Info franceinfo The murder case of Jean-Joseph Clément, in which serial killer Francis Heaulme is indicted, transmitted to the “cold cases” unit

This case becomes the 89th under investigation within the national unit for serial or unsolved crimes. It was reopened in the fall, which led to the indictment of Francis Heaulme for this murder.

It’s a murder committed almost 35 years ago, and never solved. On August 8, 1989, Jean-Joseph Clément, a 59-year-old agricultural machinery repairer, was found dead, with a bloody face, in Bédarrides (Vaucluse), near Avignon. This cold case has just been transmitted to the National Center for Serial or Unsolved Crimes, franceinfo learned from the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office (Hauts-de-Seine), Monday April 15. After the divestment of the Reims public prosecutor’s office (Marne), the case therefore becomes the 89th under investigation within this center, created two years ago. One or more judges will therefore be contacted to carry out new investigations.

In this case, serial killer Francis Heaulme was suspected of the murder, after having admitted the facts in 1992, before retracting. But an investigating judge in Reims, where several investigations concerning “the backpacker of crime” were grouped together in the 1990s, had dismissed the case in December 2002, “lack of sufficient charges” against him. However, last fall, justice reopened the case, on “new charges”, which led to the indictment, once again, of Francis Heaulme, currently sentenced to life imprisonment for eleven murders, committed between 1984 and 1992.

“Allow the manifestation of the truth”

“Now that the file is at the pole cold cases, this means that it is concrete. This gives me hope: we’re moving forward slowly, but things are moving.” reacts his daughter, Christine Clément, to franceinfo. Since her father was beaten to death, she has done everything possible to find out the truth. Today, she shares her “relief” and hopes that the investigation will lead to a trial. “If Francis Heaulme could speak, that would be good”she adds.

His lawyers, Didier Seban and Marine Allali, filed, on October 20, 2022, a request to reopen the case, and requested the divestment of Reims in favor of the pole cold cases. “We are happy with this transfer in favor of a specialized center, with magistrates who have the technical means necessary to move this matter forward. We hope that this will allow the truth to be revealed for Jean-Joseph Clément and his daughter”Marine Allali told franceinfo.

“We expected it, given the fact that he was heard by a judge in the fall,” believes Francis Heaulme’s lawyer, Liliane Glock. Before this investigating magistrate from Reims, the serial killer reiterated that he was not the author of this crime. “He stays on the same line”, underlines Liliane Glock to franceinfo. In addition to this affair, justice is closely interested in the criminal history of Francis Heaulme. This unique procedure, created with the pole cold cases, allows us to retrace the life journey of the serial killer. And, thus, to check if “the backpacker of the crime” could have been near the sites of unsolved murders, which he could have committed.