1995 Vercors massacre

Religious mass murder-suicide September 2024 May 2025 1995 Vercors massacre Well of Hell, near Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes, Isère, France 1995 12 16 yes 47 5.51 5 45.0945 5.5000 Le Trou de l'Enfer 300 center 45.0945 5.5000 type:event_region:FR-ARA it Mass shooting, mass murder-suicide Two .22 LR rifles Two .357 Magnum revolvers Gasoline 16 (including the perpetrators) OrchestratorChristiane BonetShooters Jean-Pierre Lardanchet André Friedli Theological concept of "transit" to Sirius Luc Fontaine On the morning of 16 December 1995, 16 members of the Order of the Solar Temple died in a mass murder-suicide in a clearing in the Vercors, near the village of Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes in Isère, France. Two members of the group, Jean-Pierre Lardanchet and André Friedli, shot and killed 14 other members, including three children, before setting the bodies on fire and killing themselves. This was done in order to facilitate a spiritual voyage to the star Sirius, a "transit", as it had been in previous mass suicides. This was the second mass murder-suicide associated with the group, following the 1994 mass murder-suicide, which had killed 53 members of the group, including both of its leaders, Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret. Following this initial spate of deaths, the OTS was believed to be defunct, but was actually secretly continued by Christiane Bonet, a devoted member of the group. Bonet claimed that she could communicate with Jouret and Di Mambro in the afterlife as a medium, and gathered together the remaining OTS members, who would regularly meet together. In accordance with the previous writings of the OTS, she soon began to orchestrate a second "transit". On 15 December 1995, the members all received a call from Bonet, after which they abruptly left their jobs and families and drove to an isolated clearing in the Vercors called the Well of Hell. According to the standard hypothesis, the members were then drugged, before Jean-Pierre Lardanchet and André Friedli shot and killed them, including in Lardanchet's case his own children, before setting the bodies alight. They then shot themselves. Several of those killed were likely unaware of the plans and had not consented in dying, though others had, and left notes behind declaring their intentions and desires in death. The bodies were found a week later following a missing persons investigation. The case became a media sensation. Following the case, composer Michel Tabachnik was tried for allegedly having known of the deaths before and influenced the followers into death via his writings. He was acquitted in two trials in 2001 and 2006. The precise sequence of events is controversial, and various theories sprung up alleging outside involvement, though none have ever been substantiated. Further conspiracy theories were also propagated. The case, and the Solar Temple as a whole, inflamed the fight against cults in France. Background The Order of the Solar Temple was a religious group active in several French-speaking countries, led by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret. Founded in 1984, it was a neo-Templar secret society with eclectic beliefs sourced from many different movements like Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, and the New Age.Clusel Palmer 2020 219–220 They conceptualized the transit, or mass ritual suicide, as a ritual involving magic fire, where they would undergo a spiritual voyage to the star Sirius.Clusel Palmer 2020 221Demagny Xavier 2018-08-25 VIDÉO - Histoires criminelles : l'Ordre du temple solaire, 16 membres d'une secte retrouvés morts en Isère VIDEO - Crime stories: the Order of the Solar Temple, 16 cult members found dead in Isère https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/faits-divers-justice/video-histoires-criminelles-l-ordre-du-temple-solaire-16-membres-d-un-secte-retrouves-morts-en-isere-1534266532 2020-07-29 France Bleu fr-FR In the first 1994 "transit", 53 members of the OTS died in Switzerland and Canada, including both Di Mambro and Jouret. Many members of the group did not commit mass suicide, but were murdered in this incident.Maillard Ugo 2023-05-23 Tragédie près de Grenoble : quand une secte sacrifiait 16 personnes dont trois enfants Tragedy near Grenoble: when a cult sacrificed 16 people, including three children https://actu.fr/auvergne-rhone-alpes/saint-pierre-de-cherennes_38443/tragedie-pres-de-grenoble-quand-une-secte-sacrifiait-16-personnes-dont-trois-enfants_59635273.html 2024-09-04 actu.fr fr-FR 2741-5325 Rennes It was publicly believed that the group had disbanded, however, this was not completely true, as remnants lived on.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 217 Prior to their deaths, the group had mailed a final letter containing their message to the world. In the final testament letter, it is expressed that the departed members of the OTS would welcome any member who was "worthy" of joining them in the afterlife.Hall Schuyler 2000 148 An excerpt from this testament included:Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 217We, the Servants of the Rosy-Cross, in view of the urgency of the present situation, affirm that [...] we will be able to recall the last Servants capable of hearing this ultimate message [...]. Know that wherever we are, we will always reach out to those who are worthy of joining us. This was viewed as a "call" by the remaining OTS members. According to journalist Arnaud Bédat, it functioned to comfort the remaining members, showing them that their dead friends had not abandoned them, which served to convince them of the validity of their faith in the OTS: they were just being waited for "on the other side".Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 217Lewis 2004 296 Remaining members Even a month after the initial deaths, the remaining members of the Solar Temple began to meet up, centered around Christiane Bonet.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 218 Bonet was a 50-year-old Swiss psychotherapist; journalist Arnaud Bédat described her as "a fanatic", "totally committed to the OTS's ideology".Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 218Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 388 Bonet had actually been a later arrival to the OTS than most of the members to die in the 1994 set of deaths, joining in 1989. One of her friends claimed that the day Bonet joined the OTS, Bonet said to her "well, I hope we haven't joined a cult."Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 219 She later donated a 100,000 Swiss franc inheritance she received to the group, as well as her whole salary of 8,000 francs; she did not ask questions and did not express doubt of the order.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 219 Bonet was involved in the first deaths, as the day prior to the "transit" she had called the employers of two members – Elie Di Mambro and Daniel Jaton, the former being her "cosmic" partner in the group – saying they were delayed, when in actuality both had already died in Switzerland.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 218Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 388 When interviewed by the Swiss police the day after the deaths, she acted "cold, distant, and contemptuous", denying she had known anything beforehand, saying the phone calls had been to "not dramatize the situation".Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 218 She did however say that Jouret had called her the day prior to the deaths, but described this call as one in which Jouret had "wanted to convey a lot of joy to me". In reality, according to his phone records, Jouret had called her eight times and had twice signaled her on her pager in the days preceding the deaths. What they discussed is not known.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 219 She bemoaned the fact that she had not been selected for inclusion in this incident, expressing envy of Jaton, who she described to the police as having likely been a perpetrator of the 1994 deaths.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 218 Another remaining member was André Friedli. A Swiss architect,Masliah Denis 2015-12-23 Ordre du temple solaire : il y a vingt ans, l'apocalypse Order of the Solar Temple: twenty years ago, the apocalypse https://www.ledauphine.com/faits-divers/2015/12/22/ordre-du-temple-solaire-il-y-a-vingt-ans-l-apocalypse-dans-le-vercors 2020-07-29 Le Dauphiné libéré Grenoble fr-FR 0220-8261Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 226Some sources characterize Friedli as an immigration officer.Hall Schuyler 2000 148 Another source says that Lardanchet and Rostan had both been immigration officers. Friedli was described as a quiet and calm man.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 395Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 226 He had joined the OTS after meeting his wife, Jocelyne Friedli, who introduced him to the group. Bédat described both of them as "[t]otally under the influence of Luc Jouret". They both lived on the OTS's Sacred Heart commune in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade in Canada.Clusel Palmer 2020 232Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 226 After moving to Canada, Jocelyne lost her attraction to André. Jouret's remedy to this was through the OTS practice of "cosmic" coupling, and switched the pairings with another couple. Jocelyne was paired up with Bruno Klaus (later dead in the 1997 transit), while André was paired with Rose-Marie Klaus.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 226 Rose-Marie Klaus did not like André; she later denounced the group entirely, complaining about them to the media.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 226–227 Following the 1994 set of deaths, Friedli reconciled with his wife, and they returned to Switzerland.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 227 Jean-Pierre Lardanchet and Patrick Rostan were both French policemen; Lardanchet had drawn his friend Rostan into the OTS in the first place after they met in 1990, where Di Mambro considered them both the group's "armed eye".Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 402Inciyan Erich 1995-12-28 Deux inspecteurs de police sous influence Two police officers under the influence https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1995/12/28/deux-inspecteurs-de-police-sous-influence_3892397_1819218.html subscription 2024-09-04 Le Monde Paris fr-FR 0395-2037 On the police force, Lardanchet was known for his non-violent approach, often refusing to take his service weapon. Lardanchet was heavily in debt, described as "dull, very withdrawn", while Rostan was described as "shy" and "fragile".Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 402Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 410Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 228 At his request, Lardanchet had been transferred to Annemasse, which may have been in an effort to get closer to the OTS in Switzerland. Both men had been in Switzerland during the first deaths, likely the people inside the car that had escaped from the Cheiry farm the day prior; Lardanchet was afraid that he was going to be prosecuted as the perpetrator of the Swiss killings.