Frenchman Cyrille Picard becomes the most wanted fugitive in Europe

Suspected of having murdered his 10-year-old daughter, he is headlining “Most Wanted”, the annual campaign of the Europol agency.

Cyrille Picard becomes the most wanted French fugitive in Europe. The Europol agency has put him at the head of its annual “Most Wanted” campaign, a communications operation aimed at informing the general public and gathering intelligence, franceinfo learned on Thursday January 18.

This 54-year-old man, unknown to the general public, with a personality “disturbing” and at “everyman’s physique” according to investigators, is the subject of an international arrest warrant. In a context of separation, he is suspected of having killed his 10-year-old daughter by strangling her in May 2022 in Haute-Savoie.

The investigation showed that this fugitive first headed towards Paris, before being seen in Charente-Maritime three days after the assassination. And since May 15, 2022, no trace of this man. A good navigator, he is likely to have fled by sea and hid abroad.

A fugitive considered dangerous

The investigation thus took an international turn, which is why the national fugitive search brigade (BNRF) decided to appoint Cyrille Picard in its major communication campaign to find the main European fugitives. His profile worries the police, “during the Covid-19 pandemic he took up the cause of conspiracy theories, he was even interested in the survivalist theme. We are looking at someone who has the capacity to last over time, and perhaps to change physical appearance and identity in order to flee justice”indicates Commissioner Guillaume Lacassin, head of the BNRF, contacted by franceinfo.

A year and a half after his flight, BNRF investigators have not given up hope of finding his trace, as Guillaume Lacassin assures us. “It is important for us that people can pick up on a detail and say to themselves ‘well, that reminds me of this research sheet concerning Cyrille Picard and it is important that I tell it to the police'”, said this commissioner. And the results are there: a Frenchman convicted of rape, registered on this list three years ago, was able to be found in Spain and serve his sentence in France.