Three days to regain memory. That of a woman who was the wife and accomplice of the serial killer Michel Fourniret. And who recently admitted his involvement in the kidnapping and murder, 33 years ago, of Lydie Logé. This mother of a 7-year-old boy disappeared on December 18, 1993 in the village of Saint-Christophe-le-Jajolet, in Orne. At the time, two investigations had been opened and resulted in dismissals. The mystery remained complete.
The investigations were relaunched in 2018 after connections were established between the hair elements found in Michel Fourniret’s van and the DNA of Lydie Logé’s mother. In this case, the ogre of the Ardennes and his wife were indicted, the first for “kidnapping and sequestration” in December 2020, the second for “complicity in arrest, kidnapping, detention or arbitrary sequestration” in January 2021.
“It’s complicated, 33 years later, to have answers”
The serial killer having died in May 2021, it is alone that Monique Olivier, 76 years old, must answer the questions of judge Sabine Khéris, from the serial and unsolved crimes center of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). The magistrate established a relationship of trust with her over time. As RTL revealed, she convinced him last May to admit that the couple had indeed kidnapped the young woman. After trying to rape her, Michel Fourniret, she confided, killed her.
Questioned by the courts in 2019, the criminal had, as usual, provided more or less vague answers, contenting himself with saying: “I only see myself for having put an end to his life journey”. Five years later, Monique Olivier confessed. But there is still one question: where is the victim’s body? To try to answer this, justice has been organizing, since Tuesday, a reconstruction around Argentan and the young woman’s home. “It’s complicated, 33 years later, to have answers,” his lawyer, Mr. Richard Delgenes, explained to the press at the end of the first day.
“She must keep memories of it”
“It’s obvious that in thirty years, many things have been forgotten or faded into the background. Memories are intended to be forgotten, except for certain ones which are significant and which will reveal the identity of a person”, explains to 20 Minutes Francis Eustache, teacher-researcher in neuropsychology at the University of Caen Normandy and specialist in memory. But, he specifies, “such tragic important events entered the brain, in the spirit of this woman, and left a trace in her memory. She must keep memories of it.”
According to Francis Eustache, “among all the ingredients of a memory, what remains strongest is space”. “These places still need to have specific characteristics. A basic location, like a forest, cannot be identified if it is not identifiable. In thirty years, trees grow, change, grow, so it is extremely difficult to remember,” continues the academic.
“The best way to do it”
Will the reconstruction be able to help Monique Olivier, whose memory is often described as selective, perhaps faulty, to remember? To provide information, details, which will allow Lydie Logé’s family to recover her body and obtain answers?
“It’s by revisiting a specific place that memories come back,” observes Francis Eustache. According to him, “putting it back in a spatial context is certainly the best way to do it.”