Laurent Vallier, Family Thought To Be Bodies Found In Cambodia Car

Reuters) - Police in Cambodia were on Sunday investigating how five bodies, thought to be those of a Frenchman and his four children who went missing last year, ended up in a car dumped in a pond behind the French family's home.

Laurent Vallier, 42, and his children aged 2 to 9 disappeared from their home in Kompong Speu province near the capital, Phnom Penh, in September and the French Embassy said it had alerted authorities in November that they were missing.

The embassy said in a statement it had been informed of the discovery of the remains but that, "because of the state of the corpses, it is impossible to confirm that these are the bodies of Monsieur Vallier and his children."

Police said one skull had been found inside an open suitcase, having apparently floated in there after the car was submerged.

Relatives of Vallier's Cambodian wife, who died during childbirth, held a religious ceremony for the dead on Sunday.

Neighbors were shocked to learn of the grim discovery.

"We just saw him taking his children to school every day and then they just disappeared," said Chuob Srey, 43. "We thought they'd gone on holiday."

Police would not comment further because of the preliminary stage of the inquiry. "We don't know whether this was a robbery or a murder. Just let our expert team work on it," said district Police Chief Touch Heang.

(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Alan Raybould and Sanjeev Miglani)

Comments

[luv ya]

12:52 PM on 01/16/2012

The previous post was for another story.

[luv ya]

12:51 PM on 01/16/2012

The term Royalty, in this day and age, should now be History.
I mean really.

[Cascadienne]

12:07 PM on 01/16/2012

The picture of the little kids in the link below is heartbreaking. I visited Cambodia on my honeymoon (not that long ago) - the overt corruption is nauseating, with simple people trying to rebuild their lives, like the schoolteacher who drove us around (he was hidden in the family home during the time of the Khmer Rouge, who killed most of his family), - trying to make SOMETHING better for his family by working for tourists (who tip in American dollars...actually USD and Yen are the local commerce, it seems). Why anyone from the first world would willingly move there - and have kids there - is beyond me. Sexual tourism, landmines still detonating in fields, violence, lack of opportunities....and a healthy dislike of rich forreigners, especially foreign men who marry into the community. I guess life is a calculated risk.

[Bgrngod]

01:56 PM on 01/16/2012

The article indicates that his wife was Cambodian. He must have moved their to be with her.

[karen lyons kalmenson]

11:47 AM on 01/16/2012

very sad loss of life, and hopefully, closure will be had, as much as can be had, by those who mourn♥

[FACTISFACT]

11:11 AM on 01/16/2012

This a preplanned murder and a deep sustained investigation would reveal the fact of the murder. people close to the family may be involved.

[Los Pepes]

02:43 PM on 01/16/2012

You state it as a matter of fact that this is a "preplanned murder." So If "a deep sustained investigat­ion would reveal the fact of the murder" what revealed the fact of the murder to you?

[FACTISFACT]

04:00 PM on 01/16/2012

Have you any knowledge of what civil and military law is? Then do you have any knowledge of what Criminal Investigation. First gather the knowledge then come up with your mature question.

[Claudia L]

10:02 AM on 01/16/2012

If they were just drowned why would a head be separated. There's something fishy there.

[adam9651]

11:33 AM on 01/16/2012

when a body decays, parts come loose and filled with air from bacterial digestion of the tissues. Things start to float around in the water. It probably just ended up there

[Claudia L]

12:50 PM on 01/16/2012

Thank you Mr. CSI. F&F

[Catherine in Tulsa]

11:57 AM on 01/16/2012

Here in Tulsa, we had a foot found floating in a pond. When they drained the pond, they found the rest of the body in an SUV that had been in there for a few years.

[Claudia L]

01:38 PM on 01/16/2012

That's a great start for a movie script. May be I can give you a HAND?

[MeMyselfI]

08:19 AM on 01/16/2012

I remember when I was a little a little boy went missing in the winter and I mark it as the first I can recall people searching in mass for someone and posters and media. It went on for a long while with theories and suspects etc. One day months later in the spring after the snow and ice had thawed, the mother was at the kitchen sink and something caught her attention in the above ground pool directly in her line of sight. I can't remember the details, but I believe she first assumed it to be depris such as leaves etc that had been in the ice and now floated free because of the thaw. Well, it was the body of the boy who had thought kidnapped. He must have climbed up and fell in and drowned but no one ever checked the pool. Leaves soon covered it and then ice. I think Laurent Vallier may have accidentaly driven into the water and no one thought to look there.

[Marcia75]

09:24 AM on 01/16/2012

That's some brilliant police work.

[CoastalNC]

10:16 AM on 01/16/2012

But didn't they say something about a head in a suitcase...

[BUMbO]

11:11 AM on 01/16/2012

They also said it floated into the open suitcase after the SUV was submerged.

[Angrysheepherder]

01:31 PM on 01/16/2012

A body will fall apart when decomposing. Sorry to be blunt.

[mira chancleta]

08:15 AM on 01/16/2012

horrific story
horrible journalism

[ejais]

07:51 AM on 01/16/2012

how horrible.

[Jame Gumb]

06:39 AM on 01/16/2012

"We don't know whether this was a robbery or a murder."

5 bodies not enough? Need his bank account number to determine the cause of death?

[wakawaka09]

09:40 AM on 01/16/2012

"Just let our expert team work on it," sez district Police Chief Touch Heang. This could take months to solve I'm sure.

[Gerald Serlin]

11:40 AM on 01/16/2012

Reminds me of my on-line casino. They have been investigating why I have not been paid for months. The police are in on it. What a fraud.

[Catherine in Tulsa]

11:59 AM on 01/16/2012

The suitcase makes me think they were leaving, and possibly had an accident. Who's to say the father didn't have a heart attack and drive into the water? Obviously the children would drown with him.

[straightuptalker]

05:28 AM on 01/16/2012

Consider though another gruesome scenario. His wife died in childbirth. He was left with 4 children to care for and may have been overwhelmed and overcome with grief. He won't be the first to drive a vehicle into a body of water with their children inside. Hate to even think about it.

[farmerlady]

05:42 AM on 01/16/2012

that was my thought too

[TheIpsoFactory]

07:06 AM on 01/16/2012

Gruesome indeed. But my thought as well.

[1differentdrummer]

04:36 AM on 01/16/2012

Boy, some "holiday."

[Jame Gumb]

06:41 AM on 01/16/2012

They were not on holiday. The bodies were found in a pond behind their house.

[tmaxPA]

09:38 AM on 01/16/2012

You should stop replying on this topic until you calm down and get some perspective.

[OneGreater]

03:21 AM on 01/16/2012

Sadly, truth is stranger than fiction.

[MaryfromIL]

02:58 AM on 01/16/2012

Guess the cambodian CSI needs to add line to their manual:

"Check the back yard and pool"

[farmerlady]

05:34 AM on 01/16/2012

It was a "pond" behind the house---it might have been anything from pool-sized to something more like a small lake--but I agree it does not look like the police searched thoroughly.

[Jame Gumb]

06:42 AM on 01/16/2012

it sound like this guy insulted a cop.

[Joyce Oxfeld]

02:12 AM on 01/16/2012

Seems like some kind of horrible pay back. I just watched the movie, The Deer Hunter , last night.