Each one killed with a single shot to the head: Family massacred in French Alps bore trademark of a professional hitman

Three adult members of a seemingly respectable family, each murdered with a single shot in the head.
A seven-year-old girl left with life-threatening injuries and her younger sister badly traumatised after somehow escaping  alive from a psychopathic killer. 
A cyclist who is believed to have witnessed the bloodbath mercilessly assassinated.
Such barbarity would be shocking in some of the world’s most lawless countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia...
But for it to happen in a car park near the tranquil shores of Lake Annecy in the French Alps makes the crime infinitely more difficult to comprehend.
And, crucially, much more difficult to solve.
What better location for a professional hit than in a remote area, with few if any witnesses likely to see the atrocity, with quick road access to airports in three countries – France, Italy and Switzerland, and even further afield.
As French police launched an extensive manhunt to find the killer or killers, investigators were officially keeping an open mind about the motive for the crime and who might have been behind it.
The ruthless efficiency with which the murders were carried out suggested strongly that Saad Al-Hilli, his wife Ikbal and the rest of his family were specific targets, and the cyclist killed because he saw too much.
Pictures of the murder scene – in an isolated forest car park, 2.5 miles from the nearest village – show how the BMW was hit with automatic fire before the victims were finished off at point-blank range.
Had Mr Al-Hilli and his family been targeted in the UK, police would probably have had access to CCTV footage and data from number-plate recognition cameras, in their hunt for the killer’s escape vehicle.
Scroll down for video

But in Chevaline there has never been any need for security cameras, another possible clue that the killer may have carefully researched the best place, in terms of escaping detection, to commit the crimes.
A quick look at a local map shows he could have been out of France within minutes of the murders on Wednesday, possibly boarding a plane from Geneva within two hours.

 

Or perhaps he elected to drive several hours across Europe. Several witnesses reported seeing a car speeding away from the scene near Albertville, in France’s Haute-Savoie region, close to the Italian and Swiss borders, around the time of the attack.
No arrests were made in the immediate aftermath of the attack, nor did police report the discovery of any weapon.

Bullet-ridden: Police gather evidence from the BMW estate where Saad Al-Hilli and his family was massacred by a suspected assassin

Delayed reaction: Several hours after police arrived on scene, Mr Al-Hilli's four-year-old daughter Zeena was found alive huddling under her mother's legs inside the car

Crime scene: French gendarme police escort the car involved in the shooting of the British family away from the area

But 15 spent, automatic pistol cartridges were found at the scene. ‘It was clearly an act of extreme savagery and it was obvious that whoever did this wanted to kill,’ said French prosecutor Eric Maillaud.
If Mr Al-Hilli’s family were deliberately targeted, police will want to establish how the killer knew where they were. Did he wait outside their campsite before ambushing them in the countryside?
The Iraqi-born British businessman’s commercial activities and political affiliations in his homeland will also be key lines of inquiry.

The bodies being taken away from the scene in a private ambulance escorted by police

Tragedy: French police on guard near the site of the brutal slaying

London link: The home of Saad Al-Hilli in Claygate, Surrey

But French police, whose track record in investigating the murders of British nationals makes uncomfortable reading, would be foolish to rule out other possible explanations.
Already there has been speculation that the attack may have been a case of mistaken identity linked to drugs.
Another theory is that shots could have been fired during a bungled armed robbery, with the dead cyclist being a witness to the crime. Reports suggest the same gang may have carried out previous attacks.
Another possibility is that the crimes were racially motivated, or that the gunman is mentally ill.
The French prosecutor described the carnage as being like something seen in a film.
In most crime movies, the killer is finally brought to justice. If this was a professional hit, it will be a serious challenge for the French police to live up to that script.

VIDEO: British PM David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande cow to do all they can...