The French Aristocrat Murder Mystery

The Dupont de Ligonnes family, including the suspected killer, Xavier

In 2011, a handsome, aristocratic Frenchman may have shot and killed his wife, their four children, and two dogs, burying them all in the garden of their home in Nantes, France. His terrified former mistress went into hiding, fearing for her life. The mystery remains unsolved.

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July 2015, a Nantes journalist received the above photograph, with the message on the reverse.

The entire de Ligonnes family, except for the father, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes, was murdered in their sleep. Even the two family dogs were killed with what was believed to be a silenced .22 rifle.

After friends and relatives noticed the family had been missing, the police searched their home and discovered all five bodies buried in the backyard of the home at 55 Robert-Schuman Boulevard. A manhunt immediately started for Xavier, who quickly became the prime suspect. He had cancelled the lease on their home and informed his children’s school that they were moving and would no longer be attending.

Although his car was discovered at a nearby hotel, he has never been found. Police believe he most likely committed suicide, but a body was never discovered

At first, it seemed like a bizarre case of a middle-class family who packed up their home and fled to another continent for a new life. Neighbors of the Dupont de Ligonnès family called the police when they noticed their home in the north-western city of Nantes seemed unusually deserted. The children’s school had been notified of a “sudden job transfer” to Australia, the family’s wardrobes had been emptied and the letter-box was taped-up with a note “return all mail to sender”.

But when police looked closer at the townhouse – and the suspicious building work on the patio – they found a severed human leg buried in the garden. Further digs revealed a one-legged corpse, and four others: believed to be the bodies of the mother Agnès, 49, and children Arthur, 20, Thomas, 18, Anne, 16, and Benoît, 13. They were thought to have been killed by shotgun, and were wrapped in hessian sacks and buried under quicklime, all recently purchased. With them were the corpses of the family’s two Labradors, Leon and Jules.

It was discovered Count Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès bought cement, a shovel and a hoe on April 1, 2011. He bought four bags of lime, 10 kg each, from different shops in the Nantes area on April 2.

On Sunday April 3,  the couple and three of the children dined in a restaurant in Nantes, then went to the cinema. This is  the last confirmed  sighting of most of the family. Then on April 4, Anne and Benoît did not turn up at their school, La Perverie-Sacré-Cœur, “due to illness”.

That night Xavier dined alone with his son Thomas at La Croix Cadeau, a high-end restaurant in Avrillé, near Angers. The two waiters remember Thomas feeling unwell near the end of the meal, and that Xavier and Thomas barely spoke to each other during the meal.

Investigators believe that Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès murdered his wife and three of his children on the night of April 3 to 4, then murdered his son Thomas on the evening of April 4.

On April 13, neighbors in Nantes became concerned and contacted the police. The house’s shutters had been closed for more than a week and Agnès' car has been parked on the street outside the entire time.

Police searched for the father, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, 50, described by neighbors as “courteous and discreet”. His car was found the following Friday in the car park of a cheap hotel on the French Riviera, where he is thought to have spent one night in mid-April

Dupont de Ligonnes was last seen on April 15, 2011 – a week before his family’s bodies were discovered. Xavier checked out of the hotel but abandoned his car there – leaving the hotel in the southeastern town of Roquebrune-sur-Argens on foot with what looked like a rifle case on his back.

Eighteen miles from Roquebrune-sur-Argens, Colette Deromme disappeared mysteriously from her villa in Lorgues. Both her car and her keys were left behind. Her body was found a month later. Some wondered if there was a connection.

Xavier and Agnès de Ligonnès née Hodanger had lived in Lorgues during the 1990s, and two of their children were born there. Investigators explored a potential link between these circumstances but it was concluded that it was a coincidence and that Xavier was not connected to Deromme’s disappearance and death.

It appears that Dupont de Ligonnès sent what looks like a family photo of two of his sons sitting at a table to a journalist at AFP. On the back of the photo, scrawled in blue ink, were the words “I am still alive”. Just below, in smaller print was, “From then until this hour”. The message was signed: Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès.

The journalist immediately handed the photo over to the police, who requested a handwriting analysis as well as DNA and fingerprint testing.

It also emerged, he also had a secret mistress, Catherine who he met in 2009 on the Internet. Eventually she lent him 50,000 euros in order to start a business, but instead he used the money to pay his debts, buy his wife Agnes a car, and stay in luxurious hotels. Soon the money was gone and he signed "an acknowledgment of debt to his mistress" stipulating it would be paid by July 3, 2010. He wrote her, stating he believed she didn't need the money, but she threatened him with legal action.

