Marion Hermier has been missing since early February. Passionate about travel, the young Frenchwoman had gone for a hike on the island of Dominica, between Martinique and Guadeloupe.
What happened to Marion Hermier? Why land research is slow to be launched in cooperation between France and Dominica, a small island in the middle of the Caribbean archipelago that this 26-year-old Frenchwoman had won at the beginning of February? For nearly three months, her family and relatives have no news of the young woman. Justice is seized of his disappearance, but for lack of diplomatic agreements the research is slowed down.
Marion Hermier is more passionate about hiking than enjoying the white sands of Caribbean beaches. When this young girl chose to go to the island of Dominica at the beginning of February, a small land, located between Martinique to the south and Guadeloupe to the north, it was to experience the Waitukubuli National Trail, a hiking trail of 185 kilometres, in 14 stages, which crosses the island from north to south, passing through villages.
Unreachable for fifteen days
The young Frenchwoman leads “an original life”, according to her relatives. Chef in restaurants as a seasonal worker, she travels in her converted truck or drives heavy goods vehicles. Leaving France in November, Marion Hermier made the trip by catamaran to the West Indies and in particular to Guadeloupe. Last January, she spent a few days on the island of Dominica with friends she had met there. “She was touched by the beauty of the island”, blows with BFMTV. com Maya, his sister.
“She told me it was the most beautiful place she had ever seen,” she adds.
Sporty, experienced, Marion Hermier prepared for several weeks to face the Waitukubuli National Trail. First by the south, by a crater, by the jungle, crossing streams to reach the sea in the north. Before starting this “challenge” at the beginning of February, she warns her parents and her sister, with whom she is very often in contact, that she could not be reached for two weeks, for lack of a network.
Research conducted by relatives
Her family begins to contact her again only around February 20, in vain. On March 2, her disappearance was reported, first to the Valence prosecutor’s office where the young woman’s parents live. The case is then transferred, on the 4th, to the Basse-Terre prosecutor’s office in Guadeloupe, it is entrusted to the gendarmes of Saint-Claude.
On the spot, the relatives of the young woman were able to benefit from the support of friends who came immediately from Guadeloupe to try to recover testimonies. A Canadian tourist is certain to have crossed paths with Marion Hermier on February 5. “We had other returns but it turned out that it was not my sister”, explains Maya. Local authorities have appealed for witnesses.
Three Franco-Dominican search operations were also carried out in two months. Aerial searches yielded nothing, particularly due to dense vegetation. Since then, the family has been waiting for land research, more suited to the typology, to be launched. “We are flabbergasted by the slowness of the establishment of this research”, laments the sister of the disappeared.
“The family is awaiting a diplomatic agreement with Dominica. The country has confirmed its agreement for searches to be carried out on its territory, but without a response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France, the prosecutor and the gendarmes do not can intervene”, abounds Me Sédillot. The lawyer claims to have tried several times to contact the services of the Quai d’Orsay, in vain. Ditto for the French Embassy in Dominica.
“It’s incomprehensible, we can’t leave these parents waiting,” insists the council.
Contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not follow up.
The hypothesis of a rejected fugue
The parents of Marion Hermier left for several weeks on the island of Dominica to try to find their daughter. “We hired guides, rope access technicians, drone pilots,” explains Maya Hermier, adding that the family had to start a kitty to finance this research. She also sent a letter to the Elysée where the General Secretariat assured him of the support of the Head of State.
The hypothesis of a voluntary departure is “totally ruled out by the family”, explains their lawyer, Me Richard Sédillot. “Marion had very good relations with her family, her friends”, continues the council. “My sister has her feet on the ground, she knows what she wants, she is serious, very organized”, abounds Maya. The young woman was to return to France at the beginning of April to start a new job.
Accident, bad meeting, kidnapping… the family considers all the scenarios. “Supposing that an accident has happened to Marion, each passing day compromises her chances of survival”, concludes Mr. Sédillot.
