Looking to solve 1984 killing, investigators check DNA on stamp

PARIS - DNA testing on a 16-year-old postage stamp may help identify ''the Crow,'' the mysterious suspect in the drowning murder of a 4-year-old boy, one of France's most sordid crimes.

A French court on Wednesday ordered genetic testing on the stamp to help unmask ''the Crow,'' who claimed responsibility in a letter for the drowning of ''Petit Gregory,'' or ''Little Gregory,'' as the child became known throughout France. The letter was sent to the boy's grandparents.

The boy's body was found in the Vologne River in the eastern Vosges region on Oct. 16, 1984. His hands and feet were bound.

The unsolved case gripped France for more than a decade with its elements of jealousy among rival family clans in a rural backwater, extortion, the birth of illegitimate children, crimes of passion and death threats signed by someone who signed letters: ''the Crow.''

Among the first suspects was Bernard Laroche, a first cousin of the boy's father, Jean-Marie Villemin. Laroche had been seen near the Villemin home around the time the child disappeared from his front yard, and was allegedly jealous of his cousin because his own child was born severely handicapped.

Laroche was released for lack of evidence, and in a fit of passion, Villemin killed him. He spent several years in jail.

Suspicion later fell on Gregory's mother, Christine Villemin, but charges against her were dropped in 1993. The Villemins then left the region where the family had lived for generations and settled in a Paris suburb.

The court in Dijon in central France ordered genetic testing on a piece of the stamp that was glued on an envelope sent to Gregory's grandparents several months before the murder.

The court said that either saliva or a sponge was used because self-sticking stamps did not exist in France at the time. The case was closed before DNA testing became widespread in French police investigations.

Scientists earlier this spring used DNA to uncover the identity of a 10-year-old boy who died in a Paris prison - more than 200 years ago. Using the DNA from the dead boy's heart, scientists were able to identify him as Louis XVII, the son of King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette and heir to the French throne.

''This is the last chance for the truth to come out,'' said Paul Lombard, lawyer for the Villemins, who requested the testing. He said it would take several months for testing to be completed.

''Using the latest scientific techniques is very important because if they allow us to identify the Crow, then we will have taken a big step toward solving the murder,'' he told French radio.

The stamp and copies of tape-recorded phone calls to the Villemins from ''the Crow'' are the only pieces of material evidence left in the legal file.

The court also ordered a semantic analysis of the words used in the letters.

The first letter warned the Villemins that the sender would carry out previous, unspecified threats.

''I'll carry out the threats against the chief and his little family,'' the letter said, in an apparent reference to the boy's father. ''He'll console himself with his money, life or death.''

Another letter, dated the same day as the boy's murder, expressed chilling satisfaction and claimed responsibility for the child's death.

''I hope you'll die of sorrow, chief, your money won't bring your son back, this is my revenge, poor jerk,'' the letter said.

''The Crow'' was never heard from again.