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swimming pool. 500 metres from that point, another woman reported that at midday on
Thursday 19 March, she saw someone who may have been Tronche, crossing a yard in front of her farm. A dog followed the person's scent northwards for 1 kilometre. Also on 19 March, at 6.30 pm, Rachid Ghamri, a Tronche family friend, was out searching with volunteers when he spotted the distant silhouette of a person with a youthful appearance standing at the top of a hill. Ghamri took a photograph, but due to the fact that it was dusk, the photograph was unclear and the person could not be identified. Another team of volunteers later claimed to have seen Tronche in the hills above Saint-Gervais at 10.30 am on Monday 23 March. The person believed to be Tronche was seen watching vineyard workers before disappearing into the woods. A week after the disappearance, a motorcyclist passing through a neighbouring village reported seeing Tronche in the late afternoon of 23 March. The boy was walking with a rucksack along a track towards Esbrezun, a hamlet in the commune of
311:, a village 62 km (38 miles) from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, 16-year-old Antoine Zoia disappeared after leaving his home at around 1.30 pm. Zoia was a second-year high school student majoring in Science at the Lycée Albert Camus in Nîmes and his personality was considered similar to Tronche's. Zoia was last seen buying a packet of cigarettes from a tobacconist's shop. An investigation was launched to establish whether there could be a link between these two disappearances of teenage boys with similar characteristics from nearby locations in under a year. However, on 2 October 2018, Zoia's skeletonised body was found hanging in a remote wooded area near Clarensac; no foul play was involved in his death.
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was switched off. Technical analysis would later reveal that Lucas's phone was turned off at 5.14 pm, a few minutes before he left the house. Tronche left without his swimming gear, but did leave with a rucksack containing very few items. He did not take any money, a sleeping bag or a knife with him – items that, as a keen scout with a good knowledge of outdoor survival, he would have known to take if he had been planning to leave home. His intentions after leaving the house remain unknown.
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Tronche's disappearance prompted a national outpouring of emotion and many searches were undertaken by the authorities, Tronche's family, and many private citizens who did not know the family. As early as the day after the disappearance, soldiers patrolled the surrounding areas and organised numerous
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from
Tronche's bedroom and the rest of the house. Some traces of blood were found on the carpet by his bed and were examined to ascertain whether they were blood or simply the Luminol reacting to a household cleaning product. New tests were carried out in May 2017. No results of either test have been
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At around 8 pm, Nathalie
Tronche went to the bus stop to pick up Valentin and Lucas. Valentin told his mother that Lucas had not come to the swimming pool; Valentin assumed that Lucas had missed the bus and had stayed at home. Nathalie had been at home for the last two hours, so she knew that Lucas
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to see if Lucas might have been in an accident and gone to hospital. She then contacted Lucas's friends, none of whom knew of his whereabouts. Following that, she contacted the police, who opened a missing persons investigation. Éric
Tronche was informed of his son's disappearance when he returned
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for swimming practice with his 17-year-old brother, Valentin. Valentin left before Lucas, expecting Lucas to join him at the bus stop. Lucas left the family home and locked the door but did not turn up at the bus stop. Valentin attempted to contact Lucas at around 5.30 pm, but Lucas's mobile phone
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Several witnesses reported seeing a person who may have been
Tronche a few hours after his disappearance. A neighbour claimed to have seen Tronche between 5.15 and 5.30 pm on the day of his disappearance, heading down the chemin de Saduran towards the vineyards, in the opposite direction to the
238:, which are deleted from the app after a few seconds but remain on Snapchat's servers. The request was granted but the Snapchat activities did not reveal anything of assistance to the investigation. Tronche's computer and tablet were seized and searched, but nothing of any interest was found.
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Lucas's family and friends describe him as a balanced, rounded, happy, kind and helpful teenager who loves animals and nature and does not like disappointing others. He was described as an ordinary 15-year-old boy with no personal or family issues. He was in his first year of the three-year
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The police interviewed
Tronche's friends, teachers, sports coaches and teammates on multiple occasions, as well as drivers who had passed through Bagnols-sur-Cèze on the day of his disappearance. A formal judicial request was submitted to the United States authorities to access Tronche's
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Passionate about geology, Lucas
Tronche regularly went to this area in Bagnols-sur-Cèze to look for stones to collect. The cause of death remains undetermined but possibilities include "an accidental fall, a deliberate act of throwing oneself into the void or an altercation."
