The Murders of the Dupont de Ligonnes Family: A French Nobleman’s Tragedy or Revenge?

Over the course of the first few weeks of April 2011, the Dupont de Ligonnes family slowly fell off the radar- until investigators discovered the bodies of the mother and four children in the backyard.

Who Were the Dupont de Ligonnes Family?

The family lived in Nantes, a north-western French city situated 210 miles south-west of Paris.

Xavier, the family patriarch, was a French nobleman and entrepreneur. He ran several companies, including SELREF, an organization with a secretive and vaguely defined purpose.

His wife, Agnes, was an assistant at the Blanche-de-Castille Catholic School. Parishioners described the religious mother as kind but strict with her children.

Her oldest son, Arthur, came from a previous relationship, but Xavier adopted him when he was two years old.

The 20 year old was studying at a nearby college and worked at a pizzeria in Nantes.

Thomas, who was two years younger than his older brother, earned his baccalaureate in literature. He was a quiet student but was passionate…