A 2011 case in which five family members were found buried in their garden in Nantes, with the father vanishing and remaining unlocated.
Key Facts
- Victims
- 5 (wife and four children)
- Also killed
- Two family dogs
- Bodies discovered
- April 21, 2011
- Location of burial
- Garden of family home, Nantes
- Prime suspect
- Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, still missing
- Interpol notice
- Unpublished blue (witness) notice issued
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In early April 2011, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès allegedly killed his wife Agnès, their four children Arthur, Thomas, Anne, and Benoît, and the family's two dogs at the family home in Nantes. The exact motive and precise date of the killings have never been established by investigators.
The five bodies were discovered buried in the garden of the Dupont de Ligonnès family home in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, on April 21, 2011. Xavier had already vanished by the time the victims were found, and no definitive account of events has been confirmed.
Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès has not been found since the discovery of the bodies, making this one of France's most prominent open missing-person and homicide cases. Interpol issued an unpublished blue notice for him, and he remains the prime suspect with the investigation still ongoing.