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Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot (17 January 1897 – 25 May 1946) was a French doctor and serial killer. He was convicted of
multiple murders after the discovery of the remains of 23 people in his home in Paris during World War II. He is suspected of
killing around 60 victims during his life, although the true number remains unknown.
Petiot was born 17 January 1897 in Auxerre, France. Later accounts make various claims of his delinquency and criminal acts
during his youth, but it is unclear whether they were invented afterwards for public consumption. It should be noted,
however, that a psychiatrist diagnosed him as mentally ill on 26 March 1914, and he was expelled from school many times.
He finished his education in a special academy in Paris in July 1915.
During World War I, Petiot volunteered for the French army, entering service in January 1916.
In the Second Battle of the Aisne, he was wounded and gassed and exhibited more symptoms of mental breakdown. He was
sent to various rest homes, where he was arrested for stealing army blankets, morphine, and other army supplies, as well
as wallets, photographs, and letters, and he was jailed in Orléans. In a psychiatric hospital in Fleury-les-Aubrais, he was
again diagnosed with various mental illnesses but was returned to the front in June 1918. He was transferred three weeks
later after he allegedly injured his own foot with a grenade, but was attached to a new regiment in September. A new
diagnosis was enough to get him discharged with a disability pension.
After the war, Petiot entered the accelerated education program intended for war veterans, completed medical school in eight months and became an intern at the mental hospital in
Évreux. He received his medical degree in December 1921 and moved to Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, where he received payment for his services both from the patients and from government
medical assistance funds. At this point, he was already using addictive narcotics. While working at Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, he gained a reputation for dubious medical practices, such as
supplying narcotics, performing then-illegal abortions, and theft (for example, money from the town's treasury, the bass drum of a local band, and the stone cross).
Petiot's first victim might have been Louise Delaveau (the daughter of an elderly patient), with whom he had an affair in 1926. Delaveau disappeared in May, and neighbors later said they
had seen Petiot load a trunk into his car. Police investigated but eventually dismissed her case as a runaway. That same year, Petiot ran for mayor of the town and hired somebody to
disrupt a political debate with his opponent. He won, and while in office, he embezzled town funds.
In June 1927, he married Georgette Lablais, the 23-year-old daughter of a wealthy landowner and butcher in Seignelay. Their son Gerhardt was born in April 1928.
The Prefect of Yonne Département received many complaints about Petiot's thefts and shady financial deals. Petiot was eventually suspended as mayor in August 1931 and resigned.
However, he still had many supporters, and the village council also resigned in sympathy. Five weeks later, on 18 October, he was elected as a councilor of Yonne Département. In 1932, he
was accused of stealing electric power from the village and he lost his council seat. Meanwhile, he had already moved to Paris.
In Paris, Petiot attracted patients with fake credentials and built an impressive reputation for his practice at 66 Rue de Caumartin. However, there were rumors of illegal abortions and
excessive prescriptions of addictive remedies. In 1936, he was appointed médecin d'état-civil, with authority to write death certificates. The same year, he was briefly institutionalized for
kleptomania, but was released the following year. He still persisted in tax evasion.
World War II activities
After the 1940 German defeat of France, French citizens were drafted for forced labor in Germany. Petiot provided false medical disability
certificates to people who were drafted. He also treated the illnesses of workers who had returned. In July 1942, he was convicted of
overprescribing narcotics, even though two addicts who would have testified against him had disappeared. He was fined 2,400 francs.
Petiot later claimed that, during the period of German occupation, he was engaged in Resistance activities. Allegedly, he developed secret
weapons that killed Germans without leaving forensic evidence, planted booby traps all over Paris, had high-level meetings with Allied
commanders, and worked with a (nonexistent) group of Spanish anti-fascists.
There was no evidence to support any of these statements. However, in 1980, he was cited by former U.S. spymaster Col. John F. Grombach
as a World War II source. Grombach had been founder and head of a small independent espionage agency, later known as "The Pond",
which operated from 1942 to 1955. Grombach asserted that Petiot had reported the Katyn Forest massacre, German missile development at
Peenemünde, and the names of Abwehr agents sent to the U.S. These claims were not supported by any records of other intelligence
services. However, in 2001, some "Pond" records were discovered, including a cable that mentioned Petiot.
