On March 24, 2022, the whole of Switzerland was shocked by the unexplainable act of a family of five from the town of Montreux who jumped from the balcony of their seventh-floor apartment.

A year ago, in the span of about five minutes, Nasrine Feraoun, 41, her twin sister Narjisse, her husband Eric David, 40, and their two children – an 8-year-old girl and a 15-year-old son – all jumped from the balcony of their 7th-floor apartment on Rue du Casino street, in the town of Montreux. Only the 15-year-old son survived, but after spending months in a coma, he has no recollection of the tragic events of March 24, 2022. After investigating this bizarre case for a year, Swiss authorities recently revealed that the family had planned and even rehearsed their jumps beforehand, which explains how they could jump one after the other without making so much as a sound.

Photo: Teddy /Unsplash

Originally from France, the Feraouns had moved to the idyllic Swiss town of Montreux just three years ago, and mostly kept to themselves. Narjisse Feraoun was the only one who worked outside the home, while her twin sister and her two children were not even registered with the local authorities, which police say suggests that they were suspicious of the government and local authorities.

Investigators concluded that the twin sisters had become very interested in conspiracy and survivalist theories and that the entire family had become very isolated. Despite having been brought up in well-off families in upscale parts of Paris and Marseille, the Feraoun adults were convinced that the world was a hostile place, and the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine only strengthened those beliefs.

After searching their home and their belongings, police concluded that the Feraouns had planned and even rehearsed their collective suicide as they waited for the right moment to pass on to a better world. This apparently occurred on the morning of March 24, roughly 45 minutes after the family received a visit from two police officers to execute a warrant for the father in connection with the home-schooling of the son. They knocked on the door, but the family refused to open it, so they just left. A few minutes later, the Feraouns started jumping to their deaths, one by one…

“Before or during the events, no witnesses, including the two police officers present on the spot from 6:15 am and the passers-by at the foot of the building, heard the slightest noise or cry coming from the apartment or the balcony,” police wrote in their report.

Forensic evidence revealed no sign of a struggle before the jumps, and autopsies showed no trace of drugs in the systems of the victims. The deaths came as a shock, because nothing the family had done up to that point suggested anything of the sort. Nasrine and Narjisse Feraoun had attended the elite Lycee Henri-IV in Paris, one was a dentist and her sister an ophthalmologist. Eric David had attended the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique.

Although many questions about the tragic events of March 24, 2022, remain unanswered, Swiss police have announced that they are closing the case. The only survivor, who is now 16, has recovered from his serious wounds but has no recollection of that fateful morning and authorities have appealed for privacy.