Bernard Journet

**Bernard Journet** (Born June 9, 1946) was a French national and transient who went missing in Heimaey, Iceland while on his way to Canada. Various theories have been proposed such as suicide, murder, immigration to Canada or an accidental fall off a tall cliff. He has never been officially declared dead by Icelandic or French authorities but it's unknown if his case is still open.

## Case

Bernard Journet was born on June 9, 1946, in Ambérieu-en-Bugey, France. He was described as an adventurer by nature by his sister Madeleine and planned on going on a massive trip specifically to Canada. He left France in June 1967 and arrived in Iceland. He didn't plan on staying in Iceland for long and only until he could get a permit to enter Canada however the Canadian government denied his permit and rather than return to France decided to remain in Iceland as a transient. Eventually, he ended up on the island of Heimaey, Iceland where he opted to remain for the time being living out of a tent he owned.

Starting from his arrival in Iceland he would send his sister Madeleine a total of three letters. Madeleine also once had a Christmas present mailed to him in 1968 but he never told her if he got it or not. According to people who knew him his motive for not returning to France and staying in Heimaey was simply because of how much he enjoyed the landscape. He only spoke French and very little English

Since he had reliable long term camping equipment Bernard lived in a tent away from the native residents of Haimaey. Despite his lack of proficiency in the native language Bernard after several weeks as a drifter in Iceland would finally get a job in Heimaey being employed by a fish processing plant where he was given his room to sleep in. Not long after his employment, he would become integrated into the local community and his English greatly improved enough to speak with the locals, although he still struggled with Icelandic. Eventually, he was given a job as a fisherman.

Bernard's favorite hobby was going on walks to enjoy the landscape and take photographs of the landscape and wildlife. However, Bernard came into conflict with two Moroccan migrant workers with the three often exchanging strong words with one another. Before he had become a part of a community two boys/brothers would approach him during one of his long walks and they soon became friendly with one another so friendly that eventually, the boy's parents invited him to dinner once which he accepted. After this, he would become a regular guest of theirs's.

On May 12, 1969, the two brothers saw him during one of his walks and invited him to dinner again however Bernard declined by stating he'd come over at 7:00 PM. He never showed up but the family simply assumed that he forgot or something came up. Bernard was only reported missing a few days later when his caretaker and employers hadn't seen him show up to work. Eventually, the police were called and they searched Bernard's dorm room and observed that nothing was out of place concluding that he likely didn't intend on staying out for too long.

A search operation was started beginning from where his tent used to be. The search operation was extensive with many residents taking part and a majority of employees at the fish processing plant taking the day off to look for Bernard with fishermen using their boats to see if he had fallen into the sea. Meanwhile, police officers and other residents look along the coastline, but no trace of Bernard was ever found.

The Icelandic police collected Bernard's belongings and shipped them back to France with his father receiving a watch and other sentimental items. His father was distraught over the disappearance of his son and passed away in 1972. The French Embassy once contacted the Icelandic authorities to inquire about any progress in the case but that was the last bit of information available on the case.

On December 21, 1989, the case was briefly reexamined when the Prosecutor for the French republic at the Tribunal Judiciaire in Lyon held a hearing on this case at the request of Bernard's family and in 1990 an advert was placed in Lögbirtingablaðið seeking information. Bernard's youngest sister demanded that the French prosecutor legally declare him dead so that she could receive his inheritance. The French Prosecutor contacted the Heimaey police but in the 20 years since none of the officers working there remembered the case and none of the employees of the French embassy in Reykjavik had heard of the case. The French prosecutor stopped the investigation but left the case open and did not declare Bernard dead.

## Sources

* *Timarit*
* *DV*