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 402 Both men were called as witnesses in the trials in early 1995. While being investigated, Lardanchet claimed that he was not an OTS member. As no charges were ever filed he was allowed to continue his job. Also among the continued members were Édith and Patrick Vuarnet, wife and son of gold medal Olympic skier Jean Vuarnet, Édith being an Olympian in her own right.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 229 Patrick Vuarnet had been the person to distribute the original Testament letters for the 1994 suicides, after which he was questioned but not charged with any crime; he expressed to his brother that he felt guilty that he had not been in the first "transit".Clusel Palmer 2020 232Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 240–241Walsh James 1996-01-08 The Sunburst Sacrifices https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,983915,00.html 2017-01-02 TIME New York City 45 en-US 147 2 0040-781X Other remaining devoted members included the Dutch executive assistant Emmy Anderson and Mercedes Faucon.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 220–221 Faucon was a French retired teacher, an early follower who had done cleaning labor within the group. Di Mambro, attempting to appease her for having this lowly role, would often tell her that those members who were "last here" would be "the first in the afterlife". When she was interrogated by the French police, she claimed that she had actually left the OTS two years before the deaths, but she was evasive in answering the questions and not believed by investigators. Only a few days after the 1994 incident, she gave power of attorney over her banking account to a friend (also a member of the OTS).Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 221 Anderson was a Dutch executive assistant. Unusually for the OTS, which had promiscuous sexual norms, she had never had sexual relations with anyone. To Di Mambro, she represented the "androgynous prototype that exists on Sirius". When questioned by police, she was not open with them, but declared that if she had been "called" to participate in the first set of deaths, she would have done so; she praised Di Mambro as a "cosmic being" who had been a "bearer of a very different truth".Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 218 Bédat described this pair as "the diehards".Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 229 Planning Following the deaths, Bonet gathered remaining members of the OTS. She convinced them that she had established contact with Jouret and Di Mambro in the afterlife, acting as a medium, which she said she had developed the abilities for following the 1994 deaths. Other members were initially skeptical of her claims, but began to believe her. About 20 former templars met in the top floor of an old building, Bonet's workplace in Geneva, every Tuesday and Friday evening.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 222 Four members of these sessions would not die in the 1995 incident; according to these survivors, the new OTS had no structure and no individual leader. In these sessions, members meditated, though there was no strict practice. Sessions conducted in this second iteration were similar to those held by Di Mambro prior to the founding of the OTS.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 222Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 223 They also discussed their dreams, and messages received "from the beyond" by members. One of these messages told the members that they would not be left to "live through a third world war", and that instead someone would come and get them prior. Messages were generally vague.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 223–224 These survivors claimed that the remaining members did not discuss transiting,Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 222 but that many remaining members had dreams about those who had died and that "certain things" they were not responsible for.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 223 However, by the spring of 1995, a "transit" was possibly already being planned, with the members looking for an ideal place to conduct it. A month after the first incident, several former members were seen together in a restaurant where the 1995 deaths would eventually take place, the Vercors. The group around Bonet became more distinct, and members began to communicate to each other in a coded system through their pagers, avoiding phones except for basic things.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 224 During this period, Bonet was contacted by her elderly mother – having heard of former member Thierry Huguenin's book Le 54e discussing his time in the OTS, she wrote to Bonet expressing her concern. She worried that she would "find out about [Bonet's] departure on television", attempting to reason with her.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 224–225 Bonet wrote back, ignoring her concerns, and said that Huguenin (referred to as "the unspeakable") would "know what justice is reserved for him". In this letter, she said:Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 224–225When the time comes, it's back to paradise. My brothers and sisters have already made this return, leaving their earthly vehicle here. [...] I want to join them soon. [...] On the other side of the veil, death is an illusion. [...] Jo [Di Mambro] allows me to be who I need to be. This response was threatening enough that Bonet's mother sent someone to show it to Huguenin, who upon reading it was "completely shaken". According to the person who had sent him the letter, when reading the letter Huguenin noted it had "Jouret's language" and "Di Mambro's style".Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 224–225 Huguenin took the letter as a sign that another transit was being plotted; he had promised that he would not say anything about being shown the letter, but immediately told the Fribourg police investigators who had interrogated him several months before.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 224–225 These police investigators did not listen, responding only in a reassuring fashion and expressing their amusement, as they viewed the OTS as a "closed case".Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 225 About this time, the Friedlis told a relative that they would soon "leave the Earth", and that they were "waiting for a call". Later in the year, they visited relatives for a family celebration, who did not notice anything unusual about them.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 227Bédat Arnaud Arnaud Bédat 1996-01-10 La sœur et le frère d'une victime témoignent: "Ils avaient dit qu'ils quitterant bientôt la Terre" A victim's sister and brother testify: "They had said they would leave Earth soon" https://scriptorium.ch/zoom/196663/view?page=24 2024-09-05 L'Illustré Lausanne 24–25 fr-CH Scriptorium 1420-5165 During this same time, André Friedli wrote his will.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 226–227 Friedli's relatives would later find in his home highly detailed maps of the Vercors.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 227 Early in December 1995, his car was spotted in the village of Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes, in what was possibly a reconnaissance mission.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 227 Weapons were obtained by Jean-Pierre Lardanchet and Patrick Rostan.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 228 Writings from the group found by Swiss police had previously warned that the next mass suicide would occur on a solstice; the 1995 winter solstice would occur on 22 December.Whitney Craig R. 1995-12-24 16 Burned Bodies Found in France; Cult Tie Suspected https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/24/world/16-burned-bodies-found-in-france-cult-tie-suspected.html subscription 2023-11-11 The New York Times 1 en-US 0362-4331 On 12 December 1995, Bonet gathered the remaining members in her office. This gathering included most of those who would later be found dead; including among them Faucon, Anderson, and Édith and Patrick Vuarnet.Sandomir Richard Richard Sandomir 2017-01-03 Jean Vuarnet, a Downhill Skiing Innovator, Dies at 83 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/sports/skiing/jean-vuarnet-a-downhill-skiing-innovator-dies-at-83.html 2017-01-07 The New York Times en-US 0362-4331Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 229 It also included one couple who were not found dead in the incident.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 229 This group did not include either Lardanchet or Rostan, and was also missing Dominique Masson, a French naturopath. According to the surviving couple, nothing happened in this meeting except for an agreement to meet there again in three days.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 229 Deaths On 15 December 1995, Bonet called those who would later die one by one. Many were undergoing Christmas preparations about this time.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 229–230 One member informed her family that she would spend Christmas in the Vuarnet family chalet in the Alps alongside her daughter. Masson, preparing for the group meeting later, also disappeared for an event, likely with the Friedlis as her car was later found near their home. André Friedli left work early, claiming he was ill, which his coworkers thought was odd; his wife asked to leave work early after receiving a call, and was seen by her coworkers as looking worried.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 230 It is not known how many of the members knew they were going to die.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 232 Thierry Huguenin's personal theory was that only four of the members knew of the plans for death, and that the others thought the Vercors trip was instead to encounter supernatural phenomena in which they would see Di Mambro materialize, which he viewed as the only thing that would have attracted them all to one place.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 232 The future transit was intended to bring them to the star Sirius, as with the previous one. On the night of 15 to 16 December 1995, the members disappeared from their homes.Lewis 2004 296–297 Four of them left notes; some expressed the wish to wish to "see another world".Hall Schuyler 2000 148Lewis 2004 296 Found in Bonet's apartment was a blank sheet of paper, with the only words being "Blank page, everything is said." Alongside it was an envelope containing a letter addressed to her son, in which she told him that: "Death does not exist and is pure illusion. May we always find ourselves through the inner life".Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 240 Emmy Anderson had scattered rose petals through her apartment, and had left a will. This will indicated that she knew about the plans to die, reading in part:Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 240–241 To all those who can still hear and understand, life is an eternal movement, an infinite coming and going. The Eternal Present places us in a time relative to the earth and for a duration that belongs to the in-breathing and out-breathing of the breath of life. I, as the carrier of light since the end of time, the times that were assigned to me on Earth are COMPLETED and I freely and voluntarily return to where I was from, to the dawn of time! [...] It's difficult for earthlings to understand such a choice, such a gesture, to voluntarily put down their earthly vehicle! So it is with all those who carry light and cosmic consciousness, who know where they're going! May human consciousness become ever more open and subtly enriched by such an experience! The work is done, and we bring back with us the quintessence of a rich experience on planet Earth. Édith Vuarnet withdrew 10,000 Swiss francs from a bank, immediately exchanging them for French francs. She was later picked up in a nightclub parking lot on the border of France and Switzerland, where her car was found abandoned. Her son called Jean Vuarnet at 9:30 p.m. to ask where she was. At the time he was in Switzerland.