Chevaline killings: Luger P06 gun recovered from Lake Annecy revives inquiry
A Luger P06 pistol, calibre 7.65 mm, found at the bottom of Lake Annecy on 20 August, could be the weapon used in the quadruple murder in Chevaline in 2012.
Pistol recovered from the bottom of Lake Annecy, fourteen years after the Chevaline murders
According to BFM TV, citing a source close to the case, an investigating judge responsible for the Chevaline case had, as early as 2022, asked the Grenoble research section to report any discovery or destruction of a P06 handgun (7.65 mm Parabellum), as well as any discovery of ammunition of this calibre.
This instruction took on new significance on 20 August, when tourists recovered a Luger P06 from the bottom of Lake Annecy in Haute-Savoie. This model corresponds to the one that is believed to have been used by the shooter during the 2012 massacre. The authorities are not yet in a position to confirm whether this is indeed the murder weapon: its analysis is expected to be complex due to the lengthy submersion in water.
Four deaths on a forest road in September 2012
On 5 September 2012, three members of the British-Franco-Iraqi family Al-Hilli and French cyclist Sylvain Mollier were shot dead on a forest road near Chevaline in Haute-Savoie. Despite an international inquiry conducted for nearly fourteen years, the motive and identity of the shooter remain unknown.
At the time of the incident, around twenty cartridge cases and a gun stock fragment, consistent with a Luger P06, were found at the scene. This same model is now at the centre of the new lead.
A geographically troubling discovery
The weapon was recovered near the Le Solitaire du Lac campsite, where the Al-Hilli family had stayed shortly before the murders — a detail that investigators consider particularly significant.
Since its discovery, the pistol has been transferred to the Cold Case Unit of Nanterre (PCSNE), a structure specialising in unsolved crimes. The three investigating judges still in charge of the case have ordered detailed analyses, the results of which could take several weeks.
Source: BFM TV