Fraudulent escape network
Petiot's most lucrative activity during the Occupation was his false escape route. Under the codename "Dr. Eugène", Petiot pretended to have
a means of getting people wanted by the Germans or the Vichy government to safety outside of France. Petiot claimed that he could arrange
a passage to Argentina or elsewhere in South America through Portugal, for a price of 25,000 francs per person. Three accomplices, Raoul
Fourrier, Edmond Pintard, and René-Gustave Nézondet, directed victims to "Dr. Eugène", including Jews, Resistance fighters, and ordinary
criminals. Once victims were in his control, Petiot told them that Argentine officials required all entrants to the country to be inoculated
against disease, and with this excuse injected them with cyanide. Then he took all their valuables and disposed of the bodies.
At first, Petiot dumped the bodies in the Seine, but he later destroyed the bodies by submerging them in quicklime or by incinerating them. In
1941, Petiot bought a house at 21 Rue le Sueur. He purchased the house the same week that Henri Lafont returned to Paris with money and
permission from the Abwehr to recruit new members for the French Gestapo.
What Petiot failed to do was to keep a low profile. The Gestapo eventually found out about him and, by April 1943, they had heard all about
this "route" for the escape of wanted persons, which they assumed was part of the Resistance. Gestapo agent Robert Jodkum forced
prisoner Yvan Dreyfus to approach the supposed network, but Dreyfus simply vanished. A later informer successfully infiltrated the operation,
and the Gestapo arrested Fourrier, Pintard, and Nézondet. Under torture, they confessed that "Dr. Eugène" was Marcel Petiot. Nézondet was
later released, but three others spent eight months in prison, suspected of helping Jews to escape. Even under torture, they did not identify
any other members of the Resistance because they knew of none. The Gestapo released the three men in January 1944.
Discovery of murders
On 11 March 1944, Petiot's neighbors in Rue Le Sueur complained to police of a foul stench in the area and of large amounts of smoke billowing from a chimney of the house.
Media reaction
David King reports in Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris, Chapter 11:
The extensive coverage of the Petiot affair soon escalated into a full-blown media circus. Newspapers dubbed the doctor the Butcher of Paris,
Scalper of the Etoile, the monster of rue Le Sueur, the Demonic Ogre, and Doctor Satan. One of the first and more popular sobriquets was the
Modern Bluebeard. […] Later, other names would be proposed for the murder suspect, from the Underground Assassin to the Werewolf of
Paris.
The fervent media coverage extended internationally, the same source reports, and "In Switzerland, Belgium, and Scandinavia, the Petiot
affair dominated headlines on a daily basis."
Evasion and capture
During the intervening seven months, Petiot hid with friends, claiming that the Gestapo wanted him because he had killed Germans and
informers. He eventually moved in with a patient, Georges Redouté, let his beard grow, and adopted various aliases.
During the liberation of Paris in 1944, Petiot adopted the name "Henri Valeri" and joined the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) in the uprising.
He became a captain in charge of counterespionage and prisoner interrogations.
When the newspaper Resistance published an article about Petiot, his defense attorney from the 1942 narcotics case received a letter in
which his fugitive client claimed that the published allegations were mere lies. This gave police a hint that Petiot was still in Paris. The search
began anew – with "Henri Valeri" among those who were drafted to find him. Finally, on 31 October, Petiot was recognized at a Paris Métro
station, and arrested. Among his possessions were a pistol, 31,700 frances, and 50 sets of identity documents.
Trial and sentence
Petiot was imprisoned in La Santé Prison. He claimed that he was innocent and that he had killed only enemies of France. He said that he had
discovered the pile of bodies in 21 Rue le Sueur in February 1944, but had assumed that they were collaborators killed by members of his
Resistance "network".
But the police found that Petiot had no friends in any of the major Resistance groups. Some of the Resistance groups he spoke of had never
existed, and there was no proof of any of his claimed exploits. Prosecutors eventually charged him with at least 27 murders for profit. Their
estimate of his gains ran to 200 million francs.
