the Bernard case, one of the oldest legal enigmas

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Video length: 4 mins.

France 3

Article written by

L. Nahon, G. Beaufils, C. Cuello, C. Ripaud – France 3

France Televisions

Cold cases, these unresolved criminal cases, have had a national judicial center dedicated to them for a year, in Nanterre. Journalists from France Télévisions met the children of Danielle Bernard, a nurse brutally killed in 1989, a legal enigma. But the investigation finally starts again.

Who could blame Danielle Bernard, a 39-year-old nurse, mother of 4 children. Why was she brutally killed in July 1989? Questions that have haunted her daughter and son for 34 years. They agreed to bring journalists from France Télévisions to their childhood home in Auxerre (Yonne), where everything changed. She was 19, he was 6. “We were happy, and then the happiness stopped”sums up Valérie Antier, the daughter of Danielle Bernard. “We found her in her living room, on her sofa, with a poker in her head and a screwdriver in her heart”she says.

Investigators seem to ignore crucial leads

“Our life ended on July 7, 1989”, adds the daughter of the victim. Of their mother, they only have photos, preciously preserved. “Not having a face or a name, on the person or persons who did this, for me it is violence”, says Valérie Antier. Amorous spite, revenge, money affair, the investigators grope. Two men are suspected. A co-worker, then the nurse’s ex-husband, quickly cleared the case. During all these years, the investigators seem to ignore crucial leads. At the time, no less than three serial killers scoured Auxerre and its region.


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