'Unsolved Mysteries' On Netflix: Where Is Xavier Dupont Today?
The French aristocrat is wanted in connection with the murder of his family.
Netflix Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix is a bonafide hit. The limited series, which is a reboot of the classic 1980s show of the same name, features all-new unsolved crimes — and, in one case, an unsolved UFO appearance.
But it's the third episode of the show that is, perhaps, the most distressing. The episode, called "House of Terror," focuses on the Affaire Dupont de Ligonnès, which focuses on the death of the members of the Dupont family. Xavier Dupont, the patriarch of the family, is still wanted today in 2020 for questioning after authorities found the bodies of his wife, four children, and two dogs on the family estate in Nantes.
Dupont, however, seems to have vanished into thin air.
Where is Xavier Dupont today?
Why is Xavier Dupont wanted for murder?
On April 21, 2011, the bodies of Xavier Dupont's wife, Agnes Dupont, and their four children — Arthur, Thomas, Anne, and Benoit — along with the family's two dogs, were found buried in the garden on the Dupont estate in Nantes, France. It's unclear when, exactly, the Dupont family was murdered. However, based on the timeline of events, it's believed that the first murder happened on April 1, 2011, because Xavier Dupont bought a shovel, cement, and a hoe at that time, after having purchased bullets and a gun back on March 12, 2011. After authorities conducted a search in the Var department, similar to an American search warrant, on April 29, 2011, an arrest warrant was issued for Xavier Dupont on May 11, 2011. However, he has not been seen since April 15, 2011 since disappearing from CCTV cameras and seemingly walking into the mountains in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, a small village in France.
Did Xavier Dupont work for the US Drug Enforcement Administration?
Bruno De Stabenrath, who was Xavier Dupont's childhood friend, told Unsolved Mysteries that his friend was very proud of his aristocratic upbringing, and how he was always involved in the high society of France's monarchy. He was even brought up in Versailles, the legendary home of Louis XIV. However, right before his family ended up dead, Dupont started sending letters to his friends and family claiming that he was working for the US Drug Enforcement Administration. However, those claims that Dupont made don't seem to have any basis in fact.
The Dupont family was very troubled.
Despite coming from an aristocratic family, the Dupont family was in dire financial straits. In fact, these dire financial straits caused Dupont so much misery that, in 2005, Agnes Dupont — his wife — filed a police report against him for assaulting their eldest son, Arthur. Xavier Dupont borrowed more than 50,000 Euros from his mistress in Paris, out of desperation but his mistress revealed that it was around this time that he started having "dark thoughts" that may, or may not, have involved murdering his family. One murder motive is that Dupont wanted to save his family from the shame of being exposed as having no money and felt that murdering them was the only way out.
Did Xavier Dupont die by suicide?
One of the most popular theories about Xavier Dupont's whereabouts is that he died by suicide after killing his wife and children. The most popular theory amongst investigators is that Dupont took the rifle that he inherited from his father — the same rifle, it should be mentioned, that investigators theorized he used to kill his entire family — went into the mountains in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, and took his own life. However, while several bodies and human remains have been found in those mountains since Dupont disappeared, none were proven to be the remains of the embattled aristocrat.
Was Dupont hiding out as a monk?
This is perhaps one of the strangest parts of the Xavier Dupont saga: in 2018, French authorities received a report that Xavier Dupont was hiding out in a monastery and posing as a benevolent friar. Authorities raided the monastery, only to discover that not only were the friars part of a silent order, but that the accused friar was only someone that merely looked like Xavier Dupont. To this day, the poor friar is still shaken up about the situation.
Where is Xavier Dupont today?
There are many popular theories as to where Xavier Dupont may be today. While authorities are still considering the option that Dupont may have died by suicide, there is also a popular theory that suggests he's hiding out with his family somewhere in Europe (the most popular suggested spots are Italy, Argentina, and Central America). However, anyone who has any information about where Dupont may be today is encouraged to go to the Unsolved Mysteries website, unsolved.com, and submit your tips there.
Has he been found?
The airing of the Unsolved Mysteries episode has naturally,triggered an influx of tips for the different episodes. The Xavier Dupont episode was no different — and according to Terry Dunn Meurer, the show's producer, there was a promising sighting in Chicago, Illinois based on a viewer tip. "Xavier, we got the most interesting tip. Somebody was actually in Chicago, I think they were on Lake Shore Drive, and they heard this guy talking French and they looked at him and they had just seen the episode. They sent us a photo, and it really did look like Xavier. It was striking. So we sent that tip on," she said.
But she admitted the tip may not pan out. "This [Chicago sighting] is just a stranger — we don’t have a name, we don’t have anything specific. In the Xavier case, what we’re hoping for is that he’s remarried or he has a girlfriend or he lives next door to somebody or he has a coworker who absolutely 100% knows that’s him. We need a very specific lead, because those leads come in from all over the world."
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, publicist, and photographer whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, BET.com, and more.