Dominici affair

Sir Jack Cecil Drummond
Born	(1891-01-12)12 January 1891 Leicester, United Kingdom
Died	4 or 5 August 1952(1952-08-05) (aged 61) Lurs, France
Nationality	British
Occupation	Biochemist

Lady Anne Drummond
Born	Anne Wilbraham (1907-12-10)10 December 1907 Epsom, Surrey, United Kingdom
Died	4 or 5 August 1952(1952-08-05) (aged 44) Lurs, France
Nationality	British
Occupation	Secretary, writer

Elizabeth A. Drummond
Born	(1942-03-23)23 March 1942 London, United Kingdom
Died	5 August 1952(1952-08-05) (aged 10) Lurs, France
Nationality	British

The Dominici affair was the criminal investigation into the triple murder of three Britons in France. During the night of 4/5 August 1952, Sir Jack Drummond, a 61-year-old scientist; his 44-year-old wife Anne Wilbraham; and their 10-year-old daughter Elizabeth were murdered next to their car which was parked in a lay-by near La Grand'Terre, the farm belonging to the Dominici family, located near the village of Lurs in the département of Basses-Alpes (now Alpes-de-Haute-Provence).^[1] Family patriarch Gaston Dominici was convicted of the three murders in 1957 and sentenced to death, though it was widely believed that his guilt had not been clearly established. In 1957, President René Coty commuted the sentence to life imprisonment, and on 14 July 1960, President Charles de Gaulle ordered Gaston Dominici's release on humanitarian grounds due to his poor health, but he was never pardoned or given a re-trial. Gaston Dominici died 4 April 1965. The affair made international headlines at the time.

Timeline of events

The crime

On the evening of 4 August 1952, while they were holidaying in France in their Hillman car with registration number NNK686, the Drummond family made a stop along National Highway 96, 165 metres from La Grand'Terre, a farm in the municipality of Lurs. They stopped by the mile marker 6 km south of Peyruis and 6 km north of La Brillanne. A bridge spanned the railway 60 metres from the road. A path winds down both sides of the railway line to the bank of the Durance river.

The Grand'Terre farm was inhabited by the Dominicis, a family of farmers comprising patriarch Gaston (75), his wife Marie (73), nicknamed "The Sardine" (1879–1974), their son Gustave (33), Gustave's wife Yvette (20), and their baby son Alain (10 months).^[2] The family was of Italian origin: Gaston's great-grandfather moved from Piedmont to Seyne in 1800 to work the land. Clovis Dominici, older brother of Gustave,^[3] also became involved on the day of the murders.

That evening, the Dominici family were having a party to celebrate the end of the harvest. Several family members travelled back and forth between the farmhouse and the fields, passing the Drummonds on several occasions. The Dominicis irrigated their alfalfa field using water from the Manosque Canal, which crosses over the railway track. A few days earlier, Marie Dominici forgot to close off the irrigation pump for the night, causing the pump's ballast to collapse. Since then, several family members had gone regularly to check that the damage was not obstructing the railway track, as the SNCF may have demanded that they pay repair costs if such an obstruction occurred.^[4] In the early hours of 5 August, six or seven shots were heard at approximately 1.10 am.^[5] A lorry driver, Marceau Blanc, passed the location at 4.30 am. He noticed a camp bed in front of the Drummonds' car, as well as a canvas that covered the car's windscreen and right side windows. At 4.50 am, a Joseph Moynier passed the scene and did not notice any of this. At 5.20 am, a Jean Hébrard noticed a camp bed leaning against the car.^[6] The crime scene appeared to have changed throughout the early morning, contradicting the briefly held theory that the murders were part of a contract killing.

Gustave Dominici claimed to have got up at 5.30 am and to have discovered Elizabeth Drummond's body at around 5.45. Her skull had been smashed in as a result of several blows from the stock of a carbine (a long firearm similar to a rifle). She was found 77 metres away from the family car, on a slope leading down to the river. At around 6 am, Gustave flagged down Jean-Marie Olivier, a passing motorcyclist who was on his way to work. Gustave asked Olivier to ride to the nearby village of Oraison to inform the police of the discovery. Investigators later noted that Gustave himself owned a motorcycle and were curious as to why he had not simply travelled on it to tell the police himself, rather than waiting for a passer-by to arrive on the scene.^[5]

At around 6.30 am, Faustin Roure, who was travelling on a moped from the direction of Peyruis, overtook Clovis Dominici and his brother-in-law Marcel Boyer, who were riding bicycles. Roure went directly to the railway bridge to check on the state of a landslide that Gustave had informed him of during a visit to Roure's home at around 9 pm the previous day.^[7] At the same time as Roure arrived at the railway bridge, the two brothers-in-law arrived at the Grand'Terre, where Gustave told them that gunshots had been heard at around 1 am that morning and that he had discovered the body of a young girl on the slope leading to the river. The two brothers-in-law went to the scene, where they met Roure, who was climbing back up the railway cutting. They spotted Elizabeth's body 15 metres from the start of the bridge over the railway. Boyer noticed that Clovis seemed to know the precise position of the body, and Clovis prevented the other two men from going any closer to it. When they got back to the road, the three men discovered the bodies of Elizabeth's parents. They found Lady Anne Drummond lying on her back, completely covered by a sheet and lying parallel to the left side of the car. Sir Jack Drummond was also lying on his back, underneath a camp bed on the other side of the road. They had been shot to death. Unnerved by what he heard of a hushed conversation after everyone had returned to the farm, Marcel Boyer later denied to the police that he had stopped on his bicycle ride when he was interviewed at his workplace by an Officer Romanet on 16 August.

During questioning on 20 August with police chief Edmond Sébeille, Faustin Roure revealed that Boyer had indeed stopped and was present when the bodies were discovered. Boyer stated that he couldn't explain why he had lied. The suspected reason for Boyer's lie was eventually discovered on 13 November 1953, when Clovis Dominici revealed that Gustave had told him about the Drummonds screaming in pain and terror in the presence of Marcel Boyer and Roger Drac.

Between 6.50 and 7 am, Jean Ricard, a tourist who had been camping the previous night on a plateau in the nearby village of Ganagobie, passed the crime scene on foot. His attention was drawn to the car due to the apparent disorder around it. He walked around the car and saw an empty camp bed lying on the ground alongside it. Two metres to the left, parallel to the camp bed, he saw the body of Lady Anne Drummond, covered by a sheet from her head down to her knees, with her feet pointing in the direction of the Grand'Terre.

At around 7 am, Yvette Dominici, who was pregnant with her second child and had not seen the police arrive, got on her bike and rode towards Sylve Farm, passing through Giropey in order to phone the police. Up the hill at Guillermain Farm, 350 metres to the south of the Grand'Terre, she met Aimé Perrin, who told her that Gustave had found the body of a murdered girl on the riverbank. Perrin also mentioned that Gustave had seen a woman dressed in black with the Drummonds the previous evening. Yvette asked Perrin to phone the police. Perrin headed back towards the crime scene. On the way, he met Officers Romanet and Bouchier, whom he accompanied to the crime scene.

