For several years, France's DASS child welfare agency investigated Theirry Delay, 40, and his wife Myriam, 37, for suspicion of sexual abuse of children. In December 2000, they finally found the proof they needed that would eventually lead to the couple's arrest. In fact, they had more than they ever expected. According to a May 21, 2004, article in The Age by Craig Smith, a teacher contacted the agency claiming that several of her pupils told her "stories of rape, torture and bestiality between 1996 and 2000 at the Delay home in a local housing project" of Outreau, France. It didn't take long for the authorities to mount an investigation.

In May 2004, Expatica.com suggested that over a five- to six-year period, the Delays' four boys, aged 8 to 14, and 14 other youths, aged 3 to 12, had been gang raped, forced into having sex with animals and exposed to pornography by a pedophile ring, allegedly led by Theirry and Myriam. Many of the children revealed their harrowing stories of sexual abuse after they had been placed in foster care. The children implicated 18 other people from the town, which included a baker, mechanic, bailiff, school nurse, taxi driver, sex shop owner and a priest, among others. All of those implicated were charged in 2001 with child abuse and imprisoned.

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Four of the 18 arrested, including Theirry and Myriam Delay and their neighbors, David Delplanque and his ex-partner Aurélie Grenon, admitted to sexually abusing the children. However, the other 14 charged denied any involvement in the alleged pedophile ring. A May 23, 2004, article in The Observer suggested that one of those implicated, Baliff Alain Marécaux "nearly died after a 93-day hunger strike in prison," while protesting his innocence. The article further suggested that another of those implicated, "father-of-seven François Mourmand died of a drug overdose in jail after 17 months in 'preventive detention.'"

While the remaining 17 suspects awaited trial in jail, police seized more than 150 pornographic videos and sex toys from the Delay apartment. John Lichfield of The Independent suggested in his article that other evidence was compiled, which included detailed statements made by the children who claimed that the Delay's organized sex parties in their apartment and in a farmhouse near Ypres, Belgium. Lichfield further suggested that the sex parties were "filmed for sale as videos by a French man and his son, who owned a clandestine video business in Ostend," Belgium.

One of the owners of the sex shop, Daniel Legrand, was also charged along with Theirry Delay with the murder of a 5-year-old Moroccan girl. Frederic Lepinay stated in his AP Worldstream article that Legrand denied the murder but claimed that he witnessed two men beat and rape the child and then bury her in a nearby garden. Theirry was suspected to be one of the men involved but the identity of the second man is unclear. Theirry's wife, Myriam, also implicated him in the murder of the little girl after she was arrested for abusing her own children. Yet, Theirry vehemently denies having killed anyone.

In January 2002, a massive search was conducted of the area where the little girl, whose name was believed to have been "Zaya," was purportedly buried. The search revealed nothing. It was suspected that the girl's remains were possibly moved to another location.

The child abuse trial, involving all 17 suspects, was scheduled to take place at the Court of Sat of Pas-de-Calais in May 2004. It would be one of the largest pedophile trials in French history. It would also end up being one of France's most controversial trials.