- French family leaps off balcony one by one.
- 15-year-old member survives.
- Family is said to be gripped by conspiracy theories.
GENEVA: A French family reportedly gripped by conspiracy theories jumped one by one from their seventh-floor apartment in the Swiss town of Montreux, local police reported in a press release.
A 15-year-old boy survived the incident but he is in a coma right now. The doctors say that his condition is stable, according to the statement.
The regional police shared in the statement that their findings “make it possible to rule out the intervention of a third party.”
Considering the family’s background and their behaviour since the pandemic, police and prosecutors believe that it could be a “collective suicide”.
Examiners noted that “since the start of the pandemic, the family was very interested in conspiracy and survivalist theories.”
A total of five people took the leap. A man, aged 40, his 41-year-old wife, her twin sister, the couple’s eight-year-old daughter, and their boy dived more than 20 meters from the apartment.
“The police discovered a stepladder on the balcony and found no evidence of struggle,” the statement also said.
Investigations show that the family secluded itself from society. Even the eight-year-old girl was not admitted to any school.
“The family lived in virtual autarky, withdrawn from society. Only the mother’s twin sister worked outside the home,” the police reported.
“All these elements suggest … fear of the authorities interfering in their lives,” they added.
