French family obsessed with conspiracy theories jumped to their death from Swiss apartment
French family obsessed with conspiracy theories since the Covid pandemic began jumped one after the other to their death from a seventh-floor Swiss apartment, police say
The four victims, identified as a 40-year-old man, his 41-year-old wife, her twin sister and the couple’s eight-year-old daughter, died at the scene in MontreuxThe couple’s 15-year-old son was seriously injured and is in a comaFamily were very interested in conspiracy theories since the start of pandemic
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A French family obsessed with conspiracy theories since the Covid pandemic jumped one after the other to their death from their seventh-floor apartment in the Swiss town of Montreux, police investigating the mystery said Tuesday.
Eric David, 40, his 41-year-old wife Nasrine Feraoun, her twin sister Narjisse, and the couple’s eight-year-old daughter were found dead at the bottom of a seven storey building on Thursday.
The couple’s 15-year-old son survived the fall and was seriously injured. He is currently in a coma in a stable condition in hospital.
The Vaud regional police said on Tuesday they are working on a theory of ‘collective suicide’ and their findings suggest ‘all the victims jumped from the balcony one after the other.
While an investigation into the tragedy is ongoing, police have concluded no one else was involved.
The five family members all jumped more than 65 foot from the apartment, where they all lived ‘withdrawn from society’, police said.
The four victims, identified as a 40-year-old man, his 41-year-old wife, her twin sister and the couple’s eight-year-old daughter, died at the scene, police said. The couple’s 15-year-old son was seriously injured and has been hospitalised
The four victims were found dead at the foot of a seven-story building in Montreux
Investigators said two officers knocked on the apartment door at 6:15 am, wanting to speak with the father about the home-schooling arrangements for his son.
A voice asked who was at the door, but then said nothing further. Unable to enter, the officers left.
Shortly before 7:00 am, all five jumped from the balcony within the space of five minutes.
Police detected no trace of a struggle, seemingly confirming that they jumped of their own accord. A step-ladder was found on the balcony.
‘Before or during the events, no witnesses, including the two police officers present on the spot from 6:15 am and the passers-by at the foot of the building, heard the slightest noise or cry coming from the apartment or the balcony,’ police said.
‘Technical investigations show no warning signs of such an act,’ they added, noting however that ‘since the start of the pandemic, the family was very interested in conspiracy and survivalist theories’.
Police officers take samples on a balcony after five people appeared to have jumped from their apartment, in Montreux, Switzerland, on Thursday
The family lived in virtual self-sufficiency having amassed a well-organised stockpile of various food, taking up much of their living space but enabling them to see out a major crisis.
Only the mother’s twin sister worked outside the home, while neither the mother nor the eight-year-old girl, who did not attend school, were registered with the local authorities.
‘All these elements suggest… fear of the authorities interfering in their lives,’ the police statement said.
France’s Journal du Dimanche newspaper said the father, Eric David, grew up in a wealthy part of Marseille and attended the Ecole Polytechnique, one of the most prestigious schools in the country.
The twin sisters, Nasrine and Narjisse Feraoun, grew up in a family of five children who were all educated at the elite Lycee Henri-IV in Paris, the weekly said. The mother was a dentist and her sister an ophthalmologist.
The newspaper also said the twins were granddaughters of Algerian novelist Mouloud Feraoun.
A close friend of the French philosopher Albert Camus, Feraoun was assassinated in Algiers in 1962 by a far-right French pro-colonial group.
