Case against Louna

A hidden microphone was installed in a vehicle.^[3]

Several GPS trackers were installed on vehicles.^[3]

Cameras were installed to film the entrances of several places where people opposed to the highway project lived.^[3]

A gas detector^[4] was unsuccessfully used to detect traces of accelerant in the cab of the burned excavator.^[3]

Traces of accelerant were collected:

• On a torch — a piece of wood tipped with a cloth soaked in flammable liquid — found near the burned excavator.
• Inside the burned excavator.

Traces of accelerant were unsuccessfully searched for on Louna's clothes, seized at the hospital while she was hospitalized.

DNA traces of Louna were collected from:^[3]

• A garbage bag and a surgical mask, partially burned, seized near the burned excavator.
• A pair of shorts seized in her hospital room while she was hospitalized.
• A paper cup seized when she was taken into custody.
• A spoon and a napkin seized while she was in custody, after a meal.

DNA traces of a person seen asking after Louna in the corridors of the hospital were collected from:

• A pair of shorts seized in Louna's hospital room while she was hospitalized.
• A surgical mask found in the shorts.

Unusable DNA traces were collected from:

• A partially burned hammer found in the cab of the burned excavator, the window of which had been broken.
• A torch — a piece of wood tipped with a cloth soaked in flammable liquid — found near the burned excavator.

Several civilians helped investigators. In particular:^[3]

• After hearing Louna make an appointment with a doctor through an intercepted phone call, investigators contacted the doctor, who provided them with Louna's personal information, including her address and phone number.
• The pharmacist at a pharmacy where Louna obtained medication provided a physical description of Louna, confirmed recognizing her from a photograph, and provided personal documents of hers, including copies of prescriptions.
• The director of a higher education institution where a person studied provided the person's class schedule and information about the transportation they used to get to the institution.

CCTV footage from the arson site showed two people setting fire to the excavator, and one of them burning themselves accidentally.^[1]

CCTV footage from the hospital on the night of the arson showed:

• The license plate of the car that brought Louna to the hospital.
• The faces of the other people in the car.
• One of the people in the car carrying a watering jug. Investigators would later try to find this watering jug during a house raid.

CCTV footage from cameras in several towns was used to try to reconstruct the route of the car that brought Louna to the hospital, and the route Louna took when she left the hospital.^[3]

After the arson on the night of May 4 to May 5, 2024, investigators conducted several physical surveillance operations:^[3]

• On May 5, at the hospital, they took photos of people asking after Louna and listened to conversations.
• On May 6, 7, 11, and 14, they surveilled places where people opposed to the highway project lived. They took photos of vehicles and noted their license plates.
• On May 10, they surveilled the entrance of the hospital, where Louna had an appointment.
• In July, they surveilled an event organized by a person opposed to the highway project.

At the beginning of October, an arrest warrant was issued for Louna. Until her arrest on October 12, 2024, investigators conducted several physical surveillance operations:

• On October 3, they:
  • Surveilled the homes of Louna's parents and grandparents for 6 hours.
  • Drove by another home of Louna's family several times in a vehicle.
  • Followed a person seen with Louna at the hospital for 4 hours.
• On October 8, they:
  • Surveilled the homes of Louna's parents and grandparents again for 6 hours.
  • Drove by the homes of several members of Louna's family and a person who had accompanied her to the hospital several times.
  • Followed a person seen with Louna at the hospital again for 6 hours.
• On October 10, during the trial of a person opposed to the highway project, they surveilled the interior of the courthouse and the surrounding area.
• On October 12, after hearing about a meeting outside apartment buildings through an intercepted phone call, they surveilled those buildings and arrested two people who went to the meeting, including Louna.

Investigators used the collaboration of mobile network operators to geolocate approximately 30 phones and intercept their calls in real time.^[3] In particular, investigators used the intercepted calls to:

• Hear about a meeting outside apartment buildings, set up physical surveillance of those buildings, and arrest two people who went to the meeting.
• Hear Louna make an appointment with a doctor, then contact the doctor to obtain Louna's personal information, including her address and phone number.

Investigators used the collaboration of the hospital to:

• Learn that a person (Louna) was hospitalized for burns.^[3]
• Obtain Louna's medical file.
• Seize Louna's clothing while she was hospitalized.^[1]
• Obtain the phone number of someone close to Louna that Louna had given to the hospital.
• Obtain CCTV footage from the hospital.
• Obtain information from the hospital's parking payment system.
• Learn the time and place of an appointment Louna had at the hospital a few days after the arson.

Investigators also used the collaboration of several State institutions:

• The Agence nationale des titres sécurisés (ANTS, National agency for secured documents) provided scans of identity documents and applications for renewal of identity documents.
• Health insurance organizations provided the personal information of people under investigation and their partners.
• The tax authorities provided the purchase and sale files of houses of Louna's parents and grandparents.

Investigators used the collaboration of several companies:

• Banks provided:
  • Bank information of several people, including many members of Louna's family.
  • IP addresses used to make online bank transfers.
  • Locations where people had withdrawn cash.
• An insurance company provided a person's address and list of roommates.
• The highway operator Vinci provided CCTV footage of highway toll booths.
• The French national railway company (SNCF) provided information about people who had booked seats next to people under investigation, including their photos and bank information.
• The carpooling service BlaBlaCar provided information about people who had used the service, including their photos, bank information, and the trips they had taken.
• The car manufacturer Stellantis provided the IMSI^[5] and IMEI^[6] numbers of a car's embedded location system. However, investigators were unable to locate the car because, for some unknown reason, it did not transmit its location.

Investigators asked a social housing landlord and a real estate agency to provide them with access cards to apartment buildings.