Joël Isidore Matencio (6 September 1948 – 24 January 2022) was a French serial killer and criminal.Relevé des fichiers de l'Insee
Matencio was first implicated in the murder of a CEO, who was killed in July 1974 before being found four months later. He was charged along with two other men and briefly imprisoned between August 1974 and March 1975, before being released along with one of the three defendants.
During this release, Matencio kidnapped and murdered three other people in June and July 1976, under the name ‘Red Brigades’ and ‘Group 666’, with the aim of collecting a ransom. The case gave rise to a veritable ‘manhunt’ and caused a huge stir in the local press in Isère. Arrested on 20 October, after his voice was recognised on television, Matencio was charged with murder and imprisoned. After five years in custody, he was sentenced on 31 October 1981 to life imprisonment for the three murders and attempted frauds. The case against the CEO was dismissed in February 1985.
After suffering a stroke in 1995, Matencio was released on 14 December 2001 on medical grounds. In 2004, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the authorities were at fault in relation to Matencio's state of health. Following false rumours of his death in 2009, Matencio died on 24 January 2022, aged 73.
Biography
Early life and first court cases Joël Matencio was born on 6 September 1948 in Villard-Bonnot. He has an older sister.
In his youth, he quickly became acquainted with the law, through theft and petty burglary, and tinkered with a few ‘weapons’ himself, which he used to commit his misdeeds. Matencio is also very literary about the crimes he commits, and likes to send letters to the newspapers in which he recounts his misdeeds as the main character in these cases. He was quick to express his desire to ‘make a name for himself’.
On 19 September 1966, Matencio, aged 18, Bernard C., aged 16, and Christian C., aged 14, began a series of acts of vandalism in Grenoble, dubbed the Belphégor affair by the press and media. Over a period of eight days, Matencio and his two accomplices used slingshots to throw nail-cavaliers at passers-by and smash 1,000 shop windows to smithereens. This series of misdeeds claimed 17 victims, one of whom was a policeman who questioned Matencio and his accomplices; Matencio was seriously injured in the eye. Matencio and his accomplices were arrested on 27 September, but claimed that the crime had been committed as a result of a game they had discovered. After being held in police custody, the three perpetrators were charged with damage and unintentional violence. Only Matencio was placed in a rehabilitation centre, while Bernard and Christian were released.
Matencio married in 1970 and became the father of two children. In 1973, Matencio was arrested for pimping and imprisoned in the La Santé Prison. There he met Daniel Le Sant, one of his fellow inmates, with whom he struck up a friendship. The criminal court sentenced Matencio to one year's imprisonment. Matencio was released in February 1974 and moved to Lyon to find a job. He frequented the Grand Hôtel de Lyon, where Yves Marin-Laflèche was chairman and CEO. Matencio worked as a waiter, but didn't do much work. He regularly ended up unemployed because of his absence from work.
Murder of Yves Marin-Laflèche Yves Marin-Laflèche disappeared during the evening of 3 July 1974, before being murdered in mysterious circumstances at the age of 42. On the morning of 4 July, Marin-Laflèche's personal secretary arrived at the Monts d'Or house that the CEO had bought for a pittance, but was surprised to find the door closed. The caretaker, whose house is downstairs, explained that Marin-Laflèche's Alfa Romeo was not in the driveway as usual this morning. Surprised by Marin-Laflèche's absence, the secretary then dialled the number of the legal advisor, Jean-Gérard Calvy, but he said he hadn't heard from him since the previous evening. Later that day, a group of antique dealers from Grenoble, whom Marin-Laflèche was due to see in person, called on Marin-Laflèche's behalf. On 9 July, Marin-Laflèche's car was found on the Quai Perrache in Lyon, with no trace of the driver. A judicial investigation into ‘kidnapping and illegal restraint’ was finally opened following this discovery.
Investigations into Marin-Laflèche's personality showed that he was a passionate homosexual, unstable, drawing people of unequal morality into his whirlwind, shuffling large sums of money, showing himself to be by turns downcast or triumphant, capable of extreme kindness and reckless folly. We also note that the missing man was familiar with two former prisoners already convicted of burglary who had been released a few months earlier: Joël Matencio, aged 25, and Daniel Le Sant, aged 32. The investigation also revealed that Calvy, the legal adviser, had no real connection with the missing man, as some people told the investigators that Marin-Laflèche feared Calvy. Furthermore, a witness stated that on the night of 6 to 7 July 1974 he had seen Le Sant, alone, at the wheel of Mr Marin-Laflèche's car, in the very place where the police had found the vehicle.
On 31 July, Calvy, aged 33, was arrested and taken into custody. Although he denied the charges against him, two days later Judge François Renaud charged him with fraud and ‘kidnapping’ and remanded him in custody.
Implicated in the Marin-Laflèche murder On 15 August 1974, Matencio and Le Sant were arrested in turn and taken into police custody for questioning about the disappearance of Marin-Laflèche. During the questioning, Le Sant said something that caught the gendarmes' attention: ‘Before you accuse someone, you have to start by finding the body’. Although the two men in custody denied being behind the disappearance, Judge Renaud charged Matencio and Le Sant with ‘kidnapping and illegal detention’ of Yves Marin-Laflèche and remanded them in custody.