At around 7.30 am, the two police officers and Aimé Perrin arrived at the crime scene, which had already been contaminated multiple times.^[5] According to Perrin, Gustave arrived on the scene on foot and not on his bicycle: he came up behind the police officers, who had just found Lady Anne Drummond’s body. The officers found a 4 cm² shred of skin from a human hand hooked on the car’s rear bumper. This evidence was passed to police chief Edmond Sébeille as soon as he arrived on the scene. The car's front doors had been closed, while the double boot door had been pushed in, with the key left in the lock on the outside, dismissing the theory that Elizabeth Drummond had locked herself in the car from the inside. 6.4 metres behind the rear of the car was a drainage sump. Behind the sump, the police officers noticed a large pool of blood covering about 1 square metre. The blood was never tested, and it was never established whose blood this was. The police found two cartridge cases and two full cartridges, lying in pairs (one cartridge case and one intact cartridge). One pair was found 3 metres behind the car, while the other was found 5 metres perpendicular to the front-left of the car and 1.5 metres away from Lady Anne's body. The two pairs of cartridges/cases were approximately 9 metres away from each other. The cartridge cases were marked "LC4", and were different from the full cartridges, which bore the mark "WCC 43" and "WCC 44". Gustave drew the police officers' attention to the body of Sir Jack Drummond on the other side of the road, and pointed them to where Elizabeth Drummond's body lay on the riverbank. The two officers discovered shoe prints from crepe shoes. It appeared that the wearer of these shoes had walked away from Elizabeth's body and back again several times. These shoe prints were protected by placing twigs around them and were photographed.

Officer Romanet borrowed the bicycle of Mrs Perrin (who had come to the scene to join her husband) to go and phone Sylve, a local merchant, and ask for reinforcements. Sometime after 7.45 am, Faustin Roure – returning from Peyruis, where he had gone to inform his employer, stopped once more at the farm. He saw Gaston Dominici bringing his goats back from the pasture, and witnessed Gaston and Yvette talking about the murder. Roure – who had hidden behind a trellis when he heard the two talking, but had been noticed by them anyway – could not confirm whether it was a serious discussion or just a vague conversation.

At around 8 am, Officer Bouchier, who was alone by the camp bed, saw Roger Perrin cycling past towards the Grand'Terre. Shortly afterwards, Perrin returned by foot, carrying his bicycle, accompanied by his grandfather and Gaston Dominici. Meanwhile, Gustave asked the officer for permission to go and cover Elizabeth's body using a sheet that was on the camp bed; he was therefore aware that her body had not yet been covered.

At 8.15 am, Captain Albert arrived on the scene with Officers Crespy, Rebaudo and Romanet, whom he had collected from in front of the Perrin home in Giropey. As soon as they arrived, Captain Albert noticed a bicycle at the foot of a bush. The identity plaque on it indicated that it belonged to Gustave Dominici. When Gustave was asked about this, he said that he had gone to look for some chalk at the request of the police, and had taken his bicycle so as to do it as quickly as possible. This account was refuted by Officers Romanet and Bouchier; furthermore, the bicycle disappeared without anyone noticing who had left on it or when.

At around 8.30 am, Henri Estoublon, the mayor of Lurs, arrived on the scene along with a local doctor, Dr Dragon, who began examining the bodies of the Drummond parents. When he inspected Elizabeth's body at 9.15 am, he noticed that her limbs and torso were still supple but her feet were stiff.

At around 9.15 am, Mr and Mrs Barth, Yvette's parents, arrived at the Dominici farm. Yvette herself had already left the area, getting a lift from Mr Nervi, the local butcher, to the market in Oraison. She didn't return until after 4 pm, this time driven back by her parents. Ordinarily, she did her shopping in Forcalquier and returned by lunchtime.

At 9.30 am, prosecutor Louis Sabatier, judge Roger Périès and his clerk Emile Barras arrived from Digne-les-Bains, the regional capital. At around 10 am, Officer Legonge, the police dog handler, arrived with his dog Wasch. Gaston and Gustave Dominici and Roger Perrin watched as the bitch, picking up Elizabeth's scent, followed the path towards the river for about 50 metres northwards, before going down to the railway track, which she followed for 100 metres in the direction of the farm. The dog then climbed back towards the RN 96 road, crossed it and climbed up towards the irrigation canal 30 metres above the road, where she stopped. No one could work out what this circuitous route meant.

By this time, dozens of onlookers had gathered, while investigators had trampled on and disturbed the now large area of the crime scene. It is possible that some evidence was tampered with – either accidentally or deliberately – or even stolen as macabre souvenirs.

For lunch, Gustave, Clovis and Paul Maillet, a neighbour, gathered in Gaston's kitchen. During the meal, Gustave said that he had found Elizabeth still alive. Maillet claimed to have been shocked that no one tried to help her.

The investigation begins

The investigation was officially assigned to Superintendent Edmond Sébeille of Marseille's 9th Mobile Brigade. At 3 pm, Judge Périès, who had not seen the Marseille police arrive, decided to have the bodies removed. While removing Elizabeth's body, Mr Figuière, the gravedigger (in that era, gravediggers were regularly called upon to remove bodies from crime scenes), found a chip of wood from a rifle stock about 10 cm from Elizabeth's head. This piece of evidence was passed around by hand amongst various people, who were not aware of where it had been found. When the police arrived, an altercation ensued between Superintendent Sébeille, Judge Périès and Captain Albert – the latter was reproached for not having contained the crowd of onlookers and journalists who were walking around and contaminating the crime scene. According to Sébeille, he and his team arrived in Lurs at 1.30 pm. However, numerous journalists, including André Sevry from French daily Le Monde, claimed that the Marseille police did not arrive until after 4.30 pm.

At around 6 pm on 5 August, Inspectors Ranchin and Culioli recovered a Rock-Ola M1 carbine from the river Durance. It was broken in two and had clearly been in very poor condition even before being thrown into the river. Several pieces were missing and repairs had been made using makeshift knick-knacks: the sight had been replaced by half of a 1-franc coin, while the wooden forearm covering the barrel was missing. The lever had been replaced by a Duralumin ring taken from a bicycle's identity plaque, which was fixed to the wood by a screw. The safety strap was missing and the bolt stop was broken. Therefore, it was more of a DIY handyman's weapon than that of a seasoned killer.

On the same day, a lorry driver, Ode Arnaud, reported to the police in nearby Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban that he had seen a man sitting in the rear-left seat of the Drummonds' car when he passed the scene at 11.15 pm on the night of the murders; and that around midnight, 3 km north of Manosque (to the south of the crime scene), he had overtaken a motorcycle with a sidecar on the left-hand side (indicating that it originated from a country where traffic drives on the left, such as the UK). Later on in the investigation, the Dominicis claimed that this motorbike and sidecar had stopped at their farm at around 11.30 pm. Investigators believed that this claim was intended (i) to discredit the anonymous witness who reported having seen Gustave outside the farm in the company of an unknown man between 11.30 pm and midnight; and (ii) to deflect suspicion towards Ode Arnaud.

At around 7.30 pm on 5 August, Superintendent Sébeille met Gaston Dominici for the first time, close to the spot where Elizabeth had been found that morning. Gaston's tattoos, as well as the manner in which he spoke, led to Sébeille forming a bad impression of him.

