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The tragic Dominici affair put Lurs in the national and some international news in 1952, and kept it there for many years. A family of three British tourists, parked overnight beside the road near the Durance, were murdered during the night of 4-5 August. The family Dominici, who lived at the farm La Grande Terre, became involved, with contradictoray accusations. The initial investigation was far less than perfect, and many questions remain unanswered to this day. However, the grandfather Gaston Dominici, who had farmed the plateau of Ganagobie in 1910, was convicted of the murders on 28 Sept 1954 and sentenced to death by beheading.
The "proof" was at best ambiguous and circumstantial, and investigations continued. On
14 July 1957 the death sentence was commuted to life in prison; and the investigations continued. On 13 July 1960, Gaston was released from prison by Presidential grace from Charles de Gaulle. On 4 April 1965, Gaston died in the hospital of Digne, the town of his birth, at the age of 88 years.
In the 45-plus years since the tragedy, many books have been, and are still being, written about the "affaire Dominici" at Lurs, trying to explain or find out what really happened or might have happened. Some of the theories of the motives include the French Resistance, financing and industrial espionnage.
In Sept 2000 we had an email from Vincent Carrias, son of judge Carrias who was one of the two judges of this affair. They have developed the only website that gives good explanations about "l'affaire Dominici" (perso.wanadoo.fr/vincent.carrias/dominici.htm) - in French.
Another very knowledgeable website is s.huet.free.fr/kairos/doxai/domi.htm - also in French.
A 1973 film by Claude Beernard-Aubert starred France's famous Jean Gabin as Gaston Dominici.
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