Timeline of the French Alps murders

Here are key moments in the al-Hilli family murder investigation in France and Britain.

— 2012 —

– September 5: An ex Royal Air Force pilot discovers three people shot dead in a BMW estate with British licence plates in a wooded clearing near the French Alps town of Chevaline. The body of cyclist Sylvain Mollier lies nearby.

A young girl is also discovered with head wounds near the car.

Several hours later, a younger uninjured girl is found alive under her mother’s skirt.

– September 6: The victims are identified as a British family living near London. The father is Baghdad-born Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife Iqbal, 47, and her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, all shot in the head with a semiautomatic 7.65 mm pistol.

Their surviving daughters are Zainab, 7, and Zeena, 4.

– September 7: Investigators speak of a family dispute involving a brother, Zaid al-Hilli, who contacts British police to claim his innocence.

A witness describes seeing a white car driving wildly near the crime scene, others report a dark SUV and a motorcycle.

– September 9: Zainab emerges from a coma.

– September 12: French authorities say possible explanations include a family dispute, the father’s profession as a computer engineer, or an Iraq-related activity.

– September 14: Zainab returns to Britain after saying she saw just one perpetrator.

– September 20: A ballistics report says that Mollier was shot first. He is generally considered to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

— 2013 —

– April 29: French gendarmes launch an appeal for anyone who might have seen a grey SUV near the crime scene and 30 people come forward.

– June 24: Zaid al-Hilli is detained in Britain, but released a day later.

– September 6: Prosecutors say the murders could be related to “industrial espionage and technology transfers” in connection with the satellite industry or a dispute over a family inheritance.

– November 4: Police release an identikit image of a motorcyclist with an unusual helmet and a goatee beard.

— 2014 —

– January 5: British police free Zaid al-Hilli from bail.

– February 18: A 48-year-old French Alp inhabitant is detained in connection with the image of the motorcyclist.