The Dominicis were formally interviewed for the first time on 6 August, and inconsistencies quickly arose. The Dominicis claimed to have heard gunshots but not the victims' screams and calls for help. Gaston claimed that he (and not the gravedigger) was the person who found the chip of wood from the US M1, stating that he found it 30 cm from Elizabeth's head while he was covering her body with the sheet. He also claimed that he gave the chip to Officer Bouchier. Inspectors Culioli and Ranchin discovered girl's underwear in some undergrowth on the railway embankment, some 450 metres south of the Grand'Terre and close to Lurs railway station. In contrast, the crime scene itself was located to the north of the Grand'Terre. In a letter to Captain Albert dated 25 August 1955, during the second investigation, Inspector Ranchin confirmed that Francis Perrin, the postman in Lurs, told the police that he had followed the Drummonds' car southbound from Lurs between 11.30 am and midday of 4 August 1952. He originally reported this to Superintendent Constant on 3 October 1952.

On 6 August, Lucien Duc, a lorry driver from La Roche-de-Rame, a village 150 km (95 miles) away in the Haute-Alpes département, reported to his local police in L'Argentière-la-Bessée that he and his brother, Georges, had passed by the crime scene at 12.20 am on the night of the murders. They reported seeing an unknown man "with a disturbing facial expression" who froze on the spot when they approached. He was reportedly standing 100 metres from the Drummond's car in the direction of the Dominici farm. This unknown man was described as being about 40 years old, overweight, about 1.8 metres (5 ft 11) tall and with a thick head of hair.

On 6 and 13 August, Superintendent Sébeille took witness statements from Henri Conil, an estate agent, and Jean Brault, a medical student who was on holiday in Peyruis. Conil, who was giving Brault a lift, reported that they drove past the Drummonds' car between 1.30 and 1.35 am. Both men reported seeing a silhouette moving in the shadows near the car, indicating that the killer or an accomplice was still at the scene.

On 7 August, a search warrant was executed at the Dominici farm. Investigators found a 12 mm calibre hunting rifle, an old Fusil Gras service rifle that had been rechambered for hunting large game, and a 9 mm carbine. Gustave refused to answer the police officers' questions, presenting them with a falsified doctor's note. The Drummonds' funeral was held at 5 pm that day in Forcalquier, and they were buried in the cemetery there, a few miles from where they were murdered.^[8]

On the morning of 8 August, Gustave was questioned for four hours by Superintendent Sébeille in Peyruis. He stuck to his previous statements. Sébeille interviewed Lucien Duc, who reasserted his statement of 6 August. Roger Roche, who lived in Dabisse, a hamlet connected to the village of Les Mées on the other side of the river from the crime scene, went to the police station in Malijai, claiming that he had been in his garden at the time of the murders and had heard four or five gunshots coming from what sounded like the direction of the farm. He said he may have heard screams, but could not be sure. He reported that he remained outside for 15 minutes and neither heard the sound of an engine nor saw any vehicle lights on the road where the murders took place. On the afternoon of 8 August, Superintendent Sébeille showed the US M1 carbine to Clovis Dominici, who reacted by collapsing in apparent shock. He was brought to Peyruis and questioned for two hours, but denied being familiar with the weapon.

Officers Romanet and Bouchier went to Jean-Marie Olivier's home (the motorcyclist who passed the crime scene at 6 am the morning after the murders and went to inform the police). Olivier told them that Gustave had waved him down from behind the Drummonds' car. Surprised, Olivier was unable to stop instantly and stopped 30 metres down the road. Gustave ran towards him and asked him to go to Oraison to alert the police. Gustave allegedly said to him: “There’s a dead guy on the embankment by the side of the road.” Gustave himself claimed that he merely said: “There’s a dead person over there,” gesturing towards the river. Investigators interpreted from Gustave’s own version of the phrase that he knew that Elizabeth was still alive.

On 9 August, daily newspaper France-Soir published a picture and details of Elizabeth Drummond's travel diary. In reality, it was a mock-up made by journalist Jacques Chapus.

On 12 August, Aimé Perrin was interviewed at his home in Giropey by Officer Romanet. The questions revolved around his meeting with Yvette Dominici on the morning of 5 August. Perrin told Romanet what Yvette had told him, i.e. that there had been a woman dressed in black. Perrin said that he was informed that a crime had taken place by Mr Bourgues, a platelayer, before 7 am on the morning of 5 August. This assertion was not credible because Mr Bourgues was not in the area that morning, and would in any case not have been working at that hour. Daily newspaper L'Humanité published a photograph from early May 1945 of Sir Jack Drummond wearing a Home Guard officer's uniform, in discussions with Wehrmacht officers behind German lines in the Netherlands. The French Communist Party promoted the theory that the Drummonds were murdered due to fierce battles being fought at that time in the Basse-Alpes area between the British and American secret services.

On 13 August, Yvette was interviewed at the Grand'Terre by Officers Romanet and Bianco, but she did not mention the woman dressed in black that Gustave had allegedly seen.

On 16 August, Superintendent Sébeille took a witness statement from Raymond Franco, a Marseille leather merchant who had been on holiday in Les Mées. He reported what he thought at the time were two hunting shots, followed by three of four shots with longer intervals between them. He had heard this from the open window of his bedroom. Superintendent Sébeille also interviewed Yvette, who claimed that Gustave, having returned from the Girard family farm, told her that the Drummonds were camping on an easement that the Dominicis held on a piece of government-owned land. When asked about this again in 1955, she denied having said it. She maintained that she did not leave her kitchen that evening, and that no one came to the house to ask for food or water, nor did anyone come to ask for permission to camp. Her statement repeated Gustave's statement of 8 August word for word, suggesting that the couple had colluded in advance on what to say to the police. Gustave added that when he was driving back in the opposite direction at 8 pm on 4 August, he noticed the Drummonds' car and assumed that the family were planning to sleep there without setting up a tent.

When Marcel Boyer (Clovis Dominici's brother-in-law) was interviewed by Officer Romanet, he stated that he did not stop at the Grand'Terre on the morning of 5 August and that he went directly to Lurs railway station. But on 20 August – and later on 25 June 1953, when interviewed by Superintendent Sébeille – Boyer reneged on this assertion. Boyer claimed to have been so unnerved by a conversation that he had heard between Gustave and Clovis on the farm that he had decided to categorically deny that he had been on the farm at all that morning. Then, when he eventually admitted to stopping by there, he denied having heard anything other than the word "body" in reference to Elizabeth Drummond.

On 17 August 1952, a Mrs Jeanne Christianini from Marseille reported to the Marseille-North police station that she had passed the crime scene at 8.30 pm on 4 August and had seen a fairly tall man, possibly Sir Jack Drummond, looking underneath the car's bonnet. This would explain why Lady Anne and Elizabeth may have gone to the farm to ask for some water to fill the car radiator, whose cooling system, designed for the British climate, was totally inadequate in the face of the Provençal heatwave that was occurring at that time. On the night of 17 to 18 August, a police reconstruction was organised at the crime scene. There was no moon on the night of the reconstruction, whereas there had been a full moon on the night of the crime. The reconstruction involved the Duc brothers (who had seen an unknown man 58 metres from the farm) and Marceau Blanc, the lorry driver who had passed the crime scene at 4.20 am on 5 August.

On 19 August, Jean Garcin, a farmer from Ribiers, about 40 km (25 miles) north of the crime scene, went to his local police station to report that he had passed the crime scene at 3.45 am on 5 August and seen cushions arranged around the Drummonds' car.

