A pistol found by tourists in a lake is being analysed for possible links to the unsolved murders of three British family members and a French cyclist in the Alps, a prosecutor said. Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife, Ikbal, 47, and her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, were shot dead on a road near Annecy in eastern France on September 5, 2012.
Their two young daughters survived but 45-year-old cyclist Sylvain Mollier was also killed. Prosecutor Marie-Celine Lawrysz said in a statement that, on August 20, two tourists swimming in Lake Annecy found a semi-automatic pistol at a depth of around five feet – a few dozen metres away from the shore. She said: “They kept the weapon for 24 hours and conducted online research to identify its type. They subsequently drew a link between the discovered weapon and the one believed to have been used in the Chevaline killing on September 5, 2012. On August 21, 2026, they handed the weapon over to gendarmes from the local Saint-Jorioz brigade.” Ms Lawrysz said ballistic experts in France will now analyse the weapon, which appears to be a Luger pistol.
The bodies of Iraqi-born engineer Mr al-Hilli and his dentist wife, who lived in Claygate, Surrey, were discovered along with that of Mrs al-Hilli’s mother in their BMW on a remote forest route.
In a bizarre twist, Mrs al-Hilli’s previous husband, an American dentist named only as James T, died from a heart attack on the same day as the couple, but police said there was no link to the murders.
Suspects previously arrested in connection with the case include an Iraqi prisoner known as Mr S who was claimed to have said he had been offered “a large sum of money” to kill Iraqis living in the UK.
Mr al-Hilli’s brother Zaid was also arrested on suspicion of murder in 2013 but was later told he would face no further action after police found there was insufficient evidence to charge him with a crime.
In 2022, another suspect was questioned but released without charge.