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 230–231Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 240–241 The couple that survived was told that due to a setback the evening meeting was cancelled; they were possibly viewed by Bonet as not ready for the transit. According to one of them, her voice seemed normal and "cheerful" on the phone.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 230 At 9:50 p.m. Friedli called Bonet a final time. He may have been the one responsible for picking up Vuarnet.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 231 By shortly after 10 p.m. most had left Geneva and all arrived at the French village of Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes in the Vercors mountains, before driving up narrow roads to the Faz plateau.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 231–232Clusel Palmer 2020 232 Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes is a small town, then with about 300 inhabitants, west of Grenoble.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 240–241 According to the hypothesis of the Grenoble Gendarmerie, following this, the members then exited their cars and entered the nearby Coulmes forest, where they walked to their final destination.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 232 This required a walk of over a 1.5 km mi over very steep terrain, in very cold weather; with them were three children, aged 6, 4, and 2, alongside the thirteen adults.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 232 They finally came to a small clearing and went down to a hollow within it, a natural basin.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 233 This location was called the fr Serre du page, deep in the mountains and difficult to access; near this place was a location called the fr Puits de l’enfer or fr le Trou de l'enfer, Well of Hell' or 'the Hellhole.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 2362003-09-19 L'affaire de l'Ordre du temple solaire revient devant la justice Order of the Solar Temple case returns to court fr Reuters It was located some 3,900 feet above the nearby Isère river in a forest preserve.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 240–241 They sat in a circle around a fire, where they took sedative drugs and were then unconscious.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 233 While lying on their backs, the members were then shot dead by Jean-Pierre Lardanchet and André Friedli.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 233 The two mothers with children (Marie-France Lardanchet and Patrick Vuarnet's partner Ute Verona) had likely resisted before the killing of their children, as prior to their deaths they had each been hit in the head with a blunt object. Their skulls had signs of fracture.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 233Carrera Tolita 2006-10-25 195. Ordre du temple solaire : un expert raconte l'horreur de la tuerie 195. Order of the Solar Temple: an expert recounts the horror of the massacre https://www.ccmm.asso.fr/195-ordre-du-temple-solaire-un-expert-raconte-l-horreur-de-la-tuerie/ 2020-07-29 Centre Contre les Manipulations Mentales fr-FR Agence France-PresseTenoux Jean-Pierre 2006-08-15 Hécatombe à la secte Massacre at the cult https://www.lemonde.fr/ete-2007/article/2006/08/15/hecatombe-a-la-secte_803625_781732.html 2023-09-30 Le Monde Paris fr-FR 0395-2037 Each child had been shot once in the forehead, while the adults were killed by a point blank .22 Long Rifle blast to the head and also a bullet to the heart.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 233 Lardanchet's own children were two of those killed in the incident. A single victim had died from three bullets to the heart,Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 233 while Patrick Rostan was the only person to have been killed by two different weapons. Following the deaths, Lardanchet and Friedli then poured gas over the bodies, setting them alight, before each shot themselves in the head with a Manurhin .357 Magnum,Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 234Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 236 both police service weapons. Friedli's body fell into the fire, while Lardanchet's fell facedown on the ground.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 234Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 236 The 14 bodies were laid out in a circle star or sunburst formation; the bodies of the other two were near them.Hall Schuyler 2000 148Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 236 The dead in the star were situated with their heads oriented towards the outside of the circle, with plastic bags on their heads.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 236 The bodies were charred. Near the bodies were amassed several objects, including medicine and flashlights but also guns (two .22 LR rifles and two 9mm pistols, one of which had a silencer, police service weapons).Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 236 In one of the cars belonging to the Templars, a paper was found that indicated the location of the dead.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 236 The circumstances leading to the deaths were very similar to the initial 1994 incident; all of the dead were Solar Temple members or their relatives, most of them had been drugged with sedatives, and they had gunshot wounds.Clusel Palmer 2020 232 Investigators concluded that of the 16 dead, at least four had not died willingly.Lewis 2004 296–297 Half the dead were French, and the other half were Swiss.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 235 Those killed in the incident were:Habel Robert Bédat Arnaud Arnaud Bédat David Marc Rochat Christian 1996-01-10 Ces quatorze mois où tout s'est joué: Comment la secte s'est reconstituée à Genève Those fourteen months where everything played out: How the cult was rebuilt in Geneva https://scriptorium.ch/zoom/196663/view?page=20 2024-09-05 L'Illustré Lausanne 20–23 fr-CH Scriptorium 1420-5165Spellings of many of the individual's names vary between sources; the spellings of the names as used in this article are from Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 385–413. 13em Emmy Anderson, 52 Christiane Bonet, 50 Mercedes Faucon, 62 André Friedli, 39 Jocelyne Friedli, 49 Jean-Pierre Lardanchet, 36 Marie-France Lardanchet, 34 Aldwin Lardanchet, 4 Curval Lardanchet, 2 Enrique Massip, 46 Dominique Masson, 43 Patrick Rostan, 29 Ute Verona, 34 Tanis Verona, 6 Édith Vuarnet, 61 Patrick Vuarnet, 27 Investigation Two days after this, on 18 December 1995, the mother of Ute Verona, worried, went to the police, as she had not heard from either Verona or her daughter in three days. A missing person report was filed in response, and two days later Verona's employer was contacted. A colleague, who had also had OTS ties, told the police that the other followers had also disappeared. Following this the police investigation strengthened. They intended to keep the investigation a secret, but information was leaked to the Swiss newspaper Tribune de Genève which then spread to other media outlets.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 234–235 After this leak, on the 22nd, while watching television reports a French hunter recalled that he had seen on the 16th of December several cars registered from other places parked in Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes, along with many footprints going into the forest. He had also noticed a smell "of burnt leather or human flesh", like "death". Following this, he reported it to police.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 234–235 When the police arrived, these cars were found to belong to OTS members.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 234–235 They cordoned off the area and began to search for the missing Templars, with hundreds of police and several helicopters all participating in the search.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 234–235 The search was conducted in the rain, and the forest was very dense with many chasms.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 234–235 The morning of the 23rd, the hunter attempted to lead the police to where he had noticed the smell, and shortly before 9 a.m. the bodies were found.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 236 Shortly after the bodies were discovered, Grenoble's public prosecutor Jean-François Lorans opened a judicial investigation into "murder and criminal association". He stated that "We consider that the circumstances in which these murders were committed imply a degree of preparation, deliberation and premeditation that fall within the notion of organized crime. We are dealing with a real criminal organization."Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 236–237 The investigation was headed by judge Luc Fontaine, the examining magistrate of Grenoble. Previously a prosecutor in Bonneville, he had only been in the position for a month.Clusel Palmer 2020 233 The investigation ultimately concluded that the two members of the group had killed the others and then themselves.2001-06-25 Conductor cleared of cult deaths http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1406870.stm 2024-03-23 BBC News en-GB This theory was reconstructed with animal remains and was agreed to be conclusive. They concluded that there was no external involvement in the deaths on the grounds of a lack of evidence. Fontaine's investigation was criticized at the time due to this decision. The investigation was done with limited resources, and Fontaine was not relieved of his other cases while investigating, which displeased the civil parties in the case. Some believed in outside involvement, particularly Alain Leclerc, the lawyer for several of the civil parties in the case, and the relatives of several of the dead, who believed that the actual perpetrators had escaped and had never been caught. On 17 November 1998, investigating judge Luc Fontaine presented the conclusions of his inquiry into the deaths.Francillon Claude 1998-11-19 L'instruction du "suicide" de l'Ordre du Temple solaire est close The investigation into the "suicide" of the Order of the Solar Temple is closed https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1998/11/19/l-instruction-du-suicide-de-l-ordre-du-temple-solaire-est-close_3696491_1819218.html subscription 2024-04-26 Le Monde Paris fr-FR 0395-2037 Tabachnik's trial Trial of Michel Tabachnik thumb|Michel Tabachnik in 2010|alt=Michel Tabachnik smiling Composer Michel Tabachnik was investigated following the incident; Fontaine placed him under examination on 12 June 1996 for conspiracy.Clusel Palmer 2020 233Mayer 2014 49 Prior Swiss investigations had not established any