Overview
- Prosecutors announced new ground searches in Finistère in the Bengrine case, the Nanterre cold‑case unit told AFP.
- The operation is being run by DIANE, the gendarmerie division that performs forensic digs in long‑unsolved cases.
- The cold‑case unit reopened the file in July 2022 after a 2013 closure and issued a supplemental order in December that triggered these searches.
- Khadidja Bengrine disappeared from the Quimperlé home she shared with her partner in the summer of 2004 and has not been heard from since.
- Her former partner, Philippe Chalony, was placed under formal investigation in 2023 for kidnapping and confinement leading to death and remains in prison on a separate 12‑year sentence from 2022.