Fugitive Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes is thought to have given her £45,000 through a company set up to disguise the payments.

After the murder, Catherine who lived in Paris showed cops texts and correspondence from her lover. She left her home to stay with friends, due to fearing for her life.

His sister, Christine de Ligonnès mentioned an email that her brother wrote to two friends in July 2010. He wrote of “accidents” which may befall his family, and ended with the words: “So I hope that, even after a police investigation, my parents, brothers and sisters will never be led to believe that I intentionally caused these accidents (even if the evidence is strong).”

An autopsy of the victims found the children had ingested sleeping pills, but not Agnes. It is believed she was the first to be murdered. Each was killed with two bullets to the head from a .22 long rifle. None of the neighbors heard the gunshots, and there is suspicion a silencer was used.

They were slaughtered in their bed, wearing pajamas, execution style but strangely there was no blood in the bedrooms, living room, foyer or bathroom. None was found on any of the furniture, floors or walls. The police are at a loss even today, on how to explain how five persons could be murdered with no evidence or blood splatter being left behind.

Not only was there no blood, samples from the scene didn't find any DNA or fingerprints from anyone. 

According to friends, by killing his sons, Xavier was ending his lineage.

Throughout the years after the murder authorities have searched caves, mines and other dangerous and hard to access locations, but with no success.

In 2019, a monk who resembled Xavier caused the monastery to be raided.

In 2020, Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries aired an episode about the murders which generated 2,000 tips.

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An unsigned letter dated April 11, 2011, apparently sent by Xavier, was received by his close relatives. This letter was released by the media in May. It covered four pages of A4-sized paper, written in an informal, sometimes humorous style, and at times rambles and goes off on unrelated tangents. It translates into English as follows:

