Clues in hunt for French dad on run after family killed

French police tracking a fugitive father whose wife and four children were found dead at their home on Thursday have found two clues which could help establish the man's whereabouts.

Reuters/Stephane Mahe

Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes’s car was found in the early hours of Friday morning in the car park of a hotel in Roquebrune-sur-Argens outside Fréjus on the south coast. Investigators said that his bank card was also used in the same area last week.

The bodies of the five victims, who had been missing since the beginning of the month, were exhumed from the family’s garden in the north-western town of Nantes on Thursday. They all appeared to have died from gun-shot wounds.

The grisly discovery came three weeks after the family had informed their children’s school that they were emigrating to Australia and disappeared from view.

Shortly before the disappearance the father of four made bizarre claims to friends, saying that he was a US secret agent heading into a witness protection programme.

Police said there was no sign of struggle in the house and that the family appeared to have prepared a departure, with clothing packed and missing.