On 20 August, Gustave went to Peyruis to give Superintendent Sébeille a letter that he had received from his brother Aimé, who lived in Eygalières, in the Bouches-du-Rhône département, some 100 km (60 miles) west of the Dominici farm. Through the letter, Aimé explained that the initials "RMS" found on the stock of the US M1 carbine corresponded to René-Marcel Castang, a resident of Lurs who had died in 1946. However, in reality, these initials may also simply stand for the Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corporation, one of the manufacturers that produced this type of carbine. Aimé wrote that on the day of Castang's funeral in 1946, some weapons had been stolen from his farm, which bordered Paul Maillet's farm. Also on 20 August, Superintendent Sébeille received an anonymous letter stating that Maillet had stolen the US M1 from Castang's farm on the day of Castang's funeral.

Still on 20 August, a Giovani Colussel reported to the police in La Saulce, 70 km (45 miles) north of the crime scene, that he had passed the location at 5 am on the morning after the murders, and he saw a sheet that had been laid out flat about 1.5 metres in front of the Drummonds' car. Also on 20 August, Germain Garcin, a lorry driver from Laragne (85 km (50 miles) east of the crime scene), who coincidentally happened to be a relative of Jean Garcin (the farmer who had made a witness statement the day before), reported to the police in Laragne that he had passed the location at 3.50 am on 5 August and had seen one of the car's doors open and a fairly tall man standing over the raised bonnet, holding a lamp in his hand.

On 21 August, a letter to the editor was published in Le Monde: Mr Garçon, a Parisian lawyer, condemned Superintendent Sébeille's "ill-considered gossip" to journalists and accused him of trying to cheaply achieve fame. On the same day, Joseph Juliany, a coach driver, reported to the police in Manosque that he had passed the crime scene at 11.30 pm on 4 August on a return journey from Corps (130 km (80 miles) north in the Isère département) to Manosque, and he saw a fairly tall man leaning over the Drummond car's open bonnet, holding a lamp in his hand. By now, thanks to the numerous independent reports of a man looking under the bonnet of the Drummonds' car, the investigators confirmed that the Drummonds had experienced a mechanical problem with their car.

On 24 August, the police identified the writer of the anonymous letter: it was a female lavender farmer who stated that she had visited the Maillets in the summer of 1950 and had seen the murder weapon hanging up on a nail in their kitchen.

Another anonymous letter was sent to Superintendent Sébeille. It was dated 25 August and sent from Sisteron, a nearby larger town, and stated that Gustave had been outside the farm with an unknown man between 11.30 pm and midnight on 4 August.

On 18 August and again on 27 August, a Mr Panayoutou told the police that he had taken part in the triple murder. However, his claims turned out to be false. It has never been established whether he was trying to distract the police's investigation for criminal motives or whether he was a pathological liar tempted by the reward of 1 million francs offered by newspapers the Sunday Dispatch and Samedi Soir.

On 29 August, a search warrant was executed at the home of Paul Maillet, where two Sten guns with loading mechanisms and ammunition were found hidden in his kitchen stove. Maillet was questioned in Forcalquier until 7 pm about the origin of his weapons, to which he provided no credible answer. He suddenly remembered that on the afternoon of 4 August, he heard the sound of gunshots coming from the direction of the bushes on the riverbank while he was working on the railway at the station in Lurs. Following a deal with the prosecutor's office, Maillet was not prosecuted for unlawfully possessing weapons of war, in exchange for providing assistance to the investigators.

Still on 29 August, Paul Delclite, a boss at the local mine in Sigonce – who occasionally slept at the Guillermain farm, 350 metres south of the Dominici farm – provided a witness statement to Officers Romanet and Bouchier. He reported that at around 10 pm on 4 August, he cycled to his allotment in Saint-Pons, about 1 km north of the Grand'Terre. He said that when he passed the Drummonds' car, he noticed a pile of sheets to the left of the car, but saw neither a tent canvas nor a camp bed.

Gaston Dominici is arrested and charged

On 1 September 1952, radiesthetist Jean-Claude Coudouing visited the crime scene. With the permission of a police officer, he surveyed the railway with his pendulum, returning at 4.10 pm with a crushed bullet that he said he had found at the bottom of the railway embankment, 100 metres to the north of the bridge. Analysis later revealed the bullet to have been fired from the US M1 carbine.

On 2 September, a search warrant was executed at the farm of François Barth, Yvette Dominici's father. Nothing of any evidential value was found.

On 3 and 4 September, Gustave Dominici was questioned at the police station in Forcalquier, where he contradicted the statement made by motorcyclist Jean-Marie Olivier. Olivier had previously taken part in a police reconstruction at the crime scene, where the police had had to dispel groups of former Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTPs – from an armed communist resistance organisation active during World War II) who were attempting to prevent the reconstruction from taking place. According to Olivier, on the morning after the murders, Gustave had emerged from in front of the Drummonds' car. Gustave claimed that he had emerged from a path about 15 metres further away, on the other side of a blackberry bush, and that he had already once returned to the farm without approaching the camp bed. Olivier and Gustave were both adamant that their own respective accounts were true. Gustave's questioning lasted for seven hours. Superintendent Sébeille eventually handed over to his colleague Superintendent Constant, who was joined by Superintendent Mével, the deputy to Chief Superintendent Harzic. Gustave eventually admitted to having intercepted Olivier from next to the front of the car and not from the other side of the blackberry bush. He also admitted to having seen the two camp beds but not the bodies of Sir Jack and Lady Anne Drummond.

Gustave and Yvette continually disputed Olivier's account during the investigation.

From 5 September until the end of December 1952, Superintendent Constant led the investigation, in place of his colleague Sébeille.

On 16 September, L'Humanité, which at that time was the French Communist Party's official daily newspaper, reported on a notebook belonging to Sir Jack Drummond. The notebook, which was partially burnt, was allegedly found by schoolchildren on a rubbish heap in Long Eaton, near the Drummonds' Nottingham residence. The newspaper reported that on one unspecified day in July 1947, a note was written "6 pm, meeting in Lurs with …". The rest of the line had been burnt. The source of this information was deemed by the British press to be unreliable.

On 29 September, Henri Chastel, a lorry driver from Orpierre, a village about 50 km (30 miles) north of the crime scene, informed Inspector Ranchin that he had passed the area on the night of the murders at around midnight and had seen a thin man of average height, wearing a shirt with rolled-up sleeves, his hands pressed against one of the car's rear doors and looking into the car. This man is unlikely to have been Sir Jack Drummond, who was overweight, and the description matches the one of the man seen at 11.15 pm by Ode Arnaud on the night of the murders.

On 30 September, Paul Maillet was suspended from his duties as secretary of the local Communist Party branch in Lurs by the departmental federation. The party, which had long been suspected of preparing an armed uprising and active support for the Việt Minh in Indochina, did not want to risk being compromised by a potential obscure provincial militant whose war weapons had been seized and who had a previous conviction for stealing electricity.

Professor Ollivier, a weapons expert, filed an initial report on the lubrication of the Rock-Ola carbine. The report formally confirmed that the lubricant from the carbine was totally different from that from the weapons belonging to Gustave Dominici and Paul Maillet.

On 2 October, a gun (either a Springfield or a Garand) belonging to Aimé Perrin, who lived in Giropey and was the brother of Roger Perrin's father, was confiscated. Aimé Perrin was confirmed as being the person who fired a shot that was heard by Maillet on the afternoon of 4 August: he claimed to have been shooting at some crows that were pecking at his vineyard.

