The essentials
Texas issued a wanted notice for Dupont de Ligonnès after a 2020 sighting, linked to his 2011 disappearance following murders in France.
The Brewster County Sheriff's Office in Texas issued a formal wanted notice for Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, a move directly tied to an alleged sighting in southern Brewster County in 2020, where a man matching his description was observed accompanied by a black Labrador.
The case dates back to 2011, when Dupont de Ligonnès disappeared from France following the discovery of his wife and four children murdered in Nantes. He has remained a fugitive ever since, the subject of an international manhunt spanning multiple countries.
The Texas appeal gained additional context in February 2026, when retired French investigator Gilles Galloux published a book arguing that Dupont de Ligonnès had fled to the United States. The book's claims have not been independently corroborated by French authorities.
The case has a history of false leads, including a 2019 arrest in Scotland that was ultimately attributed to mistaken identity, underscoring the difficulty of the ongoing search.
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From Nantes Murders to Texas: A 15-Year Trail
The sequence of events spans over a decade: the 2011 murders in Nantes, followed by years of fruitless international searches, a 2019 mistaken arrest in Scotland, an unverified 2020 sighting in southern Texas, and finally a Brewster County wanted notice. Galloux's February 2026 book added a published narrative to what had previously been fragmented leads across continents.
Sheriff's Appeal Formalizes a Previously Informal Lead
The Brewster County wanted notice represents a formal law enforcement step built on a single unverified 2020 sighting. No corroborating physical evidence has been publicly confirmed. The Scotland precedent — where a 2019 arrest proved to be mistaken identity — illustrates how unverified sightings can prompt official action, raising questions about the evidentiary basis for the Texas appeal.