Jean-Claude Romand

Jean-Claude Romand (born February 11, 1954 in Lons-le-Saunier ) is a French impostor and murderer who pretended to be a doctor. He killed his family when his betrayal threatened to be exposed.

Early life

Jean-Claude Romand was born in Lons-le-Saunier and grew up in the village of Clairvaux-les-Lacs in the Jura department . He graduated from high school in Lons-le-Saunier. In 1971 he signed up for the Classe préparatoire (a two- to four-year preparatory course) at the Lycée du Parc in Lyon , but left it again after one semester. Then he enrolled as a medical student.

The deception

The deception began with a lie: Romand pretended to his family and friends that he had passed the exam in the second year of his medical studies. However, he never passed it. He was therefore never able to practice the profession of doctor.

Still, he deceived his family and friends for 18 years. They assumed he would work for the World Health Organization as a successful doctor and researcher. He had so perfected his game of deception that he was mistaken for a researcher in the field of arteriosclerosis . He also pretended to have contacts with well-known political figures.

In reality, he spent his days hiking and reading public information at the local World Health Organization branch. He lived near Prévessin-Moëns in France. He regularly went on supposed business trips, which he then spent in a hotel room at Geneva Airport . There he read medical journals and travel guides about the countries in which he allegedly attended conventions. Romand lived on his wife's income and the sale of his in-laws' house, as well as on money given by several relatives, believing it was an investment in a hedge fund .

Murders

On January 9, 1993, Romand withdrew 2,000 francs , bought a pistol, a silencer and a gas can, and asked to be gift wrapped. That night he slew his wife in the marriage bed with a rolling pin. The next morning he woke his children, had breakfast with them and watched some cartoons. In the evening he put her to bed and shot both of them in the head when they were asleep.

The only ones who could have exposed him after these murders were his parents, who were both very proud of their "successful" son, and his ex-lover, who wanted her 900,000 francs back.

The next morning Romand drove to his parents' house and ate with them. After dinner, he shot his parents and the family dog. That night he met his ex-lover and promised her a romantic dinner for two. He pretended his car had broken down and asked her to get out. When she got out of the car, he sprayed tear gas on her face and tried to strangle her with a string. She struggled, however, whereupon he left her, apologized to her and drove her back to her house.

Then he drove home to where his family's bodies were still. He watched TV and then spilled gasoline all over the house. He started a fire and took an overdose of sleeping pills. It is doubtful whether Romand actually wanted to kill himself, since the tablets had long since expired and he had access to more effective drugs. In addition, the manner in which the fire was started and the timing of the pills made his rescue inevitable. He was rescued by local firefighters who were alerted by street cleaners around 4 a.m.

He survived the fire and refused to speak to the police. It was initially believed that he was too traumatized to speak.

aftermath

Romand's trial began on June 25, 1996. On July 6, 1996, Romand was sentenced to life imprisonment . He could have been paroled since 2015. In the spring of 2019, his release was announced for the summer of 2019, with the requirement to wear an electronic bracelet for two years . In July 2019 the Benedictine Abbey of Fontgombault accepted him for an initial two years. "He is only allowed to leave the monastery grounds at certain times and not even leave the monastery buildings at night."

He was rumored to have a narcissistic personality disorder .

reception

The French author Emmanuel Carrère exchanged letters with the imprisoned Romand and published the book Amok based on the case in 2000 (original: L'adversaire).

Nicole Garcia filmed it in 2002 with the title: L'adversaire . Daniel Auteuil played the role of Romand (in the film under the name Jean-Marc Faure). With Auszeit (original title: l'Emploi du temps) and the Spanish "La Vida de Nadie" two other films are loosely based on the life of Romand.

The WDR produced in 2004, the two-part radio drama adversary , directed by Claudia Johanna Leist after Carrère's novel.

Romand's deception was also the basis of an episode of the BBC crime series Waking the Dead from 2005 and episode 16 (Season 1) of Criminal Intent called "The Phantom" .

Web links

• Liz Tucker : The Man Who Faked His Life. In: Channel 4 . 2005, archived from the original on September 3, 2011 . 
• Jean-Claude Romand - Autopsy d'un mensonge. November 10, 2006(French). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Le Roman d'un menteur. France 2 , 1999.
2. ↑ ^{a b} L'adversaire , Emmanuel Carrère , 2000
3. ↑ Wrong doctor and family murderer is released after 26 years. In: ksta.de . April 25, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Cornelius Stiegemann: Wrong doctor, real murderer: Jean-Claude Romand goes to the monastery. In: kathisch.de . July 7, 2019, accessed July 8, 2017 . 
5. ^ The Man Who Faked His Life. (No longer available online.) In: EnhanceTV. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011 ; Retrieved November 23, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Adversary in the ARD audio game database