Jean-Louis Turquin

Case overview

Jean-Louis Turquin was a Nice veterinary surgeon who was convicted of murdering his eight-year-old son, Charles-Edouard. The case involved the abduction of the child while he slept, and a claim that the boy was strangled and then buried under a cross in the mountains above Nice.

No body was found. Police never traced the spot where Charles-Edouard’s body supposedly lay, and no witnesses came forward.

People

• Jean-Louis Turquin — defendant; veterinary surgeon; father of Charles-Edouard; also described as a practising Roman Catholic.
• Michèle — Turquin’s wife; the child’s mother.
• Charles-Edouard — victim; Turquin’s eight-year-old son.
• Jean-Marc Varaut — Turquin’s lawyer.
• Marc Weitzmann — author of the bestselling novel referenced in connection with the case.
• Paul Webster — journalist (author of the quoted newspaper reference in the material provided).
• Detective Chief Inspector Alan Reid — no such person named in the provided material.

Timeline

• March 21, 1991 — Charles-Edouard was reported missing by his father.
• 1997 (trial and conviction year) — a jury convicted Jean-Louis Turquin of killing Charles-Edouard in 1991.
• March 20, 1997 — Turquin was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
• July 18, 2006 — Turquin was released on parole.
• 2003 (month referenced in the material) — Turquin began a hunger strike in jail this month to clear his name; unexpected evidence emerged later described as coming from a prisoner in northern France.

The offence

After making love to his wife at their villa overlooking the Riviera, Jean-Louis Turquin revealed that he had snatched their eight-year-old son while he slept, strangled him and then buried him under a cross in the mountains above Nice.

The prosecution linked the burial under a wayside cross to an act of religious purification. Turquin was accused of killing a son whom he adored because his Jewish wife had been unfaithful. The revenge was described as taking racist overtones, because Turquin was described as a practising Roman Catholic and was allegedly obsessed with the belief that the lover, a Jew, was Charles-Edouard’s real father.

Court psychologists portrayed Turquin and his wife, Michèle—who were in mid-divorce—as a “deeply perverted” couple whose relationship was “dominated by sado-masochistic tendencies” and who had never wanted the child.

Investigation and evidence

A veterinary surgeon was unaware that Michèle had switched on a tape recorder under the bed in the hope of tricking her husband into a confession. The recording was described as crucial evidence that led to Turquin’s 20-year sentence for murdering his son, Charles-Edouard.

Experts cast serious doubt on the authenticity of the recording. Turquin said he had been set up by Michèle and that the so-called confession was just part of the couple’s habitual bizarre role playing.

The case proceeded despite doubts about authenticity, and the jury convicted Turquin in 1997 even though the boy’s body was never found and no material evidence was produced to link the father to the crime.

Police reopened the inquiry, and a retrial was under consideration after new information emerged.

Arrest and prosecution theory

Turquin was brought to trial six years after Charles-Edouard’s disappearance in March 1991.

The one piece of evidence against the vet was described as what was purported to be a tape recording of a phone conversation between him and Michèle in which he appeared to tell her that he had strangled their son.

Defence and claims at court

Turquin denied the killing in court and said he was not responsible for the murder as charged.

While his wife insisted the child had been killed by his father, Turquin claimed he had been kidnapped by Michèle’s lover and taken to Israel to be raised in an Orthodox Jewish school.

In court, Turquin said he was only acting out the role of a murderer that his wife wanted him to play while making love.

Friends gave evidence that he “adored” his son.

Turquin told prison guards: “Charles-Edouard is still alive”.

Trial and verdict

A jury convicted Jean-Louis Turquin in 1997 of killing Charles-Edouard in 1991. The jury described him as guilty of “the most despicable of crimes” despite the fact that the boy’s body was never found, nor any material evidence produced to link the father to the crime.

The material also states that Turquin denied the killing in court and that he was nonetheless jailed for two decades and denied any right to appeal.

Sentencing

Jean-Louis Turquin was sentenced to 20 years in prison on March 20, 1997.

Appeals

The material states that Turquin was denied any right to appeal.

Outcome

Turquin was released on parole on July 18, 2006.

In 2003, Turquin began a hunger strike in jail to clear his name.

Aftermath and later developments

A new theory about the identity of the killers emerged. The suspicion inspired a bestselling novel, Mariage Mixte, in which author Marc Weitzmann used the Turquin case to explore murderous tensions inside a Christian-Jewish marriage. A court refused to ban the book despite its theme closely following the abduction and strangling by a Christian father of a child called Charles-Edouard, in an act of hatred towards an unfaithful wife.

Letter alleging a cellmate confession

A letter arrived at the office of Turquin’s lawyer, Jean-Marc Varaut. It said that a cellmate had admitted killing the boy by accident while driving past the Turquin house at night.

Varaut said: “A prisoner in an eastern French jail wrote that a cellmate had admitted killing the boy by accident while driving past the Turquin house at night,” Varaut said. “With an accomplice, he had carried out a burglary near Nice and was driving away at speed when he saw a child wearing only pyjamas and a dressing gown crossing the road. The car hit and killed him. The thieves buried the boy in a place yet to be identified.”

Another framing of the claim stated that a prisoner in northern France wrote to one of Turquin’s lawyers claiming a cellmate had told him that he had accidentally knocked down Charles-Edouard while fleeing a robbery and had hidden the body “where it would never be found”.

The material states that police have reopened the inquiry and a retrial is under consideration.

Varaut said the new evidence provided elements of both hope and tragedy for Turquin: “From one viewpoint it could ensure his release from jail. From another it would end all hope of ever seeing his beloved son again. He has clung desperately to the idea that the child is alive in Israel.”

Other details

Charles-Edouard was reported missing by his father early on March 21 1991.

The child shared a bedroom in a luxury villa on the outskirts of Nice, and the evidence included what was purported to be a tape recording of a phone conversation between Turquin and Michèle.

The material provided included a reference to: “Father may be cleared in French child death case Paul Webster - The Observer Sunday, July 13, 2003”.