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Family died in the Swiss city of Montreux
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- Author, Imogen Foulkes
- Rolle, From BBC News in Geneva (Switzerland)
1 hour ago
The Swiss authorities this Wednesday (March 23) concluded the investigation into a case that shocked the country in which four people from the same family died.
Investigators concluded that the deaths were planned and carried out by the adults in the family, without outside intervention.
The four family members died in Montreux on March 24 last year.
An eightyearold girl, a 15yearold boy, the father, the mother and the mother’s twin sister rushed out of the seventhfloor apartment. Only the boy survived.
He was in a coma for some time but has since recovered from his serious injuries. He says he cannot remember the events of that day, according to investigators.
Forensic evidence found no sign of an altercation before the deaths, and autopsies showed no traces of drugs.
After a year of investigations, Swiss authorities now say the family’s mother and her sister were heavily involved in conspiracy theories.
Two years ago, the family moved from France to Switzerland.
After the deaths, police found the apartment full of groceries, medicines and hygiene supplies, carefully stored and organized. The family rarely went out, and the children were raised at home.
The two women had a deep distrust of the government and local authorities, investigators said, and raised their children believing that the outside world was a hostile place.
The Covid19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine further strengthened these beliefs.
Searches of the home and analysis of the family’s electronic devices revealed that the collective suicide was carefully planned and even rehearsed.
According to the police report, the adults were apparently waiting for the right moment to set off for what they considered a “better world”.
The decision appears to have been triggered by a visit by the Montreux police to inquire about the wellbeing of the family.
Police officers stopped at the family home the same morning the suicide occurred to ask the father to attend a meeting with local education officials to discuss his son’s home schooling after the family failed to reply to several letters.
They wouldn’t let the police in and killed themselves minutes later.
On Tuesday, the Swiss authorities appealed to respect the privacy of the surviving boy.
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