15 years after this sordid murder in Dax, justice is interested in it again today. This is the national judicial center dedicated to cold casesthose unresolved cases, which looks at the Francoise Lamarque affair. The cold case division was created in March 2022 and explained on September 13 that it had been working since its implementation on 37 unsolved cases in France, including one in the Landes.
According to information from France Bleu Gascogne, in particular cross-checked via the victim’s family, it is indeed the Françoise Lamarque affair which had been abandoned, for lack of a track, in 2011.
A sordid murder and no leads
A 15 year old case. Françoise Lamarque is this 70-year-old Dacquoise found dead at her home near the Dax fire station on June 5, 2007. The retired physiotherapist was found dead at home by an acquaintance, lying in a pool of blood, bound hand and foot, head wrapped in two plastic bags closed with adhesive tape.
After the autopsy, investigators concluded that she had been beaten to death in the head with a pewter vase found in the house stained with blood. The retiree’s house had been found upside down and items had been stolen, including the victim’s car.
The investigation was then carried out by the judicial police of Bayonne. Soon, a man was taken into custody. It was an acquaintance of Françoise Lamarque, the one who had found the body. But he had been released without charge against him. The whole house had been combed through by forensic scientists. Every trace of blood, every object had been analyzed. But no DNA trace had been found nor even fingerprints. Even in the stolen car, found a little later in a parking lot, there was no clue. As for the possible motive of the killer(s), again, a mystery. Is it a burglary gone wrong or something else? No answer.
Faced with this empty file, in 2007, the investigation was abandoned. A dismissal order issued. Five years later, in 2015, one of the victim’s daughters had hired a lawyer, launched a new call for witnesses, to try to reopen the case. But without success, there was no new element.
It was therefore a few days ago that the national judicial center dedicated to cold cases contacted the victim’s family to announce their interest in this case. Contacted, a relative of the victim explained to France Bleu Gascogne that it would be only for the moment, “to see if there is reason to reopen the file“.