Also on 2 October, Superintendent Constant took a witness statement from Germain Chapsaur, a radio-electrician from Peyruis and the owner of a travelling cinema that toured the local area. He claimed to have passed the Drummonds’ car at 12.50 am on the night of the murders. He was travelling northbound, on the opposite side of the road to the lay-by in which the car was parked. He noticed nothing out of the ordinary: there was no sheet to the right of the car and no lamp was lit. He added that he did not pass any other vehicles until he arrived in Peyruis.

On around 15 October, Paul Maillet informed Superintendent Constant that Gustave had heard Elizabeth’s cries, which led him to find her. According to the file, Maillet confided this to Emile Escudier, a greengrocer from La Brillane, a month after the murders. He also confided to Escudier that Gustave had witnessed her murder. Escudier urged Maillet to tell the police. Although Superintendent Constant did not mention the name of the Communist Party member to the Digne-les-Bains police department, it is possible that it was Escudier who provided this information.

On 15 October, Gustave was taken to Digne-les-Bains, where he was questioned along with Clovis and Maillet, who both confirmed his account. Gustave admitted to having heard Elizabeth Drummond make an unusual “humming” noise before her folded left arm relaxed, but he denied having told Maillet this during lunch at the Grand’Terre on 5 August. He stated that Elizabeth’s cries had drawn him to the other side of the bridge and that he then returned to the farm to tell Marie and Yvette, who did not go to look themselves. Gustave maintained that he did not go out that night and that he got up at 5.30 am. This assertion was later found to be untrue. Clovis admitted telling his brother to say nothing. Superintendents Sébeille and Constant went to the Dominici farm to question the rest of the family. Sébeille questioned Yvette and then Gaston, while Constant questioned Marie. All three denied knowing that Elizabeth had still been alive when she was found.

On 16 October, Gustave, when questioned by Superintendent Constant, refused to admit to having been by the camp bed when Olivier passed the scene, as well as denying having seen Elizabeth still alive and struggling. He later said that he made these denials for fear that his parents may have murdered Elizabeth and would lash out at him. He said that while he was waiting for the police, he had been located at the top of a small set of steps leading to the Grand’Terre’s southern courtyard, on the lookout in case the Drummonds’ car drove off so that he could catch its number plate. When Officers Romanet and Bouchier arrived on the scene at 7.30 am, they did not see Gustave when they passed these steps, and were surprised that he was not present. It is unknown at what time Gustave realised that Elizabeth was still alive since there is no evidence that he indeed found her shortly after Olivier passed the scene, as Gustave had claimed. Gustave later alternatively provided and retracted other contradictory versions. Therefore, Gustave’s true movements at this time remain unknown to this day.

Gustave Dominici was taken into custody at Saint-Charles Prison in Digne-les-Bains in the late afternoon of 12 October 1952. He was formally charged by Judge Périès of failing to assist a person in danger of death, after he admitted that Elizabeth Drummond was still alive when he found her at around 5.45 am on 5 August 1952. Superintendent Constant interviewed Dr Dragon about his post-mortem of the three victims. Dr Dragon stated that Elizabeth had not been chased to the place where she was found, but rather that the killer had carried her there, as her feet exhibited no grazes or dust. Dr Dragon also stated that she would have died three hours after her parents.

On 20 October, Gustave, accompanied by Mr Pollak, his lawyer, retracted his previous statements. Holding him in custody had not had its desired effect but his request for bail was refused.

On 29 October, Superintendent Constant received new information from the intelligence agency in Marseille: a month after the murders, Clovis Dominici and Jacky Barth (Yvette Dominici's younger brother) were allegedly seen in the Grand'Terre's sheep pen in the company of a man known as 'Jo'. Marie Dominici apparently insisted that the family pay Jo off as soon as possible so that he would not cause a nuisance for them. Mr Pollak and his girlfriend, Nelly Leroy, also allegedly saw Jo. The only description given of Jo was that he had very bad teeth.

On 5 November, Gaston and Marie Dominici, François Barth, and her daughter Yvette, were questioned by Superintendent Constant. The all denied any knowledge of Jo's existence and of his presence on the farm.

Meanwhile, the police tracked down the "unknown man with a sinister look on his face" whom the Duc brothers saw when they passed the location at 12.20 am on 5 August. On 6 November, Superintendent Constant questioned the man, Marcel Chaillan, all day but the questioning did not result in any progress being made in the investigation. Chaillan's nephew, Fernand, and brother, Louis, were also questioned, with no further action taken against them. Unlike his colleague Sébeille, Superintendent Constant believed that Marcel Chaillan was the man seen by Ode Arnaud at 11.15 pm on the night of the murders, then by Chastel at around midnight, and then by the Duc Brothers at 12.20 am, about 105 metres from the Drummonds' car. Constant's belief in this implies that Chaillan was also the unknown man seen with Gustave between 11.30 pm and midnight, and possibly also the man seen by the anonymous caller from Sisteron.

Gustave was questioned in prison on 7 November. He was evasive on the topic of Jo. Having returned to the crime scene with his lawyers, Mr Pollak and Mr Charrier, he claimed to know nothing about what allegedly happened in the sheep pen and denied knowing Jo. On the other hand, he stated that François Perrin, the postman in Lurs, had come to the farm that day. When questioned, the postman stated that he saw the lawyers and a journalist, as well as his father Louis, but not the Barths. Louis Perrin stated that he passed the Grand'Terre and went through its southern courtyard. He claimed to have seen Nelly Leroy (lawyer Pollack's girlfriend) and her daughter at the entrance to the sheep pen, in the company of Jacky but not her father, François Barth. Louis Perrin also denied that his nickname was Jo. He had some metal teeth, some of which were partially broken.

On 12 November, Nelly Leroy was questioned by Superintendent Constant. According to her, they visited the farm on 8 September. Besides the Dominicis, she only remembered seeing Jacky Barth: she remembered that at one point, a man with metal teeth approached from the direction of the sheep pen before immediately going back towards it. The two lawyers themselves were not questioned.

Still on 12 November, Gustave Dominici was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment for failing to assist a person in danger. His past as a member of the FTP spared him from the maximum five-year sentence. He was released on 15 December.^[2] On this same day, Wilhelm Bartkowski, who had been detained at Stuttgart prison in West Germany since 9 August 1952, claimed that he had been driving the car of the commando of a contract-killing squad recruited in West Germany by a secret East German mission whose aim was to execute the Drummonds. Bartkowski retracted this statement later, following questioning by a Superintendent Gillard.

Following Gustave's imprisonment, Paul Maillet began to receive several death threats in the post. On the morning of 17 November, he narrowly escaped an attempt on his life: in an attempt to decapitate him, an iron wire had been tied across a track along which he was travelling on his moped. Then, shortly before Christmas, unidentified people were seen loitering close to his house and farm.

On 17 November, a Dr Morin provided a witness statement of the events of 6 August. He had apparently been camping nearby, and at the invitation of Gustave Dominici he had changed the location of his camp to a raised piece of land on the approach to the bridge over the railway. He said when he left this location, he went to stay at the Grand'Terre itself, but that he wasn't sure if he had stayed on Gaston's or Gustave's land. Gustave allegedly gave him two hunting rifles, one of which was used to hunt wild boar. This gun's sight had been replaced by half of a one-franc coin, which Gustave had welded into place. When Morin was shown the photograph of the US M1, he did not recognise the carbine with no loading mechanism that Gustave had shown him – the latter was different from the US M1, which did have a loading mechanism. At this stage of the investigation, Dr Morin's testimony was considered vague and was not taken on board.

