Alps murders: Luger in a lake gives hope for French cold case - BBC News

Saad al-Hilli was shot dead with his wife and mother-in-law while holidaying in eastern France in September 2012.

Image source, Central News and PicturesImage caption, Saad al-Hilli was shot dead with his wife and mother-in-law in September 2012

Police investigating the unsolved murder of a British family in France 14 years ago have an unexpected new clue with the discovery of a Luger pistol in the waters of a nearby lake.

One of the few certainties in the killings of Saad al-Hilli with his wife and mother-in-law – as well as a passing cyclist – is that they were shot through the head with a Luger model P06, a type used by the Swiss army until around 1960.

Now France's cold case unit has confirmed the discovery of a Luger in Lake Annecy, in the Alps, not far from the scene of the murders in September 2012.

According to Marianne magazine, which broke the story, it was British tourists on 20 August who found the weapon lying in two metres of water.