Lyhanna’s disappearance
Before the disappearance of 11-year-old Lyhanna, there were already three legal cases involving minors against the main suspect Jérôme B. This is reported by ‘BFMTV’. Yesterday, a new report of rape of a minor was filed. The 41-year-old, the father of one of Lyhanna’s friends, is the last person she was seen with before her disappearance on Friday.
Journalist at HLN
Day 6 of the disappearance of 11-year-old Lyhanna Bernard, who did not return home from school in Fleurance, a rural municipality in the southern French department of Gers. More and more disturbing information is emerging about the main suspect Jérôme B., with whom Lyhanna’s parents broke up after alarm bells went off after a pajama party.
The 41-year-old man has already been officially charged with kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. While in pre-trial detention, the father of another young girl has filed a new complaint. He told ‘BFMTV’ that B. made “inappropriate gestures” towards his daughter. After a sleepover at B.’s home, he allegedly “caressed her buttocks” when she woke up. “This happened in B.’s house, where several other girls were also there,” said the girl’s father.
Three previous lawsuits
The prosecutor in the case, Clémence Meyer, told a press conference yesterday that three lawsuits had already been filed against B. in the past, even before he was charged with kidnapping and hostage-taking. All three files revolve around minors.
An initial investigation from 2017 into a relationship with a 17-year-old girl was classified without results. A 2024 complaint about the alleged rape of a minor under the age of 15 was also later dismissed. In 2025, another investigation was opened after a ten-year-old girl stated that she had been raped by B. several times.
His lawyer emphasized that her client is considered innocent for the time being. “He was never interrogated in that file,” says ‘BFMTV’. Yet French media have already published his full name and photo in the Lyhanna case.
Even more striking: Jérôme B. was dismissed in 2021 as a maintenance worker in the Occitania region, after the management of the Lycée Lannes in Lectoure initiated disciplinary proceedings against him for inappropriate behavior towards a student of the school. It was about “repeatedly sending intrusive messages via social media”.
Meanwhile, the search for missing Lyhanna expands. “We have decided to expand the search to remote areas around Fleurance,” the mayor said in a statement. “And we have asked hunters to help the police in this task. They know the area well. We are here for this little girl (…) and we have to work together. As the hours pass, the situation becomes more and more difficult.”