In December 2000, Emile Louis was arrested on suspicion of abduction and murder after three bodies were found near his home in Rouvray, 10 miles from Auxerre. He initially confessed to seven murders but later retracted the admissions. Louis, who will appear in court over the murders later this year, was, however, sentenced to 20 years last month for torturing and raping his second wife and her foster daughter. Louis was in prison at the time of Joanna's death but the families of the victims suspect that he and Dunand were two of many local sex criminals who procured girls for their important "clients".