Post by hi224 on Oct 16, 2019 6:03:29 GMT
Xavier Baligant was a 28-year-old Belgian tourist visiting Ardeche in France. He was from the Nivelles area in Belgium, divorced and a laboratory technician for the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. He also had two brothers. He drove to France from Belgium for holidays with his 4 and 6-year-old sons. On the night of July 18 to 19 2011, while returning to Belgium, he made a stop on the A31 highway in the rest area in Malvaux near Toul. The rest area was frequented by truck drivers stopping there for the night. It was about 2 am and the children were asleep inside the car.
The bathrooms were a well-lit area but suddenly at around 2.15 am, a highway patrolman heard gunshots coming from that direction.
When LE arrived at the scene a few minutes later they found the body of Xavier lying on his stomach just outside the bathrooms, which was a small building structure. He was shot with five bullets.
The trajectory of the bullets revealed that the shooter was shooting while walking towards the victim. The first shot for fired from a distance of about 15 meters. The last bullet was the ‘coup-de-grace’.
You could see a graph with the location of the body and the bullet shells below:
youtu.be/nk2uFl2A0GY?list=PLOKL4qV_sdVF2F3iBLLWjKQ2YKBoZFqT4&t=884
The rifle
Gun experts revealed that a long rifle weighing just over 4 kilos was used for Xavier’s shooting. Sources differ as to the type of the riffle used. Some claim that it was a collector’s riffle of Swiss origin 7.5x55mm (.308 caliber) whilst others that it was a Schmidt-Rubin K31, a 1950’s Swiss rifle that is a collector’s and not a trafficker’s riffle. Investigators stated that it was the first time they have encountered a murder with this type of riffle. The bullets used were also very peculiar. Extremely long and again it was the first time that they saw this type of bullets used in a murder.
The particular type of rifle can be used by a sniper from a distance of 400-500 meters. Usually, the shooter places the riffle on a stable surface. It was not the best choice of riffle to kill someone under those circumstances. The murder of Xavier was indeed an execution.
Access route
The bathroom building could be accessed either from the parking or the woods.
None of the lorry drivers noticed a car parked in the parking area that night.
Detectives discovered that the wire surrounding the woods was cut in a certain place, they also found a dry cigarette bud, dropped recently since it was raining the previous evening. Somebody could have parked their car outside the park and walked inside the area from that point.
The SMS
The children were interviewed by a psychologist. They revealed that while driving, their dad received an SMS. Police couldn’t trace it though, it was deleted.
Perhaps Xavier had a rendezvous with somebody? Nobody ever came forward. The heard a small cry of their dad but authorities couldn’t tell whether he recognized his shooter.
Truck drivers
Truck drivers from different nationalities had stopped to sleep that evening in the Malvaux rest area, a few meters from the bathroom building. All of them must have heard the shots.
One of them clearly stated that he did hear them. None of them notified the police.
Connection to Annecy murders?
Police considered the possibility of having a serial killer when in 2012 a British family of four was murdered in Chevaline. In that case, as well a collector’s gun of Swiss origin was used.
In both cases, the victims were foreign tourists and in both cases children were present. In both cases, these types of guns were never used in similar crimes. Were the authorities facing a Swiss gun collector enthusiast serial killer? In both cases the killer had a similar profile; he was a highly organized individual.
The weapons used were different and therefore no link between the two cases currently exists, according to police.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annecy_shootings
CCTV cameras didn’t reveal anything suspicious.
Advances in telephone technology could trace the deleted SMS.
Five and a half years after the crime, foreign DNA has been isolated from inside Xavier’s car on ‘an object that is not fixed’, Xavier's family lawyer stated. That DNA corresponds to a person that is listed on the National database.
SUSPECTS
Xavier’s ex-wife Mihaela: She was adopted and was of Rumanian origin. Could she have ordered a contract killing on her ex-husband? This appears to be highly unlikely as she wouldn’t want to traumatize her kids been present in their dad’s killing.
Jose Oliveira: He was a Nivellois garage owner and the ex companion of Mihaela. Four months after Xavier’s murder he and his stepson were charged for ‘kidnapping, assault, robbery and threats’ of a former employee who claimed that they owed him 30000 Euros. They were both acquitted at a trial.
THEORIES
Did Xavier interrupt an illegal arms/drug exchange or poachers? But why would they choose the best lit place of the rest area to conduct their business?
Did he interrupt a meeting between mafia or gangs?
A crime of passion?
Was he lured there by the unknown SMS?
Special thanks to u/lilistop for suggesting this write up.