Petiot went on trial on 19 March 1946, facing 135 criminal charges. René Floriot acted for the defense, against a team consisting in state
prosecutors and twelve civil lawyers hired by relatives of Petiot's victims. Petiot taunted the prosecuting lawyers, and claimed that various
victims had been collaborators or double agents, or that vanished people were alive and well in South America under new names. He
admitted to killing just nineteen of the twenty-seven victims found in his house, and claimed that they were Germans and collaborators – part
of a total of 63 "enemies" killed. Floriot attempted to portray Petiot as a Resistance hero, but the judges and jurors were unimpressed. Petiot
was convicted of 26 counts of murder, and sentenced to death.
On 25 May, Petiot was beheaded, after a stay of a few days due to a problem in the release mechanism of the guillotine.
http://disturbinghorror.com/Serial-Killers/Serial-Killers-Bio/Marcel-Petiot-Serial-Killer.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Petiot
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Stephen F. LTC (Join to see) Maj William W. 'Bill' Price Maj Marty Hogan SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas TSgt Joe C. SFC Shirley Whitfield SSG Robert Webster Sgt Randy Wilber SGT Jim Arnold SGT (Join to see) SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth CPT Aaron Kletzing SP5 Mark Kuzinski CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SCPO Morris Ramsey PO1 Tony Holland @
multiple murders after the discovery of the remains of 23 people in his home in Paris during World War II. He is suspected of
killing around 60 victims during his life, although the true number remains unknown.
Petiot was born 17 January 1897 in Auxerre, France. Later accounts make various claims of his delinquency and criminal acts
during his youth, but it is unclear whether they were invented afterwards for public consumption. It should be noted,
however, that a psychiatrist diagnosed him as mentally ill on 26 March 1914, and he was expelled from school many times.
He finished his education in a special academy in Paris in July 1915.
During World War I, Petiot volunteered for the French army, entering service in January 1916.
In the Second Battle of the Aisne, he was wounded and gassed and exhibited more symptoms of mental breakdown. He was
sent to various rest homes, where he was arrested for stealing army blankets, morphine, and other army supplies, as well
as wallets, photographs, and letters, and he was jailed in Orléans. In a psychiatric hospital in Fleury-les-Aubrais, he was
again diagnosed with various mental illnesses but was returned to the front in June 1918. He was transferred three weeks
later after he allegedly injured his own foot with a grenade, but was attached to a new regiment in September. A new
diagnosis was enough to get him discharged with a disability pension.
After the war, Petiot entered the accelerated education program intended for war veterans, completed medical school in eight months and became an intern at the mental hospital in
Évreux. He received his medical degree in December 1921 and moved to Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, where he received payment for his services both from the patients and from government
medical assistance funds. At this point, he was already using addictive narcotics. While working at Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, he gained a reputation for dubious medical practices, such as
supplying narcotics, performing then-illegal abortions, and theft (for example, money from the town's treasury, the bass drum of a local band, and the stone cross).
Petiot's first victim might have been Louise Delaveau (the daughter of an elderly patient), with whom he had an affair in 1926. Delaveau disappeared in May, and neighbors later said they
had seen Petiot load a trunk into his car. Police investigated but eventually dismissed her case as a runaway. That same year, Petiot ran for mayor of the town and hired somebody to
disrupt a political debate with his opponent. He won, and while in office, he embezzled town funds.
In June 1927, he married Georgette Lablais, the 23-year-old daughter of a wealthy landowner and butcher in Seignelay. Their son Gerhardt was born in April 1928.
The Prefect of Yonne Département received many complaints about Petiot's thefts and shady financial deals. Petiot was eventually suspended as mayor in August 1931 and resigned.
However, he still had many supporters, and the village council also resigned in sympathy. Five weeks later, on 18 October, he was elected as a councilor of Yonne Département. In 1932, he
was accused of stealing electric power from the village and he lost his council seat. Meanwhile, he had already moved to Paris.
In Paris, Petiot attracted patients with fake credentials and built an impressive reputation for his practice at 66 Rue de Caumartin. However, there were rumors of illegal abortions and
excessive prescriptions of addictive remedies. In 1936, he was appointed médecin d'état-civil, with authority to write death certificates. The same year, he was briefly institutionalized for
kleptomania, but was released the following year. He still persisted in tax evasion.