On 30 November, Paul Maillet was expelled from the Communist Party by local secretary Roger Autheville for "collaborating with the police". Autheville was a former FTP boss and a friend of Gustave's.

On 4 December, Professor Ollivier filed a new expert report about the lubrication of the Springfield weapon seized from Aimé Perrin. The spectrum of this gun's lubricant was very different from that of the Rock-Ola.

On 20 January 1953, Superintendent Sébeille officially took charge of the investigation. He was warned not to make any ill-advised statements to the press.

Paul Maillet told the local police in Forcalquier on 23 January, followed by Superintendent Sébeille on 27 January, that Gustave Dominici had viewed the Drummonds' murders from the alfalfa field.

On 27 January, Aimé Perrin learned from Sébeille that Gustave and Yvette had seen a mysterious woman dressed in black on the evening of 4 August 1952 standing by the Drummonds' car. Yvette allegedly informed Perrin of this when they met on the morning of 5 August, and claimed that Clotilde Araman, a member of the Dominici family, also knew of this. On 14 February, Clotilde Araman confirmed this under questioning, and claimed that she had also been informed of the sighting by Yvette. However, she also reported that Gustave denied having seen the woman. Clotilde believed the woman could have been Marie Dominici, but the police did not believe this, as Gustave would not have failed to recognise his own mother.

On 29 January, Roger Perrin Jr, Gaston Dominici's grandson, repeated this story to Superintendent Sébeille, before telling the same account to the local police in Forcalquier the following day.

On 2 February, Superintendent Sébeille questioned Officer Bouchier from Forcalquier. Bouchier claimed to have seen Roger Perrin pass by on his bicycle at around 8 am on 5 August 1952. Bouchier insisted that he saw Roger return a few minutes later on foot with his bicycle in his hand, accompanied by his grandfather (Gaston) and Gustave, all three of whom had left the farm to go to where the Drummonds were camped. Despite this account seeming insignificant, Gaston and Gustave jointly contested it in front of Judge Batigne on 19 November 1955. Questions were asked as to why they were so determined to hide the fact that they had left the farm together. In his first statement to the court, Gaston claimed that Gustave had informed him of the murders, but as Roger's version threatened Faustin Roure's testimony, Gaston and Gustave issued denials. Roger had stuck to his version since telling Sébeille of it on 29 January 1953. The investigation's waters were muddied by Roger's return to the farm at around 7.45 am and by the confusion regarding who owned the bicycled used by Roger. Bouchier reported that he had asked Roger to hold a measuring rod. Gaston was furious at this request and sent Roger back to the farm. Roger only grudgingly obeyed, staying at the scene for a minute or two before returning to the farm with his grandfather; they both returned to the scene at around 11 am. Gaston therefore brought his grandson to Prosecutor Sabatier, though Gaston fiercely denied this at his trial.

On 19 March 1953, Captain Albert took witness statements from Officer Émile Marque from the local police in Valensole, a town a short distance south of the crime scene. He reported that he saw the Drummonds arrive at the Hôtel l'Ermitage at around 6.15 pm on 4 August 1952 and leave about an hour later. Marque claimed that an hour after the Drummonds left the hotel, another British couple arrived, the woman of whom was dressed in black. The man asked Marque if he had seen an English car. Marque replied that he had, upon which the man went into the hotel to use make a telephone call, while the woman stayed by the car. The couple left about 15 minutes later. This is the second time that a woman dressed in black had been mentioned during the investigation. Even though this testimony was provided by a police officer, the statement was given little credence due to how long Marque had waited before reporting it, and it was not retained by the investigators. Officer Marque was not called to court as a witness.

On 3 May, Superintendent Constant provided his final report to Chief Superintendent Harzic. He went out of his way to make the point that the local communists had been entirely cooperative with the investigators. The Basse-Alpes branch of the Communist Party organised committees dedicated to defending the Dominicis around August 1953 and scheduled an anti-police protest for the beginning of September 1953. Both of these initiatives had been prohibited by prefectural order (a decree issued by the prefect of the département).

On 7 May 1953 in Digne-les-Bains, Roger Perrin (who had by that time been working as a butcher there for a while) informed Superintendent Sébeille of the existence of a canvas water bucket that the Drummonds had used to bring water to the farm. The following day, Roger's mother Germaine – in whom Yvette had also confided – confirmed to Sébeille that the Drummonds had come to the farm. Furthermore, the Drummonds' money, as well as a few of their personal items, including a camera, were not present at the crime scene and have never been found.

On 13 May 1953, Superintendent Sébeille travelled to Marseille to take a witness statement from Jean Ricard, who had been camping on the night of the murders in Ganagoble, a village located on a plateau above the west bank of the river near the crime scene. Ricard stated that he passed the crime scene at around 7 am on 5 August 1952 and saw Lady Anne Drummond lying on her back parallel to the left-hand side of the car, with her feet facing south towards the farm, and her body partially covered by a sheet down to her lower legs. However, when Officers Romanet and Bouchier – accompanied by Aimé Perrin, whom they had met on route – came across her body at 7.30 am, she was lying on her front, entirely covered by the sheet, and in a diagonal position in relation to the car and several metres away from it, with her feet facing north-east towards the river. Gaston Dominici could not have moved her body, as he had returned to the farm at 7.45 am, herding his goats, who had been grazing since sunrise in Giropey, 2 kilometres to the south.

On 21 August 1953, Superintendent Sébeille took a new statement from Jean-Marie Olivier, as his original statement provided on 5 August 1952 had only been noted partially by Officer Gibert in Oraison. Olivier had spoken to Captain Albert, who had directed him to Officer Gibert. Olivier had told Gibert that the Yvette and Marie Dominici were at the entrance to the farm, watching Gustave. Olivier's new statement also revealed the following information:

• The man seen on four occasions roaming the area between 11.15 pm and 12.20 am (unless this was several different people) resembled neither Sir Jack Drummond nor Gaston Dominici: Gaston had been seen in the company of an unknown man between 11.30 pm and midnight; Marcel Chaillan was probably the unknown man seen by the Duc brothers at 12.20 am. In addition, 'Jo' had been seen at the farm in early September.
• Statements from various members of the Dominici family regarding the number of gunshots were inconsistent: Gaston's statement agreed with Roger Roche's, while Gustave's and Yvette's agreed with Raymond Franco's.
• Gaston and/or Gustave altered the crime scene several times shortly after the murders. At the very least, Gustave did so at around 4 am, as Gaston could not have done so as he had left for Giropey with his goats by that time.
• Gustave refused to admit that he had been present at the crime scene, despite being surprised there by Olivier passing on his motorcycle.
• Gustave mentioned several bodies, rather than only that of Elizabeth Drummond on the embankment by the river. However, Gustave claimed to have only been referring to Elizabeth's body, and claimed that she was dead, although he knew that she was in fact still alive.
• Marie and Yvette Dominici stayed on the lookout at the entrance to the farm: they therefore knew that Gustave was doing something at the crime scene.
• Therefore, the Dominicis intended neither to save Elizabeth Drummond nor to raise the alarm. According to the prosecution, the reason for this was obvious: they had to allow Gustave time to change the crime scene again, since Jean Ricard had passed it shortly after 7 am.
• Gustave had therefore been lying repeatedly since he was first questioned on 6 August 1952.

