Monday, June 3, 2013

In Pursuit of Justice: The Story of Hugues de la Plaza


Hayeswire - The Hayes Valley Blog



Thank you Elizabeth Nolan for your lengthy and deep article about Hugues's murder 6 years ago.



http://hayeswire.com/2013/06/in-pursuit-of-justice-the-story-of-hugues-de-la-plaza.html#more-8480

Sunday, November 11, 2012

New documentary on French national television

Breaking News - Please watch this French documentary that aired on national French TV (France2) on 9/18/2012. In French only. 
Thank you Yannick Adam de Villiers for directing and Béatrice Schönberg for producing. And big kudos to François, Melissa, Olivier and Christophe for participating.

PASSWORD = reportage

Part 01
https://vimeo.com/53254227

Part 02
https://vimeo.com/53254228

Histoires en série:

"Un Français assassiné à San Francisco :
Son père mène l’enquête Juin 2007, Hugues, un ingénieur du son français de 36 ans installé à San Francisco, est retrouvé mort dans son appartement, le corps lardé de coups de couteau. La police conclut rapidement au suicide et classe l’affaire. Mais François, le père d’Hugues, qui vit en Bretagne, n’y croit pas. Il part aux Etats Unis mener sa propre enquête en utilisant des méthodes dignes des "Experts", et parvient à faire rouvrir le dossier pour meurtre."

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Public screening of the French film "Suicide ou Meurtre : un combat pour la vérité" produced by Pasadena Productions


Date: Thursday, January 28, 2010
Time: 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Location; Alliance Française San Francisco 1345 Bush Street, San Francisco CA

Agenda

6:30: Synopsis distribution in French and English
6:40: Welcoming and introduction by Christophe Schuhmann
6:45: Film - 90 minutes -
8:15: Questions and Answers with Bill Fazio, attorney at law representing the family, John Murphy, private investigator, Gitanjali Bhushan neighbor next door, Olivier Ngueda friend and co-worker...
9:00: Response to media

The film is in French but in fact all the interviews are audible in English. 70% of the movie is in English even if the narrative is in French.

Thank you to Antoine Baldassari and Marie-Anne Theriez for allowing this to happen.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

CBS 48 hours story


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Doctor Ferenc's report in integrality

Page 1 of 2 (De La Plaza-mjf)
To: Deputy Chief David Shinn, Investigations Bureau
San Francisco Police Department, 850 Bryant St, Rm 400
San Francisco, CA 94103
From: Michael Ferenc, Forensic Pathologist (11 February 2009)
Re: Review of death scene/autopsy findings of Mr. Hugues De La Plaza
(SFPD Case # 070-557-605, SFMEO # 2007-0642)

