BONFANTI. The truth could be made on the death of Marie-Thérèse Bonfanti, who disappeared in Isère 36 years ago. The alleged murderer, Yves Chatain, confessed on May 9, said the Grenoble public prosecutor on Thursday.
It’s a cold case that could finally be elucidated, the Bonfanti affair. On Sunday May 9, the alleged murderer, Yves Chatain, was taken into police custody and confessed in just a few hours retracing the events of May 22, 1986, the day of the disappearance of Marie-Thérès Bonfanti, a mother of two children who distributed newspapers to make ends meet. The suspect indicated that at the time he was 21 years old and was annoyed by the young woman who had parked the wrong way in front of his house. An argument would have broken out between the two individuals, Marie-Thérèse would then have entered the house of Yves Chatain, a large family residence, to ask for an apology and would have been strangled by the young man. Faced with the gendarmes, the alleged murderer was cooperative and specified the exact place where he concealed the body of Marie-Thérèse Bonfanti, somewhere in a forest in Isère, according to statements by the public prosecutor of Grenoble, Eric Vaillant, during a press conference given on Thursday 12 May. The prosecutor also congratulated the work of the Grenoble Research Section: “The suspect had to be kept only a few hours in police custody because he had already been in police custody 36 years ago. Gendarmes specializing in human behavior have made it possible to know how to ask the right questions, at the right time, etc…”
After his confession, Yves Chatain was indicted for kidnapping, forcible confinement and murder. If the man can still be judged for the kidnapping and forcible confinement, the murder if proven is prescribed. The discovery of the body of Marie-Thérèse Bonfanti becomes essential, for the family, but also to be able to reopen the case for murder and bring it before the assizes. It is a “relief” for the Bonfanti family who in 2020 convinced the prosecution to reopen the investigation. “They have no hatred, they have bitterness, that’s for sure. It took 36 years for this truth to begin, I say begin to be consecrated,” said the family lawyer, Maître Boulloud on France Blue.
More info to come…