World War II activities
After the 1940 German defeat of France, French citizens were drafted for forced labor in Germany. Petiot provided false medical disability
certificates to people who were drafted. He also treated the illnesses of workers who had returned. In July 1942, he was convicted of
overprescribing narcotics, even though two addicts who would have testified against him had disappeared. He was fined 2,400 francs.
Petiot later claimed that, during the period of German occupation, he was engaged in Resistance activities. Allegedly, he developed secret
weapons that killed Germans without leaving forensic evidence, planted booby traps all over Paris, had high-level meetings with Allied
commanders, and worked with a (nonexistent) group of Spanish anti-fascists.
There was no evidence to support any of these statements. However, in 1980, he was cited by former U.S. spymaster Col. John F. Grombach
as a World War II source. Grombach had been founder and head of a small independent espionage agency, later known as "The Pond",
which operated from 1942 to 1955. Grombach asserted that Petiot had reported the Katyn Forest massacre, German missile development at
Peenemünde, and the names of Abwehr agents sent to the U.S. These claims were not supported by any records of other intelligence
services. However, in 2001, some "Pond" records were discovered, including a cable that mentioned Petiot.
Fraudulent escape network
Petiot's most lucrative activity during the Occupation was his false escape route. Under the codename "Dr. Eugène", Petiot pretended to have
a means of getting people wanted by the Germans or the Vichy government to safety outside of France. Petiot claimed that he could arrange
a passage to Argentina or elsewhere in South America through Portugal, for a price of 25,000 francs per person. Three accomplices, Raoul
Fourrier, Edmond Pintard, and René-Gustave Nézondet, directed victims to "Dr. Eugène", including Jews, Resistance fighters, and ordinary
criminals. Once victims were in his control, Petiot told them that Argentine officials required all entrants to the country to be inoculated
against disease, and with this excuse injected them with cyanide. Then he took all their valuables and disposed of the bodies.
At first, Petiot dumped the bodies in the Seine, but he later destroyed the bodies by submerging them in quicklime or by incinerating them. In
1941, Petiot bought a house at 21 Rue le Sueur. He purchased the house the same week that Henri Lafont returned to Paris with money and
permission from the Abwehr to recruit new members for the French Gestapo.
What Petiot failed to do was to keep a low profile. The Gestapo eventually found out about him and, by April 1943, they had heard all about
this "route" for the escape of wanted persons, which they assumed was part of the Resistance. Gestapo agent Robert Jodkum forced
prisoner Yvan Dreyfus to approach the supposed network, but Dreyfus simply vanished. A later informer successfully infiltrated the operation,
and the Gestapo arrested Fourrier, Pintard, and Nézondet. Under torture, they confessed that "Dr. Eugène" was Marcel Petiot. Nézondet was
later released, but three others spent eight months in prison, suspected of helping Jews to escape. Even under torture, they did not identify
any other members of the Resistance because they knew of none. The Gestapo released the three men in January 1944.
Discovery of murders
On 11 March 1944, Petiot's neighbors in Rue Le Sueur complained to police of a foul stench in the area and of large amounts of smoke billowing from a chimney of the house.
Media reaction
David King reports in Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris, Chapter 11:
The extensive coverage of the Petiot affair soon escalated into a full-blown media circus. Newspapers dubbed the doctor the Butcher of Paris,
Scalper of the Etoile, the monster of rue Le Sueur, the Demonic Ogre, and Doctor Satan. One of the first and more popular sobriquets was the
Modern Bluebeard. […] Later, other names would be proposed for the murder suspect, from the Underground Assassin to the Werewolf of
Paris.
The fervent media coverage extended internationally, the same source reports, and "In Switzerland, Belgium, and Scandinavia, the Petiot
affair dominated headlines on a daily basis."
Evasion and capture
During the intervening seven months, Petiot hid with friends, claiming that the Gestapo wanted him because he had killed Germans and
informers. He eventually moved in with a patient, Georges Redouté, let his beard grow, and adopted various aliases.
During the liberation of Paris in 1944, Petiot adopted the name "Henri Valeri" and joined the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) in the uprising.
He became a captain in charge of counterespionage and prisoner interrogations.
