Disappearance of Marion Wagon: search for man spotted in Agen
Nanterre's cold case unit has relaunched the investigation into Marion Wagon's disappearance in 1996. Investigators are searching for a man described by a witness who allegedly followed her in Agen.
Relaunching an investigation into a child's disappearance
According to BFM TV, Nanterre's cold case unit launched an appeal for witnesses on Thursday 12 November in the Marion Wagon case, who disappeared on 14 November 1996 in Agen. The 10-year-old child had travelled 400 metres between her school and her home before disappearing.
Investigators are seeking to identify a man reported by a key witness in this case. A 13-year-old girl at the time reported having been followed on the day of the disappearance, she says. Her memories resurfaced during a fresh interrogation a month ago. She describes a man of average height, olive skin, aged 30 to 35 years old, with brown eyes, long dark hair, slim build, wearing a twisted blue jumper.
The witness explains that the man, whose behaviour was deemed suspicious, followed her through the streets of Agen. To escape him, she took refuge in a building located at 2 bis rue de Lisbonne, a site considered strategically important by investigators. This building lay on the route that Marion Wagon took to get to school. A technical room in the building contained a scent trace of the missing girl detected by tracking dogs.
The investigation has also progressed thanks to technological advances. Marion Wagon's parents had kept personal belongings of their daughter — hair bands, dolls, hairbrush and a poetry notebook. These objects were sent to the Doutremepuich laboratory in Bordeaux. The DNA present on the notebook was able to be extracted and analysed, despite its initial state of degradation.
The investigating judge Sabine Kheris has had a complete genetic profile of Marion Wagon for a year now, thirty years after her disappearance. This profile can be compared to traces found at crime scenes or to bone remains to formally identify the girl. The gendarmes of Bordeaux's search section and the Diane cell are continuing investigations in parallel with the actions undertaken by the judiciary.
Source: BFM TV