Gun found in French lake may unlock Iraqi family murder mystery

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) — French detectives are looking into a weapon discovered from Lake Annecy, which might give a fresh clue in the unsolved 2012 murder of British-Iraqi engineer Saad al-Hilli, his family, and a French cyclist.

British holidaymakers discovered the Luger handgun on August 20 in roughly two meters of water near Le Solitaire du Lac, the campground where the al-Hilli family had been camping before to the deaths, according to French magazine Marianne.

The location and kind of weapon have piqued investigators’ attention since the four victims were slain using a Luger P06 handgun, which was formerly used by the Swiss military.

The murder weapon was never found.

Forensic specialists are now investigating the severely damaged pistol to establish if it is a P06 and whether it is related to the murder.

Al-Hilli, an Iraqi-born British citizen from a prominent Iraqi family, was on holiday with his family in the French Alps when he, his wife Iqbal, mother-in-law Suhaila al-Allaf, and cyclist Sylvain Mollier were found shot dead near Chevaline on September 5, 2012.

The couple’s two young girls escaped the deadly assault, with one hiding inside the family’s vehicle for hours before someone found her.

Over the last 14 years, French and British detectives have exvariousiety of possibilities, including familial and financial issues, a random assault, and the likelihood that Mollier was the intended target.

No clear motive or perpetrator has been established.

The finding might be important since detectives have long considered retrieving the murder weapon as a possible way to solve the cold case.

France’s cold-case section in Nanterre has said that the newly recovered handgun may be pertinent to the inquiry.

Investigators must now determine if the pistol is the same type used in the deaths and, more importantly, whether forensic evidence may link it to one of France’s longest-running murder mysteries.