When the newspaper Resistance published an article about Petiot, his defense attorney from the 1942 narcotics case received a letter in
which his fugitive client claimed that the published allegations were mere lies. This gave police a hint that Petiot was still in Paris. The search
began anew – with "Henri Valeri" among those who were drafted to find him. Finally, on 31 October, Petiot was recognized at a Paris Métro
station, and arrested. Among his possessions were a pistol, 31,700 frances, and 50 sets of identity documents.
Trial and sentence
Petiot was imprisoned in La Santé Prison. He claimed that he was innocent and that he had killed only enemies of France. He said that he had
discovered the pile of bodies in 21 Rue le Sueur in February 1944, but had assumed that they were collaborators killed by members of his
Resistance "network".
But the police found that Petiot had no friends in any of the major Resistance groups. Some of the Resistance groups he spoke of had never
existed, and there was no proof of any of his claimed exploits. Prosecutors eventually charged him with at least 27 murders for profit. Their
estimate of his gains ran to 200 million francs.
Petiot went on trial on 19 March 1946, facing 135 criminal charges. René Floriot acted for the defense, against a team consisting in state
prosecutors and twelve civil lawyers hired by relatives of Petiot's victims. Petiot taunted the prosecuting lawyers, and claimed that various
victims had been collaborators or double agents, or that vanished people were alive and well in South America under new names. He
admitted to killing just nineteen of the twenty-seven victims found in his house, and claimed that they were Germans and collaborators – part
of a total of 63 "enemies" killed. Floriot attempted to portray Petiot as a Resistance hero, but the judges and jurors were unimpressed. Petiot
was convicted of 26 counts of murder, and sentenced to death.
On 25 May, Petiot was beheaded, after a stay of a few days due to a problem in the release mechanism of the guillotine.
http://disturbinghorror.com/Serial-Killers/Serial-Killers-Bio/Marcel-Petiot-Serial-Killer.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Petiot
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Thank you my friend SGT John " Mac " McConnell for making us aware about serial killer French doctor Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot who was convicted of multiple murders after the discovery of the remains of 23 people in his home in Paris during World War II.
Notably was guillotined
Images:
1. Guillotine used in Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot's beheading being cleaned after the event.
2. The stove used in cremating remains by Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot
3. Petiot on trial.
Background on
"Marcel Petiot – The Butcher of Paris August 30, 2013
Doctor Marcel Petiot was a good man, provided free care for the poor and could, if you had the money, help you escape German occupied Paris during World War 2.
Unfortunately, not all of the above was true, as was discovered along with the dismembered remains of dozens of people.
Not Even Close to Being a Hero
To most, Marcel Andre Henri Felix Petiot was a seen as a shining light during the time of the Nazi occupation of Paris during World War 2. He was a doctor who would provide cheap to free medical care for the poor but on top of that he worked for the French Resistance and helped many of the persecuted Jewish people flee to safety.
He was doing so well for himself, with over 3,000 patients (most were not poor) that he was able to buy a grand house at 21 Rue Le Sueur, a rather affluent part of Paris. There he worked and created his laboratory but little did people realise the horrors that were going on within.
On Saturday, March 11, 1944, a neighbour finally complained about the foul stench that was coming from Petiots home and the large amounts of smoke coming from the chimney. It had been noted before but many were trying to go about there own lives as best as they could with an enemy occupying their city and country.
However, on this day the smoke and stench was particularly noxious. One neighbour went to the house to complain and there they found a note saying that Petiot would be away for a month, so the police were summoned.
On arrival the officers learnt that Petiot lived in another house and quickly sent for him but as the smoke worsened they feared there was a eternal fire, maybe one of the fireplaces had gone out of control, and firemen were summoned.
The firemen entered the house and tracked the source of the smoke to the basement where a coal stove was burning hot and thick, a human arm sticking out of its open door. Mixed in with the coal heap were more human remains, bones, limbs and other parts too small to be identified then and there.
When Petiot arrived he explained they were the remains of Germans, Nazi collaborators and traitors, that he was the head of a resistance group and that the Germans would have his head for this. This seemed good enough for the sergeant who let Petiot go.
Extend of the Atrocities Uncovered
An investigation was carried out and more remains were found. At the bottom of a staircase was a sack containing the headless, left side of a human body, in the garage was a lime pit filled with corpses at various stages of decomposition and in the stable another death pit was located.
