the alleged murderer asks for his release before the investigating chamber

Yves Chatain, 57, in pre-trial detention in Varces prison since last May for the murder, which he confessed to in police custody, 36 years later, of Marie-Thérèse Bonfanti, 25, at the time, in Pontcharra, appeared this morning before the Investigation Chamber of the Grenoble Court of Appeal.

His first request for release having been rejected, he had appealed hence this hearing which lasted about forty minutes.

Remorse but above all the desire to regain freedom

Questioned by videoconference by the president, the man, dressed in a rather beefy orange t-shirt and a bald head, said he was ashamed of what he had done. “I feel bad for the family. I feel remorse. But I will be more useful to society outside, working – and I have an employer ready to hire me – than__in prison where I live a hell.” did he declare.

In the courtroom, the family of Marie-Thérèse Bonfanti receives comments that she cannot hear. There, around their lawyer, Maitre Boulloud, Françoise and Eugène Saia, the sister and brother of Marie-Thérèse Bonfanti, her daughter Erika, who was only 4 years old when her mother disappeared, and Yvette, the wife of Eugene. The latter took great care of the children of Marie-Thérèse, after her disappearance. Because the young mother had just had a baby, a little boy, Flavien, 6 months old, whom she was still breastfeeding.

A request for release, indecent for the Bonfanti / Saia family

“And we hell, we been living it for 36 years__” replies, after the hearing, Françoise Saia, one of the sisters of Marie-Thérèse. “The hell that my parents went through not knowing where their daughter was, of her children, who had to grow up without maternal love, even if their dad was present. He doesn’t realize what he’s saying.“

This is the first time the family has seen the man who took Marie-Thérèse from them: “We finally put a face to a name!” loose Francoise

“I saw a man who wasn’t really reacting, who had no emotion” stresses, in turn, Erika, Marie-Thérèse’s daughter. “His request for release is indecent but he, who has deceived everyone all these years, he continues to deceive, when, for example, he sullies my mum’s memory by saying that he strangled her because she was shouting at him, when everything everyone knows he was a calm person, who didn’t like conflict!”

Remember that Marie-Thérèse Bonfanti distributed free newspapers, to supplement her ends of the month. The day of her disappearance, she had parked for a few moments in front of the house of Yves Chatain, who was annoyed by it. An altercation had ensued, and, according to him, the young woman had asked him for an apology, which he would not have supported.

Eugène, Marie-Thérèse’s brother, continues: “He knows he killed, he took someone’s life and he’s asking to be released? But it’s shocking! Today he says he’s sorry, but he’s sorry what ?”

Chatain, he’s a little Lelandais -Maitre Boulloud, lawyer for the victim’s family

During his argument, the lawyer for the Bonfanti-Saia family, Maître Bernard Boulloud, said that if Yves Chatain’s request was legal, it was indecent because the investigation is not over. “Y_ves Chatain confessed”_ insists Maitre Boulloud “But that’s because he was cornered by the gendarmes who confronted him with his contradictions. That’s why he “spit it out”, as he said himself. Yves Chatain is a “little” Lelandais” concludes the lawyer

For his part, Yves Chatain’s lawyer, Maitre Cruz, pleaded for his release.. She recognizes that the file is sensitive, but her client confessed, everything is already in the file, no need to preserve the evidence. And what about disturbing public order? The lawyer brushes it off with the backhand: “He will live outside the department of Isère, with his companion. And a business leader is ready to hire him.”

Arguments that did not convince the Advocate General who requested continued detention. Decision of the Chambre de l’Instruction, on November 10th.

The prescription issue

In the meantime, everyone knows that the question of prescription will arise in this case. Because, at the material time, the murder was prescribed 10 years after the last procedural act. The investigating chamber, before which a motion for nullity for the indictment of Yves Chatain for kidnapping, forcible confinement and murder, was filed, considers that it is not competent in the matter. So who to decide?

“We will tackle the question of the prescription” says Master Boulloud. “It is not acquired for Yves Chatain. We will push justice to ensure that the prescription is not retained. We will do everything to have a trial at the Assizes”_

Finally, the family is awaiting the results of the DNA analyzes on the skull found last week in the Chartreuse massif, on the instructions of the defendant. Is it really that of Marie-Thérèse? The relatives of the missing do not want to get carried away and are preparing for all eventualities. “If it’s her, we can finally give her a decent burial.” concludes his daughter Erika.

Other unsolved cases in the Pontcharra sector

In the Pontcharra sector, note that there are other unsolved cases. In 1981, the body of Liliane Chevènement was found, strangled with wire. In 1984, two Belgian hitchhikers disappeared 20 kilometers from Pontcharra and in 1985, Marie-Ange Billoud, 19, disappeared while hitchhiking outside Pontcharra. The family of the latter has just filed a complaint against X with the dean of the investigating judges of Grenoble.

Known for an assault on a woman when he was only 14 years old or for an assault on a motorist he had tried to strangle, Yves Chatain had been sentenced to 8 months suspended prison sentence and 5000 francs of fine, in the 80s.