As per your request, I have reviewed the crime scene photographs, crime scene video, relevant articles of clothing, and autopsy report related to this gentleman’s death. Inspector Casillas gave me an excellent overview of the case when I met with him and his colleagues this past Friday. It was very thorough and detailed.
In my opinion, the death of Mr. Hugues De La Plaza is a homicide. In the following paragraphs I would like to very briefly highlight some of the more important points that I believe support that conclusion.
As you know, this unfortunate gentleman suffered three stab wounds and was found dead inside his secure residence the morning of 06/02/2007. Extensive blood pattern evidence was seen throughout several of the rooms and on the front door stair area/sidewalk. Of the three stab wounds, the stab wound to the left base of the neck that transected the left subclavian vessels (a large artery and a large vein beneath the collarbone) and penetrated the lung was undoubtedly the most significant injury. Almost certainly, it was the source for most of the bloodshed seen, and copious bleeding from this wound would be immediate or almost immediate. Once this particular injury was inflicted, this gentleman likely would exsanguinate and expire in a matter of a minute or two.
The bloodshed evidence begins on the front door steps and sidewalk. Only one trail of dripped blood (the pattern indicates rapid, fairly active flow) is seen from the stairs to the front door. Throughout the interior scene shoeprints consistent with the decedent’s shoes are seen but none are seen outside (consistent with the decedent’s shoes not yet having walked through his own blood. If this gentleman had inflicted his own wounds in the kitchen area at the other end of the apartment and had walked bleeding to the front door, then one would expect bloody shoe prints and two trails of blood on the outside stairs and landing. Instead blood shoeprints and two trails of blood are seen in the kitchen and hallway indicating a single roundtrip into and out of the kitchen after his soles are bloodstained.). On the concrete wall adjacent to the stair case landing are occasional smaller drops of blood consistent with cast off from the arm movements of a knife being plunged and removed from the decedent (In my opinion, this blood is not consistent with expectorated blood related to the concomitant lung injury. Moreover, despite the rapidity of bleeding expected from his neck wound, based upon the dripped blood on the stairs, the victim does not appear to have remained there long enough for blood to collect in his airways to make cough-propelled blood even possible.).
Page 2 of 2 (De La Plaza-mjf)
The presence of bloody shoeprints consistent with the decedent’s shoes and the absence, on the front stairs and/or front door verge, of expected bloody shoeprints that could belong to an assailant(s) strong suggests that his attacker(s) did not follow him back into his apartment (However, several photographs of the front room indicate that some items have been moved. If the movement of these items is not attributable to emergency responders, then it would suggest that someone else did enter and moved things after bloodshed).
Toxicology revealed only alcohol in the blood (0.11 g/dL) and the vitreous humor (0.10 g/dL). The relative levels in the blood and vitreous humor suggest that the decedent had not yet reached complete absorption/equilibration of alcohol (or that he was continuing to ingest alcohol after arriving home) indicating his death was soon after he returned home.
His stomach contents consisted of a little over 3 ounces of material including peas. On the kitchen countertop was a plate of rice and peas. There is no reason to believe this gentleman had delayed gastric emptying thus suggesting that after returning to his apartment, he had at least briefly begun to eat.
Finally, three autopsy room photographs show a faint, about 3/8 inch long, transverse, linear marking on the palmar surface of the base of the pointer finger of the right hand. This mark is not described in the autopsy report. I am concerned that this mark may be an abrasion or superficial incised wound that represents what is typically called a defense wound.
Summarizing the sequence of events I infer from the reviewed evidence is as follows: Mr. De La Plaza returned home from nightclubbing around 0200 hours and entered his residence. There he ate some food and apparently made phone calls and utilized his computer (this occurred approximately during the next half hour based upon Inspector Casillas’s investigation). For some reason(s) he exited his apartment ( or at least stepped outside to answered his door). Either upon exiting or at his subsequent return, an assailant(s), who was(were) most likely positioned on the lower landing of the stair case, stabbed Mr. De La Plaza while he was on the lower steps. The victim retreated inside the apartment and the assailant(s) most probably did not follow inside. The victim went to the kitchen and returned to the front room bleeding profusely all the time. At some point, he briefly stopped near the overturned television/entertainment center where rapidly bleeding resulted in a large volume of blood on the floor. He soon collapsed from hemorrhagic shock in the front room where he was found.
cc: files/ mjf, ds, jm

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

In the news accross the Atlantic

Thank you Jaxon Van Derbeken for his article in San Francisco Chronicle.

Thank you to Sarah Phelan for her article in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Thank you to Matt Smith for his article in SF Weekly.

Thank you to Emmanuel Reitz and Didier Barral for their story for "Sept à Huit" on French national TV TF1.

Thank you to Vic Lee for her story on ABC7 News.

Thank you to Jaxon Van Derbeken for his story in the SF Chronicle.

François and Mireille de la Plaza will be in San Francisco (for the 5th times) on September 30th, 2009 for 10 days and are expected to meet with Police Chief George Gascón.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

More news coverage

French national newspaper "Le Parisien" with François de la Plaza's interview.

Paris-Match article.

CBS5 Local News. Story was aired on the 6PM news on Sept 5,2009. Use the video scroll on the right side to play the video.