Édouard-Jean Empain facts for kids

Édouard-Jean, 3rd Baron Empain (7 October 1937 – 21 June 2018) was a French-Belgian industrialist, best known by the general public for his kidnapping in 1978.

Between 1969 and 1981, Baron Empain was CEO of the Schneider group (Schneider-Empain). The Baron was the son of Jean, 2nd Baron Empain, and the grandson of Édouard Louis Joseph, 1st Baron Empain. He married the Italian Silvana Betuzzi in 1957 by whom he had two daughters and a son: they were divorced shortly after Empain's kidnapping. He lived in the suburbs of Paris with his second wife Jacqueline (née Ragonaux), a former model, whom he married in 1990.

Kidnapping

At the time of his kidnapping, Édouard-Jean Empain was the 40-year-old heir to a substantial fortune, a notable industrialist and the director of the Schneider group since 1969. He was one of France's captains of industry, heading a group that comprised almost 150 companies and 130,000 employees, with an annual turnover of 25 billion francs. Notable members of the Schneider Group included Framatome (nuclear reactors), Creusot-Loire (metallurgy) and Spie Batignolles (construction).

His kidnapping profoundly affected him and he declared that he was never the same afterwards.

Avenue Foch, the location of the kidnapping.

On Monday, January 23, 1978, at approximately 10:30am, Édouard-Jean, 3rd Baron Empain, was picked up as usual from his home at 33 Avenue Foch, a prestigious address in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, a stone's throw from the Arc de Triomphe.

The Baron's chauffeured car, a Peugeot 604, was intercepted at a junction some 50 metres after it had left his home. A moped slid across the road, faking an accident in order to bring his car to a halt next to a parked van. Once the car had stopped several armed men removed the driver from the vehicle and bundled him into the van, while the Baron was quickly handcuffed and the kidnappers made off in his car. The Baron's car was found some hours later in an underground parking structure but contained no usable fingerprints.

Despite the lack of detailed evidence provided by witnesses, the circumstances of the kidnapping were rapidly made known to the public. In the hope of recovering the Baron, the police put in place traffic stops throughout Paris and its suburbs but to no avail.

The kidnappers demanded 80 million francs in ransom and seemed extremely determined. Four weeks after the kidnapping, on Monday February 20, 1978 a telephone call placed by the kidnappers to the Schneider group's headquarters indicated that the ransom had been reduced to 40 million francs without further negotiations.

The baron was released on Sunday March 26, 1978. After several months of investigation all of the kidnappers were arrested apart from one who was killed in a firefight during his arrest. Over the course of the investigation, 24,000 vehicles were stopped and 12,000 homes were visited. The kidnapping lasted 63 days.

Baron Empain died in Paris on 21 June 2018 from thyroid cancer, aged 80.