French investigators re-open 'cold case' of young woman's disappearance 33 years ago in Côte d'Azur

Marie-Hélène Audoye, 22, was working as a medical sales rep, visiting pharmacies throughout the south of France and Monaco. But she never returned home after one trip in 1991, having left a post -it note for one pharmacist who failed to turn up to a meeting with her, telling him she would catch up with him again soon.

Neither Ms Audoye or her car, a white Renault Super 5, were ever seen again. Her bank account was never used after that day. The young woman is described as striking at six feet tall, with long, black hair.

Her mother, Annie Audoye, continues the fight to find out what happened to her daughter. Her father died in 2011.

“It’s not so much a trial that we want from now on – no, we want to understand, to know what really happened and above all to find Marie-Hélène's body,” said Mrs Audoye in a statement issued through her lawyer Sophie Jonquet.

The case was initially declared closed in 2013, after investigators failed to find any trace of Ms Audoye.

Her mother has said she believes issues relating to her relationship at the time – her boyfriend, who she lived with – are key to the investigation.

Ms Audoye’s boyfriend was understood to be having an affair with a woman who was older than him, who had links to shadowy business dealings in the region. That woman was claimed to have made jealous threats relating to Ms Audoye, as well as leaving personal items such as hair clips in the couple’s flat.

Investigators at the time followed a theory that Ms Audoye had returned to her home in Cagnes-sur-Mer, near Nice, after her last appointment – and had disappeared from there. Ms Audoye’s mother says her daughter had spoken to a friend on the phone earlier that morning about the possibility of leaving her boyfriend, due to his affair.

"We can consider that there was an altercation at home, with the possible intervention of the mistress and that things degenerated,” said Ms Jonquet.

The “mistress”, however, was not questioned by police until six years after Ms Audoye’s disappearance. Her boyfriend, known only in the media as Etienne, was questioned multiple times. However, Mrs Audoye’s lawyer says he changed his alibis and story of his whereabouts between interviews.

“We consider that the boyfriend is the Gordian knot of this case,” said Ms Jonquet.

DNA analysis – using a milk tooth belonging to Ms Audoye, which had been kept by her mother from when she was a child – is ongoing on a skull found in the nearby French commune of Vence.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Mrs Audoye, now 78, said she was dedicating her life to resolving the case.

After her disappearance, Ms Audoye’s parents personally launched a search for their daughter, hiring a helicopter to search areas they believed she could have visited.

“You can’t forget your children – I would like us to find her body, I owe it to her,” Mrs Audoye said.