Lie after lie

When Roger Perrin was questioned by the police about his movements on the morning of 5 August 1952, he told them that he got up at 5 am to tend to his cattle, then left for Peyruis at 6 am to fetch a bottle of milk from an elderly local man named Mr Puissant. Perrin claimed that Mr Puissant told him that Puissant’s friend, Jean Galizzi, had accidentally taken the bottle of milk to Pont-Bernard, where he then learnt of the murders. Galizzi confirmed this account when he was questioned. However, when the police went to Peyruis to visit Puissant to confirm this story, they found that Puissant had died in November 1951. When Galizzi was re-questioned about this, he admitted having made up his testimony. According to Daniel Garcin, Galizzi’s employer, Galizzi spent the night of 4 to 5 August at La Cassine, a farm located beyond Peyruis (in relation to the murder scene) and that the Perrin family had just become tenant farmers there.

Roger Perrin then changed his story: it was Faustin Roure, who led the team of platelayers at Lurs railway station, who had informed him of the murders when he stopped by at the Perrins’ farm. When Roure was subsequently questioned, he denied this, though he later admitted in the witness box at the murder trial that Perrin’s account was indeed true.

When Perrin was asked how he had arrived at the crime scene, he claimed that he had used a racing bike belonging to his cousin Gilbert (Clovis Dominici’s son). When Clovis was asked about this, he said that he only lent the bicycle to his son on 18 August 1952. However, the police officers saw only Gustave Dominici’s bicycle (and no others) by the wall on the morning after the murders. Roger Perrin later claimed to have borrowed his mother Germaine’s bicycle – but Germaine spent the night of 4 to 5 August at La Cassine and Roger claimed to have slept alone at La Serre, the Perrin family farm.

Astonished by Perrin’s various lies and contradictions, the police questioned him about his movements on the night preceding the murders. He claimed that he had gone to the hamlet of Saint-Pons, about 1 km north of the Dominici farm, to water apricot plants and chat with Paul Delclite, who worked on a neighbouring allotment. When Delclite was questioned to verify Perrin’s story, he denied having met Perrin. Re-questioned about this, Perrin provided a new alibi: his mother Germaine Perrin (née Dominici) had helped him water his plants. His mother confirmed this. However, Roger forgot that he had stated to Superintendent Constant on 23 September 1952 that his mother had left on her bicycle to join her husband at La Cassine, north of Peyruis, on 4 August at 2 pm.

Despite Perrin’s chain of lies, Superintendent Sébeille considered him a harmless young braggart. Perrin lied on ‘only’ three points: his presence at the Grand’Terre on the night of the murders; how he learned of the murders; and which bicycle he had used to arrive at the crime scene on the morning of 5 August when Officer Bouchier saw him arrive at 8 am.

On the morning of 12 November 1953, a police reconstruction was held at the crime scene. Participating were Marcel Boyer, Faustin Roure and Clovis Dominici. Dr Dragon and motorcyclist Jean-Marie Olivier were also present. The first part of the reconstruction concerned the exact location of Lady Anne Drummond’s body: the first three witnesses agreed that she had been lying parallel to the left of the car, but Jean Ricard (a tourist who had passed the crime scene on foot between 6.50 and 7 am) claimed she was covered by a sheet from her knees up, while the other two witnesses claimed that she was totally uncovered. Clovis Dominici claimed that Lady Anne’s body had been lying in a diagonal position 6 metres away from the car, but he later changed this story and admitted that she had indeed been lying on her back parallel to the car. Gustave Dominici was then questioned: he claimed that he reluctantly placed the sheet at an angle a certain distance away from the car. He was confused by the other witness statements and was unsure of the exact spot from which he had hailed Jean-Marie Olivier when he was riding past on his motorcycle at around 6 am. Gustave was brought before the court in Digne-les-Bains on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice due to his lies. Ricard, Roure, Clovis Dominici, Pailler, and Germaine and Roger Perrin were later brought before the court. Contrary to Superintendent Sébeille’s later claims, he had always considered Gustave Dominici the prime suspect. During this round of questioning, Gaston Dominici remained at the family farm and the police did not seek to question him.

When Gustave was confronted by Maillet and Olivier’s statements, he initially denied the facts, before eventually admitting that both men’s accounts were true. Roger Perrin then resisted the investigators’ efforts and became arrogant towards his uncle – his questioning at this time therefore yielded no answers. Gustave Dominici admitted that the Drummonds had come to the farm, but said he was not there at the time. He claimed to have found Elizabeth Drummond, severely injured but still alive, at 4 am. He claimed that he only discovered the bodies of her parents at 5.45, after having tended to his cattle. He said that he did not interfere with Sir Jack and Lady Anne Drummond’s bodies or the sheet, and that therefore someone else must have done so. Questioning was suspended at 7 pm and resumed at 8.30 pm. Gustave then admitted to moving Lady Anne Drummond’s body without providing a credible explanation why: he claimed that he had been looking for cartridge cases. Gustave ended his questioning by admitting: “I was looking for the bullets or cases. I was scared that they would be found close to the house.”^[9] This statement implies that other ammunition scattered around the location did not originate from the farm. Gustave's explanation is all the more improbable as he claimed to have seen two cases and two cartridges grouped together in pairs – which would suggest that the scene was staged – while also claiming that he did not touch them, yet four cases were missing.

Gustave added that he was disturbed by Jean Ricard's unexpected arrival and that he didn't have time to hide in the gorge at the end of the embankment. Gustave was not challenged about other aspects of the crime scene that the police believed may have been staged, such as Lady Anne's sandals, which were hidden underneath a cushion on the small footpath leading off diagonally from the car towards the railway, or the sheet wedged underneath her body (which was a different sheet from the one that had covered her body at some point earlier in the morning). This led the investigators to wonder whether there had been two assailants (or whether, at the very least, two people had moved the body), and whether Clovis had stayed at the farm to help Gustave after the platelayers had left.

On the morning of Friday 13 November, Judge Périès instructed the police to bring in Germaine Perrin, her son Roger, and Yvette Dominici for questioning. At 9.30 am, the judge questioned Yvette about the Drummonds' arrival at the farm. Yvette denied that they had come to the farm, even after Judge Périès told her that Gustave had admitted that they had. At 10 am, the judge questioned Yvette and Roger together, without success. He then ordered for Gustave Dominici and Germaine Perrin to be brought to the superintendent. Yvette held out against the others and refused to make any admission. At around 2.45 pm, Gustave broke down in tears and accused his father Gaston of murdering the Drummonds. Superintendent Sébeille was content to draw up a seven-line procès-verbal (an official statement of facts with legal force), noting Gustave's accusation without asking him any questions about it.

