He stepped off the train on September 7, 2007. Barcelona unfolded before him, bright and inviting. The journey continued to Lampaul-Guimiliau in Brittany, France, where a new chapter loomed: a pivotal year in his education, as his mother would hear. Romain Lannuzel, about to turn twenty, arrived in Spain with a friend, Renaud, as Erasmus participants. He planned to study third-year English Philology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, expressing genuine happiness about the opportunity.
He socialized, formed friendships, and enjoyed the experience, yet his dream ended abruptly after two months. Romain vanished on November 13 of that year, without warning. A call to the Provença metro station became the last known contact. Nearly sixteen years have passed since then, and Romain remains missing.
The investigation began a week later and encountered obstacles. Clues appeared and then vanished. No solid answers emerged, no decisive lead. In Mireille
mind, a photo haunted the memory: a picture taken in the home of a convicted sexual abuser linked to drugging, raping, and killing another twenty-year-old student who had just arrived in Barcelona in 2012. “He had thousands of photos in his house; we saw about ninety, all victims, and one of them was my son Romain,” she recounted.
From the outset, Romainrom his own choice and away from routine—was not immediately found within his circle. The family transferred the case to OPEN CASE to pursue a thorough, independent review.
balmes street
“He disappeared on Tuesday, November 13, 2007,” Mireille explained. “I have been asking the same questions for years: Where is he, what happened?” She learned Spanish to speak directly with researchers, while the Mossos dEsquadra, joined by OPEN CASE, preferred explanations in French to ensure no detail was lost.
She described receiving a recent email from a researcher who mentioned an exam the next day. The subject was US History, and the message signaled a routine that some students follow to balance study with life. Like his friend Renaud, he considered moving from Barcelona to Sabadell, closer to the university, to save travel time. On a Monday night, he stayed in Sabadell, sat for an exam, and planned to return to his old apartment to retrieve belongings—a computer screen, clothes, and a badminton racket—before disappearing.
He charged his phone and told his former roommates, “I will be there in about an hour and a half.” The investigation indicated that the search then focused on the Provença metro station entrance. “There, on Balmes street in central Barcelona, Romainate seemed to vanish.”
station in Sants
She recalled that he did not write for a while, perhaps due to limited internet access after moving. Friends in Sabadell located him in Sants, while those in Sants found him in Sabadell, a confusing loop that deepened the mystery.
Romain remains listed as missing. The family marked a notice with a prominent phone number, asking for cooperation. The first posters described a man of height 1.85 meters, with brown eyes, wearing a black jacket, a matching hat, and dark shoes. The hope was to trigger sightings that could lead to answers.
A graphologist examined the handwriting hours before the disappearance: he appeared composed, not agitated. Romain seemed well in control.
This inquiry involved Mossos dEsquadra, the French Ministry of the Interior, and the French Gendarmerie. They confronted a lack of signs or evidence. Silence surrounded the case, and Mireille defended the idea that her son was happy and should be found, not dismissed. He loved Barcelona and enjoyed interacting with foreign students, fueled by curiosity about history and culture. Friends were questioned, yet no one seemed to know why, how, or with whom he vanished.
A handwriting analysis from an examination hours before his disappearance suggested he was not distressed; he was focused and composed. Mireille recalled that he had recently bought a plane ticket to Brittany to spend Christmas with family and celebrate his twentieth birthday there. He had called to share excitement about reuniting soon.
Photographs provided by the family showed Romain with friends before he disappeared. French investigators visited Barcelona, while Catalan researchers traveled to Brittany. The trail went cold. Years later, a different case began to surface: a young American student who had recently arrived in Barcelona, whose autopsy indicated an overdose, caused a different investigation to pivot toward a more violent truth. The suspect, a 41-year-old man, was later sentenced to prison in 2014 after admitting to crimes against other young men, including sexual assaults and killings.
After the confession, the suspect described his presence in Spain as an intent to hunt young people in their twenties, of foreign origin, fair-skinned and athletic.
Back home, Mireille received a call from private investigators hired to aid in the search for Romain. They shared information about the suspectootsteps and potential cross paths with Romain. In 2007, the son was working at a Sants restaurant and lived on Carrer de Sants. The perpetrator reportedly lived just a short distance away, near the last known phone call location.
At the subway exit
Private investigators painted a broader picture of disappearances among young men in Barcelona. Some cases ended without resolution, and authorities obtained DNA samples to compare against unknown remains. The profile of the criminal emerged: a French-speaking individual with a split life, spending days assisting the elderly and promoting poetry at local gatherings, and nights preying on victims in student neighborhoods, at nightclub or subway exits. The observation aligned with the disappearance of Romain at a metro exit.
In the course of the investigation, the suspect described his actions as a hunt. He acknowledged approaching victims in student areas, near transit hubs, and at the end of nights. He claimed to be drawn to the young, foreign-born, fair-skinned, and athletic individuals, and that his offenses extended to others who could not escape harm.
2000 photos of nude teens
The case revealed a disturbing collection: thousands of photographs linked to the perpetrator, showing young people in disturbing, staged sexual contexts. Some images were printed; others existed as digital files. The pattern was consistent: victims were depicted in moments of vulnerability, and many images documented assaults that followed.
When the family finally viewed the material, they were confronted with photos that included Romain among many others. The sight was shocking and painful. Mireille described the images as a nightmare they never asked to see, and she expressed sorrow that their son could be among them without clear evidence to identify him definitively.
The authorities told the family that reviewing the photos could be risky and that a positive match to Romain could not be confirmed by appearance alone.
The fear endured. Years passed with limited public updates. The family pressed for progress, and the police acknowledged the difficulty of distinguishing among many victims. A physiognomist had noted differences in bone structure, leading to further uncertainty about the person in the photographs. The family sought any lead that could bring closure.
Photographs from a family visit later showed Mireille at Barcelona, re-kindling the search for Romain. The investigation persisted, spanning continents as the family pursued new possibilities. The pursuit extended beyond Barcelona, crossing oceans in the hope of locating him, but hopeful news remained elusive for years.
The young, multilingual student who loved languages and culture was more than a missing person in a file. He had dreams, friendships, and a future that never arrived. Beyond the search for Romain, the family continued to advocate for other victims of the same assailant, seeking acknowledgment for each life affected and demanding accountability. The question persisted: who are they? The family refused to give up. The plane ticket bought for a long-awaited reunion with loved ones in Brittany never used, and the wish to celebrate a birthday with friends remained unfulfilled. Yet the resolve persisted: the effort to uncover the truth would endure, and the story of Romain would not be forgotten.