True Crime Story: The Aristocratic Ghost of Nantes episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 30, 2026 · 53 MIN

True Crime Story: The Aristocratic Ghost of Nantes

from Matter of Fact: A play on "matter" (physics) and "facts" (news). · host Larry White

In April 2011, the bodies of Agnès Dupont de Ligonnès and her four children were discovered buried under their garden terrace in Nantes, France, having been drugged and executed while the primary suspect, the father Xavier, vanished. Investigations into the family's private life revealed that Xavier was a man of aristocratic descent struggling with extreme financial debt and a double life, possibly influenced by his mother's cult-like religious views to "save" his family through death,. Despite being the target of an international manhunt and numerous reported sightings across the globe, Xavier remains at large, with his ultimate fate—whether he died by suicide or successfully escaped abroad—remaining one of France's greatest mysteries.

In April 2011, the bodies of Agnès Dupont de Ligonnès and her four children were discovered buried under their garden terrace in Nantes, France, having been drugged and executed while the primary suspect, the father Xavier, vanished. Investigations into the family's private life revealed that Xavier was a man of aristocratic descent struggling with extreme financial debt and a double life, possibly influenced by his mother's cult-like religious views to "save" his family through death,. Despite being the target of an international manhunt and numerous reported sightings across the globe, Xavier remains at large, with his ultimate fate—whether he died by suicide or successfully escaped abroad—remaining one of France's greatest mysteries.

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True Crime Story: The Aristocratic Ghost of Nantes

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This episode was published on March 30, 2026.

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In April 2011, the bodies of Agnès Dupont de Ligonnès and her four children were discovered buried under their garden terrace in Nantes, France, having been drugged and executed while the primary suspect, the father Xavier, vanished. Investigations...

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