Just Follow That Car

By THOMAS SANCTON/PARIS

Who was at the wheel of the white Fiat Uno that evidently collided with Princess Diana's Mercedes moments before the final, fatal crash?

Since late October, French police have examined nearly 4,000 Fiat Unos in search of a vehicle showing signs of a recent paint job or rear-end repair. That investigation is still proceeding, and it has taken intriguing turns. Sources close to the investigation have told TIME that in November the French police thought they had their man. Debris found at the crash site, paint deposited on the Mercedes and other forensic evidence had led investigators to conclude that there had indeed been a tangential collision with a second car and that the other vehicle was a white Fiat Uno manufactured between May 1983 and September 1989. Moreover, the police felt they were on a hot trail, thanks to the secret testimony of a couple who had been driving near the site of the accident.

The couple, identified only as Francois and Valerie, had entered the riverfront expressway just west of the tunnel where the accident took place. They were immediately passed by an Uno whose driver, described as a brown-haired "European type" in his 40s, behaved "abnormally." He zig-zagged, kept turning around to look behind him and at one point hit the brakes and pulled over to the right, apparently trying to park. His car made a loud roar as if its muffler had been damaged. As Francois and Valerie passed the Fiat and continued on their way, they noticed a large dog in the back of the car.

Four teams of investigators fanned out through Paris and its suburbs in early November to make systematic checks of white Unos dating from 1983 to 1989. One by one, owners were called into police stations and interrogated about their whereabouts the night of Aug. 30. Their cars were closely inspected. In late November the search came upon a brown-haired man who regularly transported dogs in his car and whose white Fiat Uno had recently been repaired and repainted bright red. The owner was not a stranger to French authorities. The investigative file states that although the man has no arrest record, he is "unfavorably known to police." The man was hauled in for questioning and his car sent for analysis.

Under interrogation, the owner told police he was a dog handler for a private security company. At the time of the accident, he said, he had been on assignment as a night watchman in the western suburbs of Paris; he arrived at work on the evening of Saturday, Aug. 30, and left at 7 a.m. If his stated whereabouts are accurate, then he could not have been the driver that Francois and Valerie saw emerging from the tunnel shortly after 12:25 a.m. Sunday. Moreover, the man was East Asian, not a "European type."

Although there is no evidence in the investigative dossier to corroborate the man's alibi, the examination of his car apparently ruled out the possibility that it had collided with the Mercedes. Chemical analysis of his car's original white undercoat showed that the paint was different from the samples found on the Mercedes. The man's deposition and documents concerning his vehicle have been filed in a folder labeled "cleared of suspicion," an unusual classification according to sources knowledgeable about French investigative procedures. The man is free for now, but some sources familiar with the case say investigators may still have an eye on him.

Police believe that whoever was at the wheel of the mysterious white Fiat Uno played a key role in forcing the Mercedes driven by Ritz assistant security chief Henri Paul to spin out of control. At this point, they do not believe the Uno was driven by a photographer--certainly not by one of the 10 men now under investigation--nor do they seriously suspect that the driver was involved in a murder plot. But one of the reasons investigating magistrate Herve Stephan is so insistent on finding the driver, and completing a nut-by-bolt examination of the wrecked Mercedes, is to eliminate any possible suspicion of a conspiracy. Thus the search for the Uno continues.

New investigative depositions have also identified the source of Paul's prescriptions for the antidepressant Prozac and the tranquilizer Tiapridal, which multiplied the effects of the alcohol he had consumed that night. Dr. Dominique Melo, the wife of one of Paul's closest friends, told investigators she had prescribed the medicines to help Paul with depression following the end of a long love affair. "This treatment suited him," said Melo. "He had found a certain energy for his work and enjoyment in his life, although he still had moments of depression and a feeling of extreme solitude and loneliness that occasionally led him to drink at home."

With Scott MacLeod, Sancton is co-author of the forthcoming Death of a Princess: The Investigation from St. Martin's Press