French doctor Marcel Petiot may have had a very bad reputation in France but his story and horrific acts are not well known to the rest of the world. Motivated by greed, he promised safe havens to those who wanted to escape the Germans in World War II, stole them and killed them.
They called him "Doctor of Satan" and "Slaughterer of Paris" and not unjustly. He is believed to have killed 63 people, but was convicted of killing 27 and executed by guillotine.
The man who killed his victims and whitewashed them managed to escape from the Police for a long time. His mind was so demonic that he had managed to join the group that was looking for him to arrest him!
Marcel Petiot was born on January 17, 1897 in Auxerre, France. His tough and strange character did not take long to unfold. At the age of 11, he took his father's gun to school and shot, and he stole and destroyed public property several times.
After many expulsions from school he graduated and joined the army. Even there, however, he often went out of service as he had been found to be stealing. Officers eventually relieved him of his duties following a recommendation from a psychiatrist to be admitted to a psychiatric asylum. Petiot, however, managed not to enter as an inmate but as a specialist doctor after graduating from medical school.
Many said that the first victim of the French doctor was Louise Delaveau, his mistress and the daughter of a patient at the hospital in Villeneuve-sur-Yonn where he worked. The woman disappeared in 1926, shortly after they met and the beginning of their relationship.
When police began investigating her disappearance, many neighbors admitted to seeing him. doctor to put in his car a large trunk, possibly with the corpse of the girl. However, the authorities were unable to find any evidence linking her disappearance to the doctor.
Shortly after Delaveau's disappearance, Petiot decided to pursue a political career and run for mayor of Villeneuve-sur-Yonn, a position he eventually won. The first thing he did was to misuse the city's money and close one business deal after another, for his own benefit of course.
After a short career in politics and a few days in prison for his kleptomania, he broke up with his wife and son in Paris, where he opened his office. Of course, nothing prevented him from continuing his illegalities there either.
For Petiot, Nazi-occupied France had the perfect setting in which to commit his crimes. Indeed, the country was divided into those who loved the Nazis and those who actively sought to overthrow the Gestapo. The doctor invested in the fear that was hovering in the air to do all the terrible things he was thinking.
Petiot's main thought was that no one should understand his action. He thus became a member of the French Resistance with the aim of gaining the trust and admiration of the French in his person and burying his illegal acts, including the illegal sale of drugs.
He even went so far as to hide his plan Jews at home, even promising a safe escape from Nazi France. Of course, all this with the corresponding monetary price that reached 25.000 francs.
Resistance fighters, thieves and brutal criminals trying to escape arrest also found refuge in his home. What seemed like a noble cause turned out to be the beginning of a murderous act, which ranked him on the list of the most satanic serial killers.
Petiot, acting under the name "Dr. Eugene ", he had two accomplices who found his victims. Their doctor told them that in order to be able to leave France they had to be vaccinated first. They, in the face of their despair, believed him. Only the vaccine was not a vaccine but an injection of cyanide that cut the thread of their lives. He then stole their belongings and dumped the bodies in the Seine River.
Only the Gestapo would force Petiot to change his practices. The constant presence of the German state secret police on the streets of France put obstacles in the way of his murderous action as he could not kill his victims and take them out of the house to get rid of them. So he thought of something else which he finally applied: he put the corpses in lime!
The Gestapo finally found his accomplices and after torture revealed the real name of the doctor. But he had managed to go to another part of Paris and continue his activities.
In March 1944, while Petiot was gone, the neighbors began to complain about the stench coming out of his house and the highly toxic smoke coming out of the chimney. When police arrived, believing a fire had broken out somewhere, they found a note from the doctor saying he would be back in a few days. They called him and he told them not to enter the house until he arrived.
After an hour of waiting, the police burst into the house and were shocked by what they saw: dismembered corpses were scattered in various parts of the house, some in bags, some in suitcases, while in the garage there were tanks of lime and an incinerator with hands inside. legs and bones.
Petiot managed to convince them that he was a resistance fighter, that the bodies belonged to either Germans or traitors, and so he was not arrested. But the police chief believed they were dealing with a paranoid man. He arrested his wife, son and accomplices. Petiot once again managed to pop it.
The Landing in Normandy in 1944 slowed down the search for him. Petiot took refuge in the homes of acquaintances and spread the word that he was being persecuted for helping the resistance. He changed his name and appearance several times and for about a month he managed to live free.
He even managed to become a member of the interim government and join the group that was looking for him! Unfortunately, someone recognized him at a train station and he was arrested.
During trial claimed that he killed only Germans and hawks. The names of the protesters he mentioned as his friends did not even exist. He is believed to have killed 60 people, but was eventually convicted of 27 murders. Of the assets he had stolen, his profit had exceeded 200 million francs!
On May 25, 1946, at the age of 49, he was convicted of murder and guillotined.