LINKS
www.lavenir.net/cnt/dmf20170419_00991728/l-enquete-sur-le-meurtre-du-nivellois-xaver-baligant-se-poursuit-en-france
www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/exclusif-du-neuf-dans-l-enquete-sur-le-meurtre-de-xavier-baligant-de-l-adn-suspect-enfin-identifie-58f64fe9cd70812a6582de02
www.republicain-lorrain.fr/edition-de-metz-ville/2016/07/21/mort-de-xavier-baligant-le-mystere-reste-entier
www.estrepublicain.fr/edition-de-nancy-ville/2017/04/21/l-adn-resoudra-t-il-le-meurtre-de-l-a31
The bathrooms were a well-lit area but suddenly at around 2.15 am, a highway patrolman heard gunshots coming from that direction.
When LE arrived at the scene a few minutes later they found the body of Xavier lying on his stomach just outside the bathrooms, which was a small building structure. He was shot with five bullets.
The trajectory of the bullets revealed that the shooter was shooting while walking towards the victim. The first shot for fired from a distance of about 15 meters. The last bullet was the ‘coup-de-grace’.
You could see a graph with the location of the body and the bullet shells below:
youtu.be/nk2uFl2A0GY?list=PLOKL4qV_sdVF2F3iBLLWjKQ2YKBoZFqT4&t=884
The rifle
Gun experts revealed that a long rifle weighing just over 4 kilos was used for Xavier’s shooting. Sources differ as to the type of the riffle used. Some claim that it was a collector’s riffle of Swiss origin 7.5x55mm (.308 caliber) whilst others that it was a Schmidt-Rubin K31, a 1950’s Swiss rifle that is a collector’s and not a trafficker’s riffle. Investigators stated that it was the first time they have encountered a murder with this type of riffle. The bullets used were also very peculiar. Extremely long and again it was the first time that they saw this type of bullets used in a murder.
The particular type of rifle can be used by a sniper from a distance of 400-500 meters. Usually, the shooter places the riffle on a stable surface. It was not the best choice of riffle to kill someone under those circumstances. The murder of Xavier was indeed an execution.
Access route
The bathroom building could be accessed either from the parking or the woods.
None of the lorry drivers noticed a car parked in the parking area that night.
Detectives discovered that the wire surrounding the woods was cut in a certain place, they also found a dry cigarette bud, dropped recently since it was raining the previous evening. Somebody could have parked their car outside the park and walked inside the area from that point.
The SMS
The children were interviewed by a psychologist. They revealed that while driving, their dad received an SMS. Police couldn’t trace it though, it was deleted.
Perhaps Xavier had a rendezvous with somebody? Nobody ever came forward. The heard a small cry of their dad but authorities couldn’t tell whether he recognized his shooter.
Truck drivers
Truck drivers from different nationalities had stopped to sleep that evening in the Malvaux rest area, a few meters from the bathroom building. All of them must have heard the shots.
One of them clearly stated that he did hear them. None of them notified the police.
Connection to Annecy murders?
Police considered the possibility of having a serial killer when in 2012 a British family of four was murdered in Chevaline. In that case, as well a collector’s gun of Swiss origin was used.
In both cases, the victims were foreign tourists and in both cases children were present. In both cases, these types of guns were never used in similar crimes. Were the authorities facing a Swiss gun collector enthusiast serial killer? In both cases the killer had a similar profile; he was a highly organized individual.
The weapons used were different and therefore no link between the two cases currently exists, according to police.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annecy_shootings
CCTV cameras didn’t reveal anything suspicious.
Advances in telephone technology could trace the deleted SMS.
Five and a half years after the crime, foreign DNA has been isolated from inside Xavier’s car on ‘an object that is not fixed’, Xavier's family lawyer stated. That DNA corresponds to a person that is listed on the National database.
SUSPECTS
Xavier’s ex-wife Mihaela: She was adopted and was of Rumanian origin. Could she have ordered a contract killing on her ex-husband? This appears to be highly unlikely as she wouldn’t want to traumatize her kids been present in their dad’s killing.
Jose Oliveira: He was a Nivellois garage owner and the ex companion of Mihaela. Four months after Xavier’s murder he and his stepson were charged for ‘kidnapping, assault, robbery and threats’ of a former employee who claimed that they owed him 30000 Euros. They were both acquitted at a trial.
THEORIES
Did Xavier interrupt an illegal arms/drug exchange or poachers? But why would they choose the best lit place of the rest area to conduct their business?
Did he interrupt a meeting between mafia or gangs?
A crime of passion?
Was he lured there by the unknown SMS?
Special thanks to u/lilistop for suggesting this write up.
LINKS
www.lavenir.net/cnt/dmf20170419_00991728/l-enquete-sur-le-meurtre-du-nivellois-xaver-baligant-se-poursuit-en-france
www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/exclusif-du-neuf-dans-l-enquete-sur-le-meurtre-de-xavier-baligant-de-l-adn-suspect-enfin-identifie-58f64fe9cd70812a6582de02
www.republicain-lorrain.fr/edition-de-metz-ville/2016/07/21/mort-de-xavier-baligant-le-mystere-reste-entier
www.estrepublicain.fr/edition-de-nancy-ville/2017/04/21/l-adn-resoudra-t-il-le-meurtre-de-l-a31