She Set Out On A Road Trip, Left Her Mom A Note, And Vanished In The Mountains: Where Is Julie Michel?
On July 1, 2013, Julie Michel, a 26-year-old from Auxerre, Burgundy, France, set out on a road trip, leaving behind a note for her mom, Betty Lefebvre. She initially stayed with her boyfriend in Gironde, at Lacanau, before traveling to the Basque coast in her car.
By July 18, 2013, she’d made it to Massat in Ariège and participated in a night market. Julie wound up leaving the party early at 9:30 p.m. and returned to the parking lot.
But on July 19, the 26-year-old went missing. That day, a paraglider spotted her eating lunch next to her car at around 1:00 p.m., and afterward, she was never seen or heard from again.
Her car and belongings were subsequently discovered in a mountain pass of the French Pyrenees known as Port de Lers in Ariège, parked right next to a sign where hikers often get caught, but there was no sign of Julie.
In the initial investigation, authorities conducted searches and scrutinized Julie’s lifestyle and habits because, a year prior to her disappearance, she’d reportedly become involved with a cult.
“At the end, her moods were a little changeable. She was under the influence of a ‘godmother,’ and then we saw that her personality had changed a little. The movement of this ‘godmother’ spoke to her,” Julie’s mother, Betty, recalled.
“The goals were to get closer to nature, to distance herself from consumer society. Julie was looking for something else and perhaps wanted to start from scratch. She had life plans,” Betty continued.
“She was close to a sectarian movement, certainly. But she would have warned us of her movements; I was in constant contact with her during her trip. And then all her things stayed in her car. She had 270 euros and shoes; if she wanted to leave, she would have taken them.”
The police ultimately ruled out the possibility of a suicide, hiking accident, or voluntary disappearance. Then, in 2018, the investigation was closed by the Foix judicial court.
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Nonetheless, Julia’s mother never stopped searching for answers, and in July 2023, she filed a new complaint for “intentional homicide, kidnapping, and unlawful confinement,” leading the investigation into Julie’s case to be reopened.
“I love my daughter. I want to know what happened to her. We can’t abandon her like this, so we decided to change the terms and file a complaint for ‘voluntary homicide, kidnapping, and sequestration,'” Betty explained.
“Twelve years ago, when she disappeared, I quickly filed a missing person complaint. For several years, every investigation was carried out. Investigations that yielded nothing.”
Betty’s lawyer, Maître Caty Richard, has since expressed their belief that foul play was involved, saying, “Something happened to Julie, and we are certain that it was the work of a third party.”
The investigation is now in the hands of the Toulouse Research Section (Haute-Garonne), and Betty hopes that certain leads and testimonies, some of which were collected by Julie’s loved ones, will be verified.
Betty admitted how, after so many years have passed by, she expects to “discover the worst.” Still, she cannot stop until she learns what happened to her daughter.
“There are some who told me to mourn, but for me, it was unthinkable that Julie’s file would be put on a shelf and forgotten. I want to know what happened,” she said.
Now that Julie’s case has been reopened, investigators will analyze testimonies from her family and volunteer investigators. Additionally, an association has reportedly been set up to support Julie’s loved ones.
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