Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes is alive and fled to US from Nice, claims former investigator

A French man suspected of killing his wife and four children in 2011 fled to the US, a police officer who worked on the case claims in a new book. 

Former cybercrime officer Gilles Galloux believes the suspect boarded a flight from Nice airport using fake ID documents, and has been hiding across the Atlantic ever since.

He now intends to visit the US and conduct his own private investigation into the matter.

Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès is widely suspected of killing his family, after the bodies of his wife, four children and their two dogs were found buried under a concrete terrace at their home in Nantes (Loire Atlantique). 

The case garnered international media attention for its gruesome details and the subsequent investigations into both the killings and disappearance of Mr Dupont de Ligonnés have gripped France ever since.

Several supposed sightings of the former businessman, including in Scotland (which led to a false arrest) have been made since 2011.

The most recent, in 2024, was at a convent in eastern France. However, the case remains unsolved.

Suspect ‘leaves false clues to throw police off scent’

There has been continued debate over the fate of Mr Dupont de Ligonnès since the bodies were discovered

Some claim he committed suicide following the killings either due to shock or guilt – although his body has never been found. 

Others are convinced he is alive and living under a new persona. He was said to have dozens of online pseudonyms and often changed his appearance. 

Several other claims and theories have been made, including far-flung arguments that the father, said to be a devout Catholic, ‘sacrificed’ the family as part of a ritual.

Events leading up to the deaths – high debts, ending the lease on their house, various talks of plans to move abroad – potentially point towards a lengthy plan by Mr Dupont de Ligonnès to leave France, either with or without his wife and four children. 

He was last sighted on April 15, 2011 (a week before his family’s bodies were discovered) at a hotel in Roquebrune-sur-Argens in the Var. 

Mr Galloux believes that this CCTV footage, which showed the father holding a thriller book and carrying a backpack with a rifle in it, points towards the suspect ‘playing games’ with officers. 

“I realised we all exhausted ourselves at the time trying to find traces of life left by [Mr Dupont de Ligonnès],” he says in his new book.

“I spent hours and hours on the forum tracking his possible connections and geolocating him using the 3G dongle he was using. In hindsight, I realised he controlled his appearances, that he had staged everything.

“He deliberately leaves clues right up until the end to throw us off the scent,” he added, which include false hotel reservations and purchases made with credit cards in his name. 

Mr Galloux is convinced that the suspect travelled to the US, a place he had long admired, following the killings, taking a flight from nearby Nice airport even before the bodies of his family were discovered. 

This is one of several theories of where the suspect may have ended up if he did not commit suicide. 

Evidence to support this claim includes the father’s interest in the country long before the death of his family, as well as business connections in Florida. 

The owner of several businesses across France, Mr Dupont de Ligonnés created at least one company registered in the US.

His business advisor in the US, Gérard Corona, is known for helping French citizens with administrative and legal matters in the country, as well as obtaining anonymous bank cards that can be used for cash withdrawals worldwide. 

Some theorists say this helped the suspect settle in the US. Others argue he used it as a staging point to relocate somewhere else.