Hi everyone!
Huge surprise: we have to leave urgently for the US, due to a very particular set of circumstances that we will explain below.
You're receiving this letter by conventional post because for the next few years, we can't communicate any other way (no emails, no texts, no phone calls) for safety reasons.
When you read this letter, we will no longer be in France and won't be able to return for an as-yet undetermined period of time (a few years).
You must be wondering what's going on…
Here's the story (as least, as much as we're allowed to tell you. This letter is the only correspondence we were allowed to write – which might be good news for some of you – and it has been checked before being sent to you).
When we started our company in Miami in 2003, we were put into contact (through the person who helped us to start the company) with the "DEA" (Drug Enforcement Administration: a sort of American "drug squad" with agents on the ground in several countries), who were looking for a French national to infiltrate the French nightclub scene to obtain information about drug-trafficking and money-laundering networks without drawing attention to themselves.
Through the Route des Commerciaux, I found myself in a different city every evening, with a legitimate reason to make contact with nightclub bosses (to invite them to be listed in the "Leisure" section of the RDC), so I (Xavier) was the ideal candidate:
So once I was tested and briefed, I accepted my mission of working incognito for the DEA, under the condition that I maintain secrecy (which includes, even more importantly, the children).
So that's the real reason why we returned to France instead of settling in Miami (and not due to vaccinations that are supposedly "dangerous" for the children … those who have never "swallowed" this "bogus" reason can rest assured: they were right! LOL)
This has allowed us to build up our official business activity: the RDC and SELREF (established especially to develop "loisirs-visites.com" alongside RDC, so that nightclubs can feature in it), and to have an (unofficial) monthly income, since this official activity did not bring in enough money to cover our expenses … (far from it).
(Moreover, even with this cash boost, we have experienced temporary financial difficulties from time to time, as you all know, and we'd like to take this opportunity to once again thank Emmanuel and Bertram, who bailed us out in a timely manner by acting as our bankers.)
Everything has gone according to plan in the nightclubs for the last 7 years … until now:
With the information that I (Xavier) have collected in this time, I have become a key witness in an upcoming trial involving major international drug-trafficking kingpins. The trial will have to take place in the US in the next few years. The date has not yet been determined.
What complicates matters is that certain tips had recently led us to believe that my cover may have been blown.
And unfortunately, we received confirmation of this yesterday.
Therefore, the situation has now become potentially dangerous for us here and has required us to take emergency measures.
When I first went undercover, I accepted that I might be placed into the "Federal Witness Protection Program". This is what we now have to do … and we're not doing it with any excitement, but because it's necessary and there's no way around it.
So we have been taken into the protective custody of the US Government and "transferred" to the US, and we have new identities, which must, of course, be kept secret.
By the time you read this letter, we will officially "no longer exist" as French citizens!
We will be "lambda" US citizens, living in the US like any other US citizen … except we will be forbidden from communicating with our family and friends for an undetermined period of time, at least until the trial is over.
This gives us some advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages:
Absolute safety (no reprisals to fear)
The US Government is taking care of us financially
Living in the US (we can't tell you where, but the weather is warm most of the time and the music is good …)
Disadvantages:
Sudden, rushed departure in total secrecy, without being able to put our affairs in order
No contact with you for a long time
Impossible to let everyone know: all electronic communications had to cease immediately
The hardest thing: there is some tension with the children, who couldn't tell their friends and are forbidden from using Facebook and other online networks (but it's OK really. They understand.)
We had to give up the dogs: luckily, someone took both of them (so they won't be separated)
We're relying on each of you to carry out the tasks that we have assigned you below. We hope we haven't asked too much of any of you:
We know we can count on you.
1) Cédric:
Come and remove whatever is left at home by 31 May (the earlier, the better)
We started sorting through things and giving stuff away (clothes, etc.), but we didn't have time to finish
We could have let the Americans sort everything out, but they're not very thorough and everything would have got lost (prized furniture, musical instruments, cars …)
70% of the stuff can be taken to the dump (all the beds, chests of drawers, storage boxes, trunks, etc.): the furniture to keep is in the living room (+ the wardrobe that has been taken apart in Arthur's bedroom and the desk in the laundry room), the rest can go to the dump: the nearest one is Ecopoint, 3 km from the house (open until midday on Sundays)
[Redacted]
EXCEPT the boxes pertaining to Project Crystal (maps, tickets, etc.), which need to be given to F.M. [full name redacted] (contact [him/her] by phone)
ALSO EXCEPT the equipment to give back: Bouygues router
The furniture to be kept should be given to Locmalo while waiting for it to be shipped to B [full name redacted], Agnès's brother (see below)
The house keys are hidden outside in the gas meter, which you can open with any tool (car key, screwdriver, knife). Note: some of the copies of the front door key are badly done and you have to wriggle the key around in the lock to get the door to open.
We were able to put everything we want to keep – and which we can by no means take with us – into a safe to find later, such as personal items (photos that might show a "non-American" life, souvenirs, computers, various pieces of paperwork, jewellery, weapons, etc.): so you don't need to do any sorting, just throw everything out … or keep it for yourself if you want (electrical appliances, etc.).
Inform Alain and other friends of our departure.
Sell the Golf convertible and the Xantia (the signed paperwork is on the living-room table) and send the money from the sale (minus 20% commission for your service) to Christine (contact her by phone).
(Note: the C5 was unsellable so it was given to the father of one of Arthur's friends for parts.)
Also, go to Arthur's and Thomas's places to do the same thing: the landlords are aware. The addresses and keys are on the living-room table.
Presents for Cédric (to share with Renaud and other friends who lend a helping hand) to thank you for your help: table football, piano, TV and other video equipment, CD/DVD collection, audio and video tapes, musical instruments (drum kit, guitar and bass, piano), plus some other things, which anyone can take (fridge, tumble dryer, etc.)
PS: no need to worry about the metal detector or the canoe, which can stay there (nor the rubble and the other mess piled up on the terrace, at the end of the garden and in the basement: that was all there when we moved in.)
2) Bertrand:
Arrange with Cédric to recover and store the high-value furniture to be kept (they are Hodanger family heirlooms.)
Contact F. G. [full name redacted] to get the "crowbar" display cabinet from her (and take the other worthless furniture off her hands)
Inform all the Hodanger family [redacted]
[Redacted]
Give the money from the sale of the display cabinet to Christine, to share it with Véro
Keep the sales receipts from the furniture to cover the moving fees
3) Emmanuel:
Set up an appointment for a final inspection and inventory after 31 May with the P [full name redacted] agency and obtain the deposit (and send it to Christine, even if the amount is insignificant.)
Cancel the electricity, gas, telephone, water, Internet and water contracts: the paperwork is on the living-room table.
Tell our friends (Michel, Marc, Ludo, etc.) about our departure.
FYI: all the letters addressed to the house are being returned to sender.
Ongoing matters will fall by the wayside as time goes by (social security and other professional or private matters)
4) Christine and Bertram:
Manage the accounts according to the instructions in the document enclosed with this letter.
(More than €4,000 will be coming in every month to various accounts for a while + the proceeds from the sale of the furniture mentioned above.)
5) Frédéric:
Inform Véronique and help her let the rest of the Ligonnès family know.
[Redacted] The best thing to do would be to send her a copy of this letter when she is in Versailles.
IMPORTANT: tell the "youngsters" not to divulge any information on Facebook and not to be surprised if the kids don't reply to them.
If possible, pursue Project Crystal: this could be a good project for Arthur, Laetitia's son, and maybe Edouard (and it would allow us to have a comfortable income when we return.)
The enclosed documents give an overview of the project – contact Cédric to pick up the stock of maps and tickets.
So that's it for the to-do list.
The children's schools are aware, as are Arthur's and Thomas's landlords, and Agnès's and Arthur's employers.
The official story is that we have been transferred to AUSTRALIA for work, without providing any specific details.
It would be good if you could spread this false story on Facebook and elsewhere.
We hope it doesn't drag on for too many years. (But we're still anxious about how long the legal proceedings in the US will take.)
In a while from now, we will be able to send you some information by post.
We have designated Emmanuel as the "central contact" as he has the advantage of knowing almost all of you. He will be the one who receives letters to be sent on to you. He will receive instructions in good time.
Of course, we send all our love and are thinking of you very much during this enforced separation;
Take good care of yourselves. We'll have so many stories to tell you later on!