Gustave was questioned by Judge Périès at 4.30 pm. Gustave claimed that on the night of the murders, he was awoken by gunshots and was unable to go back to sleep. At around 4 am, he heard his father get up, and he then joined his father in the kitchen (doubts later arose as to how this could be true when Gustave never heard Gaston return home after the gunshots took place, despite being awake from this time onwards). Gaston allegedly told Gustave that he had fired the gunshots using a carbine that he had hidden, either in his bedroom or in the farm's sheep pen. It is still unknown how the gun was hidden again (it was later found by Clovis). Gustave claimed that he was unaware of the existence of the carbine. Gustave then stated that Gaston left to hunt rabbits with a war weapon and on his return, admitted to Gustave that he had murdered the Drummonds. Gaston allegedly told Gustave that he had shot Sir Jack first, followed by Lady Anne. Notably, he did not admit to his son that he had killed Elizabeth. Gaston then allegedly got rid of the weapon, but did not tell Gustave where or how he had done so. Gustave stated that his father had knocked Elizabeth unconscious at the foot of the bridge, whereas he had previously denied knowing where Elizabeth's body was located. Gustave claimed that upon hearing his father's admission, he went to the crime scene and found that Elizabeth was still alive (forensic scientists consulted by Superintendent Constant in October 1952 stated that due to her injuries, Elizabeth could not have survived for longer than an hour after the attack). Gustave claimed that he then went back to the camp bed and saw the bodies of Sir Jack and Lady Anne Drummond. He asserted that the parents' bodies were covered but Elizabeth's was not. Gustave then returned to the farm between 4.30 and 4.45 pm and told Yvette and Marie – who were doing chores in the farm's courtyard – that Elizabeth was still alive and struggling. This account of events is improbable: if Gustave took only 10 or 15 minutes to leave the farm and find the bodies, geography dictates that Gaston – who had been driving his herd of goats towards Giropey – must have crossed paths with the women in the courtyard, who had been up and about far earlier than they usually were. Gustave continued his statement by claiming that he tended to his cattle before returning to the crime scene to search for anything that might belong to his father. He said he saw the cartridge cases but did not touch them. It was at that point that motorcyclist Jean-Marie Olivier came upon the scene, about an hour and a half after the bodies were discovered. The investigators saw no reason to doubt Olivier’s account. Gustave’s suspected untruthful account continued, claiming that his father told him to shut up when several people (including Clovis and Maillet) gained knowledge that the police were beginning to suspect Gaston several weeks later.

Gaston Dominici is accused and confesses

Gaston Dominci’s sons, Gustave and Clovis, accused their father of the murders on 13 November 1953. In return, Gaston accused them of concocting a plot against him, and he claimed during the second inquiry in 1955 that his son Gustave and Roger Perrin were responsible for the murders.

Gaston arrived in Digne-les-Bains at around 7 pm on 13 November 1953, escorted by Gendarmerie Commander Bernier. According to official sources, he was questioned until 10.30 pm, although other sources claim that he was questioned through the night.

In the mid-morning of 14 November 1953, Gustave and Clovis, who had been taken to the Grand'Terre by the police, showed them where the US M1 carbine had been kept: on a shelf in a shed. This revelation was preceded by a brawl between law enforcement and the Dominici women and girls, who were eventually held in an outbuilding.

Gaston Dominici was questioned until 6 pm on 14 November, but no progress was made with the investigation. His custody was the responsibility of Custody Officer Guérino. At 7 pm, Gaston confided in Guérino that he was responsible for the murders, but stated that it had been an accident: the Drummonds had attacked him, thinking he was a mugger. Gaston asked Guérino to go and find Superintendent Prudhomme of the Digne-les-Bains police, whom he considered the legitimate law-enforcement leader – he refused to make any admission to Superintendent Sébeille.^[10]

When Guérino finished his shift at 8 pm and handed over to his colleague Bocca, Guérino immediately went to inform his boss, while Gaston changed his story when he began confessing to Bocca. When Prudhomme arrived, Gaston asked him to draw up "the document that says I'm guilty", all the while proclaiming his innocence and claiming that he was sacrificing himself to protect his grandchildren. Irritated, Prudhomme responded that the situation could not be treated like a negotiation at a market: either he was guilty or he wasn’t. Superintendent Prudhomme did not ask which grandchildren Gaston meant, i.e. all of them, only Gustave’s or only Germaine Perrin’s. In light of Gaston’s difficulties in expressing himself, Prudhomme suggested to him that the crime was sexually motivated. Following this tactic, Gaston changed his initial account and stated that the murders were triggered by his sexual attraction to Lady Anne Drummond.

Later that night, Gaston repeated his statement to Superintendent Sébeille while Prudhomme noted it down. Gaston claimed to have seen Lady Anne Drummond getting undressed and decided to invite her to have sexual relations with him, which she accepted. The noise of their lovemaking then woke Sir Jack Drummond. A fight resulted, and Gaston consequently shot Sir Jack three times – twice to his front – before shooting Lady Anne either once or twice. Elizabeth fled towards the bridge but Gaston caught up with her at the riverbank and knocked her unconscious with a single pistol-whip.

Gaston's confession and sexual motive contradicted the autopsy results: Lady Anne Drummond’s body was entirely clothed, and her dress had been pierced by the bullets. Furthermore, the autopsy showed that she had not been involved in sexual intercourse immediately before her death.

On the morning of 15 November, Judge Périès arrived at work early and was unaware of Gaston’s confession. Giraud, the building’s caretaker, informed Judge Périès upon his arrival, since Sébeille had already not done so. Rather than having Gaston brought to him for questioning, Périès interrogated Giraud until 9.15 am. Sébeille arrived at 9.30 am and went straight to where Gaston was being held. At 10.15 am, Sébeille presented Gaston to Périès. Gaston protested his innocence and accused Gustave of being the real murderer. At this point, Périès withdrew to discuss with his clerk, Barras.

At 11.15 am, Périès returned to speak to Gaston, who had now agreed to admit to being the sole perpetrator. He claimed that it was the first time that he had used the US M1 and that he had taken it with him hunting just in case he came across a badger or a rabbit. Périès did not ask Gaston why he had opted to take a war weapon when he also owned various hunting rifles. In addition, Gaston claimed that the US M1’s magazine was full, thus containing 15 cartridges, and that he had also taken another two or three cartridges that were lying around on the shelf. Six shots had been fired from the US M1, and two full cartridges and two empty cartridge cases were found at the crime scene. This meant that about 12 cartridges were missing, as the magazine was found empty.

Gaston maintained that he had been using the weapon for the first time and did not know how to operate it properly, as it was semi-automatic. Those who believe in his innocence have asked how he could have been able to kill two alert adults and then shoot Elizabeth from 60 metres away while she was running (Elizabeth sustained a gunshot wound to her right ear). Although there had been a clear sky and full moon on the night of the murders, Gaston was short-sighted and did not wear glasses. Périès did not ask these questions, while Sébeille showed a lack of interest in the technical matters relating to the ballistics. In a book that he wrote later, Sébeille admitted that he never consulted the Drummonds’ autopsy reports. What mattered to him was the confession (which he acknowledged had inconsistencies), rather than material elements that weakened Gaston’s various confessions. For their part, Prosecutor Sabatier and Judge Périès simply followed Superintendent Sébeille, rather than giving him instructions.

In the afternoon of 15 November 1953, Judge Périès discussed for the first time a pair of trousers belonging to Gaston, which Inspector Girolami had been seen drying on the Dominicis’ trellis in the late afternoon of 5 August 1952. Inspector Girolami confirmed this in writing to the investigators leading the second inquiry on 24 August 1955.

References

Coordinates: 43°58′35″N 5°54′33″E / 43.9764°N 5.9091°E / 43.9764; 5.9091