connection between Tabachnik and the 1994 deaths. The case was sent to trial in 2001.Mayer 2014 49 On 25 June, the court acquitted Tabachnik, on the basis that there had been no significant or conclusive proof uncovered that Tabachnik had orchestrated the killings, and his writings accused of influencing the members into suicide were deemed unlikely to have influenced the members.Mayer 2014 49 The case was appealed, and after several delays there was a second trial held in 2006. The appeals court upheld the lower court's ruling, and he was acquitted a second time in December 2006.Mayer 2014 49 Tabachnik continues to deny any involvement in the planning of the deaths.Clusel Palmer 2020 233 Aftermath The case became headline news in France.Clusel Palmer 2020 232Hall Schuyler 2000 148 As both leaders of the OTS had died in the original incident, that the incident had occurred provoked a significant response; due to the deaths of both leaders it had been unimaginable to investigators that the deaths would continue.Hall Schuyler 2000 148 The mayor of Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes expressed his shock, stating "[w]e can't understand why our little village was chosen for this tragedy". He theorized that the OTS members may have been trying to find the Well of Hell.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 240–241 The head of police in Geneva stated that he was surprised that the first investigation had not "opened the cult members' eyes" and that it was "a colossal waste."Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 240–241 In the aftermath, officials of the French government and the Canadian hydroelectric utility Hydro-Québec expressed their concern that the OTS had possibly infiltrated government agencies. France formed a government watchdog designed to fight cults; a child was removed from her mother's custody temporarily, due to her past affiliation with the OTS.Hall Schuyler 2000 148–149 A spokesman for the Quebec cult-watching organization Info-Secte warned that the group continued to secretly operate, while former member Hermann Delorme said another transit might occur on the summer solstice of 1996. This did not happen.Hall Schuyler 2000 148–149 André Piller, the judge who had presided over the investigation into the Swiss case, was the subject of attention following the second incident. The French media criticized what they perceived as the "levity" of the Swiss justice system in dealing with the case; questioned over whether the second case was preventable, he said that "[n]othing, absolutely nothing, suggested that anyone would take up the torch and organize such a tragedy". This was disputed by Huguenin, who had previously alerted the police.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 237 237–238 Piller argued they had been investigating those killed in the first set of deaths, saying that many of those killed had been wiretapped or interrogated for many hours, and that nothing they had seen gave any concrete sign of a new one; he said that Huguenin had not been able to give them any solid clues.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 237 238–239 At the same time the Geneva chief of police stated the opposite, claiming that they had no right to monitor anyone and that they had not monitored anyone in the Solar Temple.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 237 238–239 In a radio interview several months later, Piller stated that he had not had any responsibility in the deaths.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 237 237–238 Legacy Two years later, five more members of the OTS died in a mass suicide in Quebec.Clusel Palmer 2020 233 The OTS case was noted as intensifying the French effort against cults. By coincidence, the deaths were discovered a day after the Guyard–Gest parliamentary report on cults in France came out. The report had more far-reaching recommendations than prior ones, with a harsher tone; the report did not mention the OTS, but the coincidence gave it increased prominence.Richardson 2004 30, 61 According to cult researcher Susan J. Palmer, this second set of deaths may have been a copycat crime, a tribute to Di Mambro and Jouret's charisma; alternatively, both transits could have been driven by theological and group forces within the OTS.Palmer 1996 316 Due to several strange aspects of the incident, many conspiracy theories resulted, many revolving around external involvement. One idea was that the members had actually been killed by the French government using the Barbouzes; another theory was that French anti-cult activists had actually murdered them and then staged it as a suicide.Clusel Palmer 2020 232Palmer 1996 316 Former member Hermann Delorme had his own theory; interviewed by cult researcher Susan J. Palmer in 1995, he claimed that the second incident was actually murder by a secret "rear guard" left by the OTS to kill those who continued to practice. According to him, secret documents and tapes left by the OTS showed that that the second incident was supposed to be the final one. He believed that due to Bonet's continuing activities, this rear guard activated and killed them, "to put a complete end to the group"; he claimed the Vercors group had not resisted as this was necessary "to get to Sirius".Clusel Palmer 2020 232–233 Thierry Huguenin believed that Di Mambro had left behind instructions for the second transit to some members of the group, one of which was Bonet, saying that "I am convinced that he left a will, verbal or written, for this second journey. I knew the man too well. He was so Machiavellian."Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 234Bédat Arnaud Arnaud Bédat 1996-01-10 Nouvelles révélations sur le Temple solaire: Les clés d'un massacre programmé New revelations about the Solar Temple: The keys to a programmed massacre https://scriptorium.ch/zoom/196663/view?page=18 2024-09-05 L'Illustré Lausanne 18–19 fr-CH Scriptorium 1420-5165 The role of French police officers in the case lead some to believe that they were a sign of infiltration or outside manipulation of the OTS. There were also some testimonies by residents near the site that contradicted the main story, that there was no outside involvement. One woman claimed that she had seen on the night of the 14th three black Mercedes registered in Switzerland speeding through the town. Another was the story of a couple who owned a house near the town, who had come across three high-end vehicles going towards the town, before 1 a.m. on the 16th. According to the police, the occupants of these vehicles could not have had time to participate in the deaths, but it was later found out that it had occurred after 1 a.m.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 237 237–238 Fontaine believed the vehicles the couple saw were the cars of the members, searching for the Lardanchets, late arrivals.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 237 237–238 There were some criticisms as to the extent of Friedli's involvement in the hypothesis put forward by the Grenoble gendarme. While the gun was to the right of Friedli, according to his family he was left handed. According to an independent expert consulted by Friedli's brother, looking at the ballistics report, only two of the 21 shots fired could have been fired by a left handed person.Bédat Bouleau Nicolas 2000 233 Alain Vuarnet continues to believe in external involvement involving flamethrowers used to burn the bodies; a problem with this theory is that there were no other footprints besides those of the dead, and there was never a trace of any flamethrower.Sieber Pierre-André 2010-01-26 Des zones d'ombre en série, 15 ans après Gray areas, 15 years on https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=LLE20100126-01.2.54 2024-09-04 La Liberté Fribourg 9 fr-CH e-newspaperarchives.ch 96 1660-2293 Many victim's families also believe in external involvement. Twenty years after the events, Luc Fontaine, now the president of the investigation chamber of Lyon, said he was still haunted by the case. He stated of the investigation that: "I sometimes think: shouldn't we have gone deeper into this aspect, or tried to emphasize another? But in this case, each door was followed by a corridor leading to 60 other doors! And the more doors we opened, the further we got from the heart of the case. An examining magistrate is not a historian or a specialist in occult movements." Fontaine defended his investigation's ruling that there was no outside involvement, saying there was no strong evidence that this had happened. He did however acknowledge that it was not impossible. According to him, there had been two "intellectually plausible" theories, either that "the group set up and executed its project based on its esoteric ideology", or that the esotericism was a front for some other reason for the murders, but that there had been no evidence for the latter. He described the victim's families as having been "terribly hurt", looking for a rational explanation for the deaths where none existed. Notes References 20em Works cited 30em Bédat Arnaud Arnaud Bédat L'Ordre du Temple solaire: Les Secrets d'une manipulation L'Ordre du Temple solaire: Les Secrets d'une manipulation Bouleau Gilles Gilles Bouleau Nicolas Bernard Flammarion 2000 978-2-08-067842-3 Paris fr Clusel Shannon The Mystical Geography of Quebec: Catholic Schisms and New Religious Movements The Mystical Geography of Quebec Palmer Susan J. Susan J. Palmer 2020 Palgrave Macmillan 978-3-030-33061-3 Palmer Susan J. Cham en The Solar Temple in Quebec and the Saint-Casimir "Transit" Geoffroy Martin Gareau Paul L. 217–245 Hall John R. John R. Hall (sociologist) Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements and Violence in North America, Europe, and Japan Apocalypse Observed Schuyler Philip D. Routledge 2000 978-0-203-97766-8 New York en The Mystical Apocalypse of the Solar Temple 115–153 Lewis James R. Controversial New Religions Controversial New Religions Oxford University Press 2004 978-0-19-515682-9 Lewis James R. 1st New York en The Solar Temple "Transits": Beyond the Millennialist Hypothesis James R. Lewis (scholar) Petersen Jesper Aagaard 295–317 Mayer Jean-François Jean-François Mayer Legal Cases, New Religious Movements, and Minority Faiths Ashgate 2014 978-1-4724-2874-5 Richardson James T. James T. Richardson Farnham en The Order of the Solar Temple: From Apocalypse to Court Bellanger François 38–54 Palmer Susan J. Susan J. Palmer October 1996 Purity and Danger in the Solar Temple Journal of Contemporary Religion en 11 3 303–318 10.1080/13537909608580777 1353-7903 Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers 2004 978-0-306-47887-1 Richardson James T. James T. Richardson New York en Category:Order of the Solar Temple Category:1995 murders in France Category:1995 mass shootings in Europe Category:20th-century mass murders in France Category:Deaths by firearm in France Category:December 1995 in France Category:December 1995 crimes Category:Massacres in 1995 Category:Massacres in France Category:Mass shootings in France Category:Mass suicides Category:Murder–suicides in France Category:Religion and suicide Category:Murder trials in France Category:Arson in France Category:Arson deaths Category:Arson in 1995 Category:1990s fires in Europe Category:Isère Category:Crime in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Category:20th century in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes