7-year-old survivor helping cops solve massacre mystery
The Sun visits Alps murder scene
as it's revealed cyclist was killed first
A SEVERELY wounded schoolgirl orphaned in last month’s Alpine gun massacre is finally opening up to cops – and could hold the key to solving the slaughter riddle.
British Iraqi Saad al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal, 47, and mother-in-law Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, were murdered in a blaze of semi-automatic gunfire on September 5.
French cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, was also shot dead, while Saad’s seven-year-old daughter Zainab was shot in the shoulder, pistol-whipped and left for dead.
His younger daughter, four-year-old Zeena, only survived by cowering under her dead mother’s skirt.
A chilling new testimony from survivor Zainab — who had previously been considered too traumatised to assist the police — said her father was standing NEXT to her when the killer struck.
A senior officer working on the Anglo-French inquiry said: “The little girl remembers key facts — her testimony is crucial.”
And while it was initially thought Saad was the killer’s primary target, details of a ballistics report leaked to a French newspaper on Friday suggest cyclist Sylvain, a nuclear industry worker, was in fact the designated target.
This suggests Sylvain was shot before the gunman turned on Saad and his family, who had parked their BMW in a layby close to the French village of Chevaline — and witnessed the attack.
The breakthroughs in the investigation came as The Sun visited the crime scene, where bouquets of floral tributes still lie on the ground.
Both Zainab and Zeena are back in Britain at a secret address.
Zainab’s recollections, being coaxed out of her informally by British detectives, have been corroborated by new forensic evidence.
Sand and gravel has been found on the soles of Mr al-Hilli’s shoes, proving that he was outside the car.
It is thought he then got back into the driver’s seat, locked the doors and tried to get away but in his panic put the BMW into reverse.
The car was found reversing furiously into a muddy bank, with Saad motionless and bloody behind the wheel.
At the crime scene Zainab was found outside the car — suggesting her terrified family were about to leave her behind.
Just over six weeks on from the savage attacks, it seems less and less likely that police will recover anything meaningful from the Route De La Combe d’Ire mountain path.
But what does seem clear is that detectives are keeping an open mind about the motive for the killings.
Initial inquiries focused on Saad who was mired in a dispute with his brother Zaid about a family inheritance — including a detached house in posh Claygate, Surrey, where the family lived. At the same time he carried out sensitive work related to the nuclear industry.
But now it seems likely detectives will pursue the thread that suggests Sylvain was the intended target.
The French victim currently lies in a temporary grave as authorities refuse to allow his relatives to cremate him in case they need to examine his body further.
His family have refused to release photos of him and all requests for interviews are met with silence.
Locals in his home town of Ugine also refuse to talk, directing reporters to the police station instead.
The Sun can reveal that Sylvain lived with a pretty young pharmacist called Claire Schutz, who is believed to have given birth to his baby in June.
He also shared his semi-detached home with his two teenage sons from a previous marriage. The property appeared abandoned when our reporter called this week.
Detectives have stated that Sylvain worked for Cezus, a subsidiary of the French nuclear energy group Areva, specialising in zirconium metalworking for nuclear fuel containers.
In 2007, Areva were forced to deny a report in the German news magazine Der Spiegel that they had flouted UN sanctions by providing Iran with enriched uranium.
The fact that both Sylvain and Saad were involved in the nuclear industry has led to speculation that they had arranged to meet on the remote mountainside to conduct some kind of deal.
But French detectives consider this unlikely.
In an exclusive interview, one officer on the case revealed that they no longer think Saad had arranged to meet anyone at the remote layby where he was killed, but was simply there to enjoy some hiking or sightseeing.
A green 4x4 and a motorbike had been spotted driving up the same road moments earlier and detectives speculated that one or both of these drivers lay in wait for their victims.
But police have since found holiday snaps taken by the al-Hillis minutes before they were shot, casting doubt on this theory.
Police initially suggested the family had been slaughtered by a hitman — each executed with a “double tap” to the head, a method used by Serbian paramilitaries.
But having found 25 cartridges at the scene, of which only around 14 hit the intended targets, they have now accepted that the incident is more akin to a frenzied killing.
Brett Martin, the British former RAF serviceman who was first on the scene, likened what he saw to an episode of TV series CSI: Miami.
There are worrying parallels with a mysterious killing last year less than 300 miles away.
Belgian Xavier Baligant, 29, was shot three times after pulling into a remote layby near Nancy in north-eastern France with his two children.
The weapon used to kill him, a Swiss-made Schmidt Rubin K31 rifle, may be similar to the gun used just over a year later in the murder in Chevaline, although police have refused to confirm this.
Visiting the al-Hilli crime scene raises more questions than it answers. Why did Martin not hear any shots as he ascended the hill?
How did the killer escape? Did they throw their weapon into the fast-flowing river beside the road?
But fresh accounts from brave Zainab could yet prove vital in bringing the gunman to justice.