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Regional
Judicial Police Service (SRPJ) and the Office central pour la répression des violences aux personnes (Central agency for punishing violence against persons, OCRVP). Tronche did not fit the profile of a runaway, and on 30 March, the prosecutor's office in
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On 24 and 25 June 2021, some bones and pieces of clothing were found in
Bagnols-sur-Cèze that were suspected of belonging to Lucas Tronche. DNA and genetic testing were performed which confirmed that they were definitely those of Lucas Tronche.
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In the months following
Tronche's disappearance, his parents appeared on many television programmes to spread awareness of the case as widely as possible and to aid the investigation. These programmes included
277:, informing them that Tronche was in good health and they had no need to worry. A total of eleven letters were sent until the start of summer 2016, when investigators managed to identify the sender thanks to a
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On 18 October 2018, the person seen near the bus stop on the day of Tronche's disappearance was located and taken in for questioning, but police said that there was nothing linking him to the disappearance.
246:, heading towards a hill. The area was searched by dogs and a helicopter. In a final sighting, a teenage boy and his father reported seeing Tronche on the afternoon of Saturday 28 March in a Cultura shop in
318:, could be linked to both disappearances. Lelandais has regularly been in the Gard and has relatives near Bagnols-sur-Cèze. On 27 February 2018, he was cleared as a suspect in Tronche's disappearance after
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released a composite sketch in an attempt to locate a witness seen by a passer-by near Tronche's home on the day of his disappearance. The sketch was modified and made more precise in September 2017.
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209:(investigation into a concerning disappearance) in the evening of 18 March 2015, immediately after being contacted by Nathalie Tronche. On 25 March, the investigation was handed over to the
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Appeals for witnesses have regularly been made and renewed. In the days following Tronche's disappearance, more than 1,500 people took part in searches. Thousands of others shared news on
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On 18 March 2017, the second anniversary of Tronche's disappearance, a large gathering – which included another balloon release – was held in Bagnols-sur-Cèze, attended by the local
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opened a judicial investigation into abduction and illegal confinement. Due to Tronche's profile and the lack of supporting evidence, some theories were dismissed, such as
127:. His skeletal remains were found in June 2021 near his home, in an area where he often went to collect rocks for his hobby in geology. The cause of death remains unknown.
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163:, having been a member of his local scout troop for several years. He was also in badminton and swimming clubs. He rarely used social media but was often on
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In May 2016, a major poster campaign was launched in an attempt to locate Tronche. Giant 4-by-3-metre placards were installed on roadsides across the Gard,
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Lucas Tronche was born on 18 April 1999 and was the second youngest of four brothers. His parents, Nathalie and Éric, are both engineers with the
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searches. Hills, cliffs and paths were searched in a 4 km radius of both Tronche's home and the River Cèze. Helicopters with
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with Olivier Delacroix in September 2017. The case has also been widely reported on television news programmes such as
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département. He was allegedly accompanied by a woman aged 45 to 50. Investigations into this lead proved fruitless.
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On 11 January 2018, investigators began examining whether Nordahl Lelandais, the main suspect in the August 2017
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1019:"Affaire Lucas Tronche : l'Analyse ADN des ossements confirme qu'il s'agit bien du corps de l'adolescent"
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where one of the letters was posted on 12 July 2016. However, it turned out that the sender was a 57-year-old
871:"GARD EnquĂŞtes Lucas, Antoine et Coralie Moussu : la piste Nordahl Lelandais se referme - Objectif Gard"
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Albert Einstein in Bagnols-sur-Cèze. According to teachers, he was a good student and wanted to become a
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586:"L'ENQUĂŠTE (2/4) Disparition de Lucas : qui Ă©tait en haut du piton rocheux ? - Objectif Gard"
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who had nothing to do with Tronche's disappearance. In October 2017, he was sentenced by a court in
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In October 2015, seven months after Tronche's disappearance, his parents started receiving strange
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971:"VIDÉO - Disparition de Lucas : plus de deux ans et demi d'enquête et de forte médiatisation"
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820:"La justice Ă©tudie la piste Nordahl Lelandais dans la disparition de Lucas Tronche en 2015"
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638:"Affaire Lucas Tronche : ses parents témoignent avant le procès du corbeau à Nîmes"
534:"Disparition de Lucas Tronche : un an après, la piste d'une "mauvaise rencontre"?"
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1033:"L'ADN retrouvé sur des ossements à Bagnols-sur-Cèze est bien celui de Lucas Tronche"
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took place in Bagnols-sur-Cèze and about 30 other towns and cities across France.
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919:"Bagnols-sur-Cèze : le mystère s'épaissit autour de la disparition de Lucas"
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897:"Disparition de Lucas Tronche : le témoin tant recherché enfin retrouvé"
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Posters have been put up in more than 1,000 towns and cities across France.
