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Ireland, 25 August 2025- Irish investigators say they have finally recovered viable DNA from key items in the 1996 murder of French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier. This case has long haunted West Cork. Using touch DNA methods and the M-Vac collection system, specialists worked with Forensic Science Ireland to test a blood-stained rock, a concrete block, and clothing preserved from the scene. For the first time, they report genetic material that may belong to the killer, offering a concrete lead nearly three decades on.
The new testing followed a multiyear case review and an eight-day session at Garda Headquarters in July 2025, supported by U.S experts associated with M-Vac. Because rough, porous surfaces often trap microscopic skin cells, the devices can pull trace DNA that earlier methods missed. If the profiles match samples collected during the original investigation, it could finally identify who bludgeoned Sophie near her holiday home in Schull on December 23, 1996.
Sophie’s family has publicly backed the fresh testing and says they will accept whatever the result shows. Garda are now awaiting laboratory reports and have begun comparison work linked to easier suspects and unidentified profiles. It is the clearest sign yet that modern forensics could answer a question Ireland has lived with for 29 years.
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