaintance of Morgane and himself”. The three young individuals were part of the same group called “golden group” where they regularly conversed on Snapchat. It was on this group that the teenager explained that she was the victim of harassment, making suicidal remarks and sharing photos showing scarifications.
By inspecting the son’s phone, investigators were able to trace the suspect, discovering that his phone had been limited to Gironde but especially to Pabu on the day of the disappearance. By cross-checking the information, the gendarmes discovered that the suspect had returned to Coutances with the missing girl. It was in the latter’s room that the teenager was found “safe and sound”. “I leave this little note to all the people who supported us in these very difficult times,” said his mother.
Locked up but with a computer
Employee of a jewelry store in Coutances for a month, the man had been talking with Morgane for three months. The day before she disappeared, she contacted him and asked him to pick her up from Pabu after an argument with her parents. “She informed him of suicidal intentions,” assured the Saint-Brieuc prosecutor.
At 5 a.m., the man took his small Citroën and left Coutances for Côtes-d’Armor. He found Morgane, whom he had never met, and took her. For two weeks, the schoolgirl will remain cloistered in the shuttered accommodation, spending her days on the Internet, where she inevitably came across wanted notices concerning her. According to her host, she was locked but could unlock the door from the inside, which the police confirmed. The teenager allegedly explained that she did not know how to go out and spoke of arguments.
The suspect had already acted with another teenager
The suspect was still in police custody this Wednesday. He could be prosecuted for kidnapping, sequestration not followed by voluntary release of a minor under 15 years old. The prosecutor will request his placement in pre-trial detention, considering that this is not his first act. The accused was due to appear this Wednesday morning before the Beauvais criminal court for acts of stealing a minor. In April, he met a 14-year-old girl on the social network Reality and ended up picking her up from school because she “wasn’t feeling well”. Claiming to be a victim of harassment himself, the man allegedly tried to end his life several times in the past and seems to be finding a new life on social networks.
The use of social networks is at the heart of this matter. According to the public prosecutor, Morgane admitted to having argued with friends about her immoderate use of her phone. The same altercation broke out with his parents on Sunday, the day before his disappearance. Her parents believed that the teenager could put herself in danger by sending photos of herself. His father went so far as to break the phone. Morgane had deleted all her accounts on her social networks the same day, before disappearing the next day.
