I came face-to-face with Alps killer… I could've been his 5th victim
[ Brett Martin ] describes
bumping into welder Mollier at a T-junction below the forest road just after 3pm, then being overtaken by the al-Hillis’ maroon BMW estate.
Brett next saw the first suspicious vehicle — believed to be a dark grey BMW SUV, which police are still trying to trace — descending the hill, He recalled: “Mollier came up the main road on a racing bike. We coincided at the intersection and I turned right immediately behind him.
“I tried to keep up but his pace was much faster, so I eased off and he was out of sight within three or four minutes. About halfway up the hill, a 4x4 type of vehicle passed me at about 20 or 30mph.
It was at around 3.45pm that Brett had the menacing encounter with the motor–cyclist, and moments later he was confronted by the murder scene.
Yesterday we told how French cops now believe Mollier, 45, was likely to have been the intended victim and the British family were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Brett, 62, said: “In hindsight I realise I could have been the fifth victim.
“About 200 or 300 metres from the scene, a motorcycle came very slowly past me. It was a black-clad motorcyclist in a full-face helmet and a Trans Alpine style of bike. I couldn’t see their face and couldn’t even say if they were male or female.
“When they slowed right down, I thought they were going to stop and talk to me, but then they seemed to change their mind.
“When you reflect, you think, that’s interesting, because at the very least, he or she would have passed the murder scene.
“I nickname it my ‘luckiest unlucky day’. I think that if the trigger person had had a few more clips of ammunition, I wouldn’t be here.”
BBM
This is getting confusing. The Sun has added the picture of the motorist with the goatee - that man has been identified and has nothing to do with the crime. So was this the same person / motorist or someone else?
I still am not convinced that Mollier was the intended victim. Brett Martin describes how he and Mollier were overtaken by the Al-Hilli car. It follows that the family arrived at the parking area of les Martinets first.
If someone was waiting there for Mollier, he would no doubt have noticed them. The parking area is small and narrow. A car full of possible witnesses. Maybe wait for a better opportunity.
Also, the alleged perp had no way of knowing that Mollier was coming up that hill at that time. There is no network in that area, Brett Martin had to go downhill to alert the police. So how would anyone inform the shooter?
Then, the cyclist. All cyclists look more or less alike. You got to know a lot about bikes to recognize them, even more to recognize them up front, they do not have licence plates. A person cycling up a hill, at great speed, will bend over their handle bars. You cannot see their face, nor their clothes. IMO it could have been anyone coming up that hill.
Mollier and his background were investigated deeply at the time:
Is the Slain Cyclist the Key to the Perfect Murders in the Alps? Part Three
Maillaud [ the first Prosecutor on the case ] hasn’t been able to read everything published about
l’affaire de Chevaline, but he’s aware of the basic theory:
that Claire Schutz’s family had Mollier whacked for being a lout, and the al-Hilli family simply got in the way. Maillaud listens as it is explained again; then he shakes his head.
This was investigated and dismissed long ago, he says. Claire was not yet a millionaire, on paper or otherwise, he says. She was buying the pharmacy from her father, albeit with a no-interest loan, and Mollier had no current or potential legal interest in it because the two were not married. And again, who massacres strangers over a theoretical future financial entanglement?
BBM