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845:"Disparition de Lucas Tronche: La police Ă©carte la piste Nordahl Lelandais"
716:"Disparition de Lucas Tronche : la police recherche un nouveau témoin"
768:"Le corps d'Antoine, disparu depuis 2016, retrouvé dans une forêt du Gard"
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to a bus stop, where he would take a coach to the public swimming pool in
742:"Disparition d'Antoine : un an après, "la justice reste déterminée""
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At 5.10 pm on Wednesday 18 March 2015, Tronche had planned to go on his
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425:(“Let’s Find Lucas”) was created to continue the efforts to find him.
612:"Affaire Lucas Tronche : la justice va examiner des relevés ADN"
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placed him more than 100 miles (160 km) away on the day in question.
560:"Disparition de Lucas à Bagnols : les témoignages qui comptent"
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On 19 March 2016, a year and a day after Tronche's disappearance, a
343:, and water search and rescue personnel also took part in searches.
690:"Un an de prison ferme pour le corbeau de l'affaire Lucas Tronche"
664:"Disparition de Lucas Tronche : le mystérieux corbeau arrêté"
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On 1 March 2016, almost a year after Tronche's disappearance, in
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teenager who, at the age of 15, disappeared from his hometown of
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A few days after Tronche's disappearance, investigators used
997:"Deux ans sans Lucas : l'émouvante vidéo des bénévoles"
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and Vaucluse départements. Between August and October 2016,
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to one year's imprisonment, with a further year suspended.
945:"Maurane et Bernard Werber mobilisés pour retrouver Lucas"
794:"Le logiciel AnaCrim sur les traces de Nordahl Lelandais"
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French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission
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provided hoardings all around France free of charge to
159:. He was introverted, sociable, and passionate about
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108:(18 April 1999 – disappeared 18 March 2015) was a
508:"Bagnols-sur-Cèze : 287 jours sans Lucas"
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370:have made public appeals to find Lucas.
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376:Crimes en direct: Mon enfant a disparu
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207:enquête pour disparition inquiétante
489:List of people who have disappeared
226:to fight either for or against the
265:– to look for potential traces of
192:was not there. Nathalie contacted
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316:disappearance of Maëlys de Araujo
16:2015 missing child case in France
197:home from work at around 11 pm.
470:Discovery of bones and DNA test
234:conversations and exchanges on
1067:Missing person cases in France
330:Initiatives and search efforts
1:
774:(in French). 10 February 2018
722:(in French). 2 September 2017
977:(in French). 17 October 2017
951:(in French). 2 November 2015
800:(in French). 11 January 2018
696:(in French). 30 October 2017
320:analysis of his mobile phone
58:18 March 2015 (aged 15)
300:In December 2016, France's
244:Saint-André-de-Roquepertuis
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1052:2010s missing person cases
616:www.lenouveaudetective.com
592:(in French). 16 March 2016
462:. The event also hosted a
149:French high school system
96:Nathalie Tronche (mother)
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61:Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France
1062:Missing French children
877:(in French). 9 May 2018
420:non-profit organisation
402:Dans les yeux d’Olivier
71:Skeletal remains found
1057:2015 crimes in France
400:in January 2016; and
205:The police opened an
141:Marcoule Nuclear Site
93:Éric Tronche (father)
875:www.objectifgard.com
360:Jean-Pierre Foucault
464:mannequin challenge
384:Jean-Marc Morandini
270:released publicly.
222:and fleeing to the
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389:Toute une histoire
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949:France Bleu
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849:www.msn.com
824:www.msn.com
772:SudOuest.fr
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694:France Bleu
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406:Sept Ă huit
287:mythomaniac
224:Middle East
211:Montpellier
121:département
77:Nationality
55:Disappeared
1046:Categories
1003:24 January
981:24 January
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903:18 October
881:18 October
855:18 October
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495:References
368:Renan Luce
46:1999-04-18
441:billboard
341:dog teams
309:Clarensac
250:, in the
248:Le Pontet
131:Biography
483:See also
445:JCDecaux
443:company
394:France 2
252:Vaucluse
236:Snapchat
165:Snapchat
161:scouting
778:11 June
352:Maurane
291:Valence
259:Luminol
220:suicide
194:A&E
151:at the
139:at the
116:in the
87:Parents
380:NRJ 12
110:French
81:French
67:Status
460:mayor
437:DrĂ´me
396:with
382:with
295:Nîmes
289:from
263:blood
216:Nîmes
153:Lycée
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40:Born
538:LCI
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