Back in the house the basement sinks were discovered to be where the corpses had been drained of blood. Various bins were located about the property containing charred bones, fleshy pieces, scalps and hair.
A sound proof hexagonal chamber was also located, complete with shackles and a peep-hole. Here Petiot could chain up a victim and watch their anguish as they languished within the chamber.
The sergeant soon began to regret his decision to let Petiot go, as a telegram was received, saying to apprehend Petiot immediately – he was a dangerous lunatic!
It took about seven months to finally track down the killer. He hid with family and friends, stating that the Gestapo would kill him if he was captured. He adopted several aliases, allowed his hair and beard to grow and enjoyed a sort of freedom, even if he was constantly looking over his shoulder.
He was finally recognised and apprehended in a Paris metro station. On his possession was a pistol, large sums of money and 50 different sets of identity papers.
He was imprisoned while awaiting trial and all the while he claimed the bodies were of traitors to the French. Then he changed the story claiming he found the bodies, but yes they were Germans. However the trial would find him guilty and that the murders were for profit.
Modus Operandi
Remembering that before this time Petiot was seen as working for the resistance and helped many people wanted by the Germans (Jews, resistance fighters, petty criminals, anyone who did not want to be occupied) to escape to South America where they would be safe. The cost was 25,000 francs per person. A good sum of money in those days but worth it if you wanted to keep your life.
People would learn of Dr Eugene, Petiots alias when 'helping the underground', and through several accomplices would find their way to him. Once in his laboratory he would tell the escapees that Argentine officials required them to be inoculated against various illnesses. However, rather than an inoculation, 'Dr Eugene' would inject them with cyanide (or something to knock them out if he wanted to play with them a little).
From here he would take the money, steal their belongings and get rid of the bodies. To begin with the bodies were dumped in the Seine, throw bags containing human remains onto passing trucks, then when that got too hard he destroyed them by dismembering them and submerging them in quicklime (delivered to him by his brother).
It was at this time people knew there was a murderer on the loose as one of the drivers of these trucks found the grisly contents of one bag – two severed heads, two feet, the skin from two legs (like a pair of stockings) and three scalps.
Later, after he purchased the house on Rue Le Sueur, he also had the option to dismember and incinerate them.
Execution!
At his trial he refused to name his Resistance associates (later officials found he had no real links to them).
As part of the evidence against him, was forty seven suitcases belonging to those who had paid him to escape the Germans, only to be killed. In the end he was found guilty of twenty four murders (some sources say twenty six) but it is believed he killed as many as 160 men, women and children.
On May 25th May, 1946, Marcel Petiot went to the guillotine. He accepted a cigarette but refused the traditional glass of rum. He approached the device of his death as if he were comfortable with his destiny. His final words were “Gentlemen, I ask you not to look. This will not be very pretty.”
http://www.theparanormalguide.com/blog/marcel-petiot-the-butcher-of-paris
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SSG John Ross SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright Cpl Gabriel F.
Notably was guillotined
Images:
1. Guillotine used in Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot's beheading being cleaned after the event.
2. The stove used in cremating remains by Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot
3. Petiot on trial.
Background on
"Marcel Petiot – The Butcher of Paris August 30, 2013
Doctor Marcel Petiot was a good man, provided free care for the poor and could, if you had the money, help you escape German occupied Paris during World War 2.
Unfortunately, not all of the above was true, as was discovered along with the dismembered remains of dozens of people.
Not Even Close to Being a Hero
To most, Marcel Andre Henri Felix Petiot was a seen as a shining light during the time of the Nazi occupation of Paris during World War 2. He was a doctor who would provide cheap to free medical care for the poor but on top of that he worked for the French Resistance and helped many of the persecuted Jewish people flee to safety.
He was doing so well for himself, with over 3,000 patients (most were not poor) that he was able to buy a grand house at 21 Rue Le Sueur, a rather affluent part of Paris. There he worked and created his laboratory but little did people realise the horrors that were going on within.
On Saturday, March 11, 1944, a neighbour finally complained about the foul stench that was coming from Petiots home and the large amounts of smoke coming from the chimney. It had been noted before but many were trying to go about there own lives as best as they could with an enemy occupying their city and country.