Dupont family home

According to Airmail, in 2002, Agnès complained online "Xavier is too judgmental, too quick to argue, too rigid, too military. There's no more tenderness between us, no more attention, no softness, no sex...when I ask him if he's happy, his response is the same. 'Yes I am, but if we could all die tomorrow, that would be better.'"

​One of the most intriguing aspects of this case is the motive for the murders. Investigators discovered that contrary to appearances, Xavier did not lead the perfect life, and perhaps the children, the wife, the nice house were all part of an image he wanted to create. In the early 2000s he tried to relocate with the family to Florida, but were not successful.

It was then that he started in a "downward spiral of failure" that lasted ten years until the murders. He'd lost a great deal of money and had other problems, and despite the appearance of being a busy businessman, none of his companies were successful. By 2011, the money they'd relied on which was mostly inherited from Agnès' family was running out.

In a 2010 email, according to EuroNews, he declared that he was "ruined, at rock bottom, like never before. I am awake almost every night with these morbid ideas. Burning down the house after giving everyone sleeping pills, or killing myself so that Agnès gets €600,000. In any case, my life will end in the next few months if I don't get €25,000 euros immediately. Most of the time I am not in a dream but in a nightmare and I can't escape except, of course, by doing something radical and final."

Known as a vain man, losing face in this manner would be unbearable, especially to have his children realize their life had been a farce.

In January of 2011, just three months prior to the murders, Xavier's father, the count Bernard-Hubert Dupont de Ligonnès, passed away. He was ill and died in poverty.

According to the BBC, Xavier inherited a .22 long rifle from his father. Within two months he obtained a gun license, and then two months later bought a silencer for it.

Some believe Xavier committed suicide and his remains have not been found despite exhaustive searches, and others think he is alive using a new identity. Per RFI in 2011, he wrote a letter telling his family he was disappearing because of DEA actions. He claimed to be a secret agent working for the agency. He said the family was being placed in the Federal Witness Protection program. Was this accurate or farfetched? Did he plan to kill himself after the murder, and then changed his mind?

There's others that point out that the hole where the bodies and dogs were buried in, were physically challenging for one man who complained of back problems. Five tons of earth were apparently dugout with one shovel, with only 4 feet of headroom. This would necessitate the work be done while crouching. Another mystery is that despite the huge amount of soil moved, no trace was found in the garden. If one would believe that Xavier committed this act by himself, he would have to use a tarpaulin to displace 5 tons of soil by hand. There was no human skin cells, blood or DNA found on the ceiling over where the bodies were buried.

According to Philippe Esperança, a forensic expert in blood splashes, he said, "This is really the only scene I have ever known, where there are five victims, and that no trace has been discovered. It’s unique. I don't think I've ever seen it." He went to Nantes and had studied thousands of other crime scenes.