On 3 November, a body was discovered in an advanced state of decomposition in the forest near Villefranche-sur-Saône. Marin-Laflèche's housekeeper, Mme Dury, formally recognised the belongings as having belonged to Marin-Laflèche, in view of the bathrobe in which the remains had been wrapped and a towel that had been found. An autopsy of the body was carried out, but after four months in the open air, it proved difficult due to the condition of the body. The forensic pathologist concluded that the body had been shot because of a bullet casing that had been found. Once the body had been identified, the examining magistrate ordered a confrontation between Matencio and Le Sant.
On 8 November, Matencio and Le Sant were taken from their respective prison cells to face three witnesses. This confrontation led to Matencio and Le Sant being charged, this time with murder, for which they risked the death penalty. Back in prison, the accused, with the help of their lawyers, applied for their release on the grounds that their pre-trial detention was unjustified.
A request for release was made on 15 November, insisting that there was insufficient evidence to charge Matencio and Le Sant with the murder of Yves Marin-Laflèche. Matencio and his defence counsel, Mr Joannès Ambre, decided to rely on a procedure set out in article 662 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, under which the Criminal Division of the Court of cassation may relinquish jurisdiction over any investigating or trial court and refer the case to another court of the same jurisdiction: either if the court with normal jurisdiction cannot be legally constituted, or if the course of justice is otherwise interrupted, or on grounds of legitimate suspicion. On 13 March 1975, the Indictments Division of the Lyon Court of Appeal granted Matencio and Le Sant's request for release, approving the fact that their remand in custody was not justified.
Release Matencio and Le Sant were released on 14 March 1975, after more than seven months in prison. Only Calvy remained in prison, as he was being prosecuted for fraud on the basis of highly damning evidence. Following his release, Matencio returned to live with his wife in Isère, whose relationship with him had deteriorated considerably due to his conviction for murder and the fact that he was refused a job in view of the situation. He was briefly taken on as a petrol station attendant, but was later dismissed.
In September, Matencio faked a burglary in his marital home and set it on fire. He reported the incident, but was soon identified as the perpetrator of the fake burglary, not least because of his previous criminal record. When questioned, Matencio admitted that he had faked the burglary because his involvement in the Marin-Laflèche case had prevented him from finding a steady job. He was sentenced to one month's imprisonment, with extenuating circumstances, and walked free of the courtroom.
On 16 June 1976, Matencio bought a 7.65 × 17 mm Browning pistol from his friend Tomassini. The next day, he confided in one of his friends about his financial difficulties, explaining that he could no longer find work because of the Marin-Laflèche affair, and admitting that he might ‘do something stupid’.
Double murder of Christian Leroy and Muriel Ferrari-Trabelsi On the night of 19 June 1976, Matencio kidnapped Christian Leroy, a 24-year-old coach driver, and Muriel Ferrari-Trabelsi, a 21-year-old single mother, and loaded them into Leroy's car as they left a meeting in Grenoble. Matencio drove several kilometres with his hostages and stopped in a wood in Saint-Martin-d'Uriage. He killed Christian and Muriel with his 7.65-calibre pistol and hid the bodies of his victims under mats of earth, before leaving the scene of the crime and returning home. The next day, Leroy's wife was concerned that he had not returned from work and decided to report him missing. The case was not taken seriously, however, as Leroy was over 18, giving him the right to disappear.
On 22 June, Matencio sent a letter to Le Dauphiné Libéré, under the name ‘Red Brigades’ and ‘Group 666’, in which he explained that he was holding Christian Leroy and Muriel Trabelsi hostage and told the newspaper that he would only release them if a ransom of 400 million Francs was paid. In addition, a new letter from the ‘Red Brigades’ reached the Grenoble public prosecutor on 24 June, with a claim reduced to 50 million francs and a request for free public transport in the Grenoble area for a period of ten days; this request was not granted. A judicial investigation was opened for ‘kidnapping and false imprisonment’.
Matencio sent a third letter on 30 June, in which he indicated the location of the victims' car. Investigators found the vehicle on a road in the Seiglières forest. By telephone, he arranged a meeting with the Grenoble public prosecutor, but failed to attend. At the beginning of July, Matencio set the ransom at 400 million francs.
Murder of Olga Moïssenko On the night of 23 to 24 July 1976, at around 1am, Matencio abducted Olga Moïssenko, aged 21, from a car park in Saint-Martin-d'Hères, while she was in her car with her fiancé, Marc Chavot. After overpowering Chavot with his pistol, Matencio loaded Moïssenko into his car and drove to a wood in Gières (near the ruins of the Château de Gières), where he shot and killed the young woman before burying her body and driving off. For his part, Chavot reported his girlfriend's abduction, giving a brief description of her kidnapper: ‘1.70 metres’, ‘20-25 years old’, ‘medium-length brown hair’. A new judicial investigation was opened into the kidnapping.