Gérard Dutriat reportedly first heard about the story of Bérenger Saunière in 1952, consequently meeting Marie Dénarnaud in Rennes-le-Château during the same year (staying only for coffee and biscuits, not reporting about anything else); he later settled in the south of France during his retirement where he visited the village for the second time in 1964, buying plots of land located at the bottom of the village

Gérard Dutriat is credited by some as having discovered the cryptogram parchment called the ‘Sot-pêcheur’ on 11 April, 1966 (accepting his testimony as valid), that was first published in Gérard de Sède's book “L'Or de Rennes” in 1967

Sceptics tend to believe that the ‘Sot-pêcheur’ is just another fabrication

The parchment called ‘Sot-pêcheur’ from Gérard de Sède, “L’Or de Rennes”, page 56 (René Julliard, 1967). Allegedly discovered amongst Saunière’s papers, according to de Sède

Gerard Dutriat during the late 1980s at the ruins of Saint-Pierre-d'Alaric, between Moux and Fontcouverte, where according to one legend the Visigothic king Alaric II was buried in a cave with all his treasures. Doctor Paul Courrent commented there was nothing to date the castle beyond the 12th century.