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Dupont de Ligonnès family

An attorney representing the Dupont de Ligonnes family point out that they have never received conclusive answers as to when the family died. They were given a range of 10 to 21 days, also the bodies share the same DNA, but they have not been compared with Agnes', and the heights and weights don't correspond to those of the family members. Also the fact that the hole the family was buried in would have been impossible for Xavier Dupont to dig. There is also the glaring lack of motive. Could it be they are not dead?

Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès created Netsurf Concept LLC, a company which was cataloged onto the commercial register in Florida, USA. His adviser was Gérard Corona, a French expat and manager of the company Strategy Netcom, which was founded in 1998. Corona specialized in assisting foreigners with administrative and legal procedures in the United States.
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He also helped his clients to open foreign bank accounts and to obtain anonymous bank cards allowing them to withdraw money anywhere in the world without leaving a trace. It has been theorized that Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès could have used these services in order to disappear.

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Xavier de Ligonnes and Michel Retif in the United States c.1989-1990

In April, 2023, at the anniversary of the crime, news article once more reappear asking if Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes is alive or dead. There are those who believe he is dead, killed by his own hand, and others believe he is alive and well; living in exile.

France 2 journalists uncovered testimony from Michel Rétif a friend of de Ligonnes recorded in 2017, where he commented: "Personally, I think he is alive. The probability of it being is quite great to me. He is someone who speaks several languages fluently without accent, he could pass for an American without any problem. He went somewhere where he speaks another language so that we do not find him. He did not stay in France, that would surprise me."

Pictures were found of de Ligonnes, 28, on the road in the United states, where he traveled to 48 states in the company of Michel from 1989 to 1990. They made a living by buying and selling old cars. 

Michel who committed suicide in 2018 took his secrets to the grave. He was convinced his friend would not have gone off somewhere to commit suicide, and instead would have been found with his family.

It turns out that Michel Rétif called Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès on April 6, a day after the murder of the last member of the family. That day, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès’ phone was switched off all day except during this half hour of calling.

De Lignones if alive would be 62 years old. Even though he is sought by police, there are only allegations against him.

Some wonder if de Ligonnes might have copied a similar crime that occurred in the United in 1971, but came to the public eye in 1989, when the perpetrator was apprehended. This was the time de Ligonnes traveled through the United States

John Emil List, an insurance agent murdered his family members and evaporated to live a new life. He killed his mother, his wife and their three children. He planned the murder so well, that it took nearly a month before anyone suspected something had happened to the family.

He spent 18 years free and living under a new identity. He was convicted and sentenced to five consecutive terms of life imprisonment. He gave the reasons for the murder as financial problems including letting them know he had been laid off from the bank where he worked, and the belief his family was straying from their religious faith. He died in 2008, at the age of 82.

Further investigation of the couple found that not only was their financial troubles for de Ligoonnes starting in the early 2000s, but he had run into marital troubles as well. In 2005, Agnes started a virtual and then personal relationship with Michel Rétif, her husband's friend. According to the magazine Society, "he (de Ligonnes) and the couple then formed a love triangle that would change the nature of the trio's relationship."

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Christine Dupont de Ligonnes

In his interview Michel Rétif, stated that he wanted to forget the murders. He said everyone associated with Xavier de Ligonnes had been pressured and haunted by the events.

The Dupont de Ligonnes are a conservative Catholic family, and through the years Xavier's mother Genevieve and his sister Christine continued to claim that Xavier's guilt had not been proven, and authorities had not investigated other possibilities for the murders. 

The French authorities or the media do not like traditional Catholics. Both women operate a conservative Catholic prayer group they established before the 2011 murders. Some refer to the group as the Philadelphia Church, however the women deny their group was ever named this. Genevieve claims she receives messages from God through automatic writing in an antique language.

In 2019, a disaffected ex-member claimed they were involved in cult-like activities. Due to the association with the murders several French politicians jumped on the bandwagon, demanding they should be investigated.

An attorney representing the group said, "What distrubs me mostly in this case is that law-abiding citizens are harassed for their religious beliefs. There is nothing illegal there, nor do they include the prophecies about the end of the world some media mentioned."

The attorney remembered that Xavier was part of the circle's nostalgia for pre-Vatican-II times.

The attorney believes Xavier's mother and sister were exploited for publicity purposes despite their suffering, and their religious liberty was violated. The police and the prosecutor determined there are no "cultic deviances." ​

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