Chevaline
On 5th September 2012, in a small mountain parking lot in the Alps, a British vacationing family and a local cyclist were found murdered. This marks the beginning of what would become one of the most far-reaching and mysterious criminal cases of recent decades in Europe. While the victims appear to have no notable history, French and British investigators quickly uncover a complex and increasingly perplexing reality.
Overview
On 5th September 2012, in a small mountain parking lot in the Alps, a British vacationing family and a local cyclist were found murdered. This marks the beginning of what would become one of the most far-reaching and mysterious criminal cases of recent decades in Europe. While the victims appear to have no notable history, French and British investigators quickly uncover a complex and increasingly perplexing reality.
Sébastien Deurdilly
Producer
Episodes
1. Crime scene
On September 5, 2012, in a parking lot on a forest road in the Alps, a few kilometers from the village of Chevaline, an English family and a French cyclist were found dead, brutally shot. A little girl survived the tragedy and was rushed to the hospital: the killer had left her for dead after striking her on the head. The gendarmerie secured the crime scene and began a meticulous investigation to find any traces the killer might have left behind. A phone call from the owner of the campsite where the English family was staying would change everything.
2. Inheritance
The English family killed in the parking lot has been identified: they are the Al-Hillis. Well-established in an upscale suburb of London, nothing seemed to predestine them to such a fate. But investigators quickly uncovered a family dispute that could explain the tragedy: Saad, the victim, and his brother Zaid had clashed over their late father's substantial inheritance, following his death a few months earlier. For the French police, Zaid became the prime suspect, but the English police rejected this theory. Only high-level state intervention seemed capable of moving the investigation forward.
3. In Iraq
While everything suggests that the answer lies in the United Kingdom and that the brother may have orchestrated the massacre, new elements emerge, complicating the investigation. Saad had traveled to Baghdad to reclaim a family home and made enemies in Iraq. Hidden hard drives in the family caravan contain a significant amount of confidential data about Saad’s satellite company. Additionally, the discovery of Saad’s wife's astonishing secret life adds another layer of complexity. For the first time in his career, the public prosecutor must collaborate with intelligence services to advance a criminal investigation.