However, on this day the smoke and stench was particularly noxious. One neighbour went to the house to complain and there they found a note saying that Petiot would be away for a month, so the police were summoned.
On arrival the officers learnt that Petiot lived in another house and quickly sent for him but as the smoke worsened they feared there was a eternal fire, maybe one of the fireplaces had gone out of control, and firemen were summoned.
The firemen entered the house and tracked the source of the smoke to the basement where a coal stove was burning hot and thick, a human arm sticking out of its open door. Mixed in with the coal heap were more human remains, bones, limbs and other parts too small to be identified then and there.
When Petiot arrived he explained they were the remains of Germans, Nazi collaborators and traitors, that he was the head of a resistance group and that the Germans would have his head for this. This seemed good enough for the sergeant who let Petiot go.
Extend of the Atrocities Uncovered
An investigation was carried out and more remains were found. At the bottom of a staircase was a sack containing the headless, left side of a human body, in the garage was a lime pit filled with corpses at various stages of decomposition and in the stable another death pit was located.
Back in the house the basement sinks were discovered to be where the corpses had been drained of blood. Various bins were located about the property containing charred bones, fleshy pieces, scalps and hair.
A sound proof hexagonal chamber was also located, complete with shackles and a peep-hole. Here Petiot could chain up a victim and watch their anguish as they languished within the chamber.
The sergeant soon began to regret his decision to let Petiot go, as a telegram was received, saying to apprehend Petiot immediately – he was a dangerous lunatic!
It took about seven months to finally track down the killer. He hid with family and friends, stating that the Gestapo would kill him if he was captured. He adopted several aliases, allowed his hair and beard to grow and enjoyed a sort of freedom, even if he was constantly looking over his shoulder.
He was finally recognised and apprehended in a Paris metro station. On his possession was a pistol, large sums of money and 50 different sets of identity papers.
He was imprisoned while awaiting trial and all the while he claimed the bodies were of traitors to the French. Then he changed the story claiming he found the bodies, but yes they were Germans. However the trial would find him guilty and that the murders were for profit.
Modus Operandi
Remembering that before this time Petiot was seen as working for the resistance and helped many people wanted by the Germans (Jews, resistance fighters, petty criminals, anyone who did not want to be occupied) to escape to South America where they would be safe. The cost was 25,000 francs per person. A good sum of money in those days but worth it if you wanted to keep your life.
People would learn of Dr Eugene, Petiots alias when 'helping the underground', and through several accomplices would find their way to him. Once in his laboratory he would tell the escapees that Argentine officials required them to be inoculated against various illnesses. However, rather than an inoculation, 'Dr Eugene' would inject them with cyanide (or something to knock them out if he wanted to play with them a little).
From here he would take the money, steal their belongings and get rid of the bodies. To begin with the bodies were dumped in the Seine, throw bags containing human remains onto passing trucks, then when that got too hard he destroyed them by dismembering them and submerging them in quicklime (delivered to him by his brother).
It was at this time people knew there was a murderer on the loose as one of the drivers of these trucks found the grisly contents of one bag – two severed heads, two feet, the skin from two legs (like a pair of stockings) and three scalps.
Later, after he purchased the house on Rue Le Sueur, he also had the option to dismember and incinerate them.
Execution!
At his trial he refused to name his Resistance associates (later officials found he had no real links to them).
As part of the evidence against him, was forty seven suitcases belonging to those who had paid him to escape the Germans, only to be killed. In the end he was found guilty of twenty four murders (some sources say twenty six) but it is believed he killed as many as 160 men, women and children.
On May 25th May, 1946, Marcel Petiot went to the guillotine. He accepted a cigarette but refused the traditional glass of rum. He approached the device of his death as if he were comfortable with his destiny. His final words were “Gentlemen, I ask you not to look. This will not be very pretty.”
http://www.theparanormalguide.com/blog/marcel-petiot-the-butcher-of-paris
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SSG John Ross SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright Cpl Gabriel F.
Marcel Petiot – The Butcher of Paris
Doctor Marcel Petiot was a good man, provided free care for the poor and could, if you had the money, help you escape German occupied Paris during World War 2. Unfortunately, not all of the above was...
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
My pleasure to share some weird and arcane history LTC (Join to see) , Stay cool down there !
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