Dupont de Ligonnes: how did we work?

Friday night, based on information obtained from five sources, different hierarchical levels, the daily The Parisian publishes on Twitter at 20:42 a link to the article announcing the arrest of Dupont de Ligonnes. Cautious, several media – including LCI – solicit their own sources. According to our information, the French investigators did receive a late warning about the presence of a suspect suspect in Roissy, so they decided to notify Interpol. This man was apprehended in the afternoon by the Scottish services in Glasgow.

It is only at the moment of the confirmation obtained by the journalists of our police-justice service, to which is added that of the AFP published at 9:01 pm, that our antenna shakes up its programs and passes in special edition. In parallel, the site triggers a follow-up of this case live, it is then 21h07. On stage, our journalists are keeping abreast of the advances, at 23:30, the presenter, Damien Givelet, reminds that we must take this announcement carefully. Doubts begin to arise in the evening when the prosecutor of Nantes in a statement calls for caution.

Positioned in Limay (Yvelines), at the address on the passport presented by the man suspected of being Xavier Dupont Ligonnes, our special envoys then trace the reactions of the neighborhood. Saturday, the first reports shot in the small town of Yvelines are broadcast. Neighbors, friends … they are cautious about the idea that this man, whom some have known for thirty years, may be the alleged perpetrator of the fivefold murder committed in Nantes eight years ago.

Shortly before 11am, we obtain confirmation that the fingerprints, presented by the Scottish police as corresponding to those of Dupont de Ligonnes, are only partial. We then explain that prudence is in order, until we learn – it is then nearly 12:55 – that the comparison of the DNA of the man detained in Glasgow and that available to the French investigators sent to Scotland, is negative. AFP, in turn, publishes this information: the man, originally from Limay and now living part of his time in Scotland, "is not Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes". This result, implacable, puts an end to one of the many tracks that, since the disappearance of the one nicknamed "XDDL" in April 2011, stakes this unusual investigation that fascinates France.