A French appeals court has ruled that charges against Jacqueline Jacob, the great-aunt of Grégory Villemin, are time-barred because the alleged offences are classified as misdemeanours, ending her prosecution in one of France's most enduring criminal mysteries.
The Dijon Court of Appeal's investigative chamber issued the ruling on 15 July 2026. Jacob, who was indicted last October for criminal association, had been suspected of writing the anonymous letter claiming responsibility for the boy's murder and of being among the anonymous harassers who tormented the family. Her lawyer, Frédéric Berna, denounced what he called a massive error of judgment and procedural aberrations.
Grégory, aged four, was found drowned and bound in the Vologne river on 16 October 1984. The boy's parents, Christine and Jean-Marie Villemin, remain composed and are awaiting results from DNA and stylometric analyses, according to their lawyer François Saint-Pierre.