Parents of the 'A10 martyr' face French trial 39 years after 1987 discovery

Trial opens in Blois

The assize court of Loir-et-Cher opened the trial in Blois on 2 November 2026, 39 years after the body of a four-year-old girl was found on the A10 motorway. The mother is accused of torture and acts of barbarity that caused death without intent to kill, and the father of complicity. Both face life imprisonment, although they appear at liberty. The two arrived separately and did not look at each other: the mother had her face hidden behind a scarf, while the father climbed the courthouse steps slowly with a cane and a black mask. Members of the Mouv'Enfants collective displayed a banner calling for justice for the girl and photographs of her before the hearing began at 9.30. Sources differ on the schedule. AGI and HotNews say the trial runs until 18 November, while RTBF, citing lawyers who spoke to AFP, gave 9 to 27 November. RTBF also gives the mother's age as 71, against 72 in the other reports.

The 1987 discovery and failed search

On 11 August 1987 two highway workers found the mutilated body in a ditch beside the A10 near Suèvres, between Orléans and Tours, under a blood-stained blue blanket. Nobody had reported her missing, so investigators started with only a weight of 20 kg, a height of 95 cm and an estimated age of three to five years. Forensic examiners recorded burns from an iron and human bite scars, which they attributed to a woman. The gendarmerie then launched what was at the time the largest witness appeal ever mounted in France. Her description was circulated in more than 30 countries, and her photograph was posted in schools and town halls across the country. Two orders closing the case without charges, in 1991 and 1997, followed fruitless inquiries.

Schools65,000

Town halls30,000

Schools

65000

Town halls

30000

Data from the article text

Breakthrough through DNA

The break came in 2018, when DNA taken from the girl's brother during an unrelated violence case matched traces found on her clothing and on the blanket she had been wrapped in. Investigators identified the girl and arrested the parents in June 2018. Appeals by the parents and by the Blois prosecutor against the indictment order delayed the case. In September 2024 the Cour de cassation opened the way to a trial and upheld the original charges.

Memory, a street name and what the trial must answer

Raphaël Pilleboue, a former mayor of Suèvres who has kept the girl's memory alive, told AFP that the long-awaited day had finally arrived.

“It is time to give justice to this little girl who suffered so much.”

Mouv'Enfants says a petition with more than 3,300 signatures asks the town of Puteaux (Hauts-de-Seine) to rename a street after her, stating that she lived there with her family. The association says it contacted the Puteaux town hall in October without receiving a reply, and the municipality did not answer BFM's request for comment. Child protection associations that have joined the case as civil parties want the hearing to restore the identity the girl lacked for decades. Agathe Morel, a lawyer for the association Enfance et Partage, told BFM that the central question is why the girl was targeted with such relentless violence.