Michel Fourniret

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Michel Fourniret (born April 4, 1942 in Sedan , † May 10, 2021 in Paris ) was a French serial killer .

The forest worker hit the headlines on June 30, 2004 when he confessed to the Belgian authorities that he had kidnapped, sexually abused and killed six girls . Following tips from his third wife, Monique Olivier, he confessed to three more murders the next day. There were also two adults among the victims. Media and government attention was particularly high at the time, as just a week earlier, Belgian sex offender Marc Dutroux had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the kidnapping and rape of six girls and for murder .

The trial of the couple (his wife was charged with aiding and abetting) began on March 27, 2008. On May 28, 2008 Fourniret was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years and his wife to life imprisonment with a minimum of 28 years.

In November 2020, he was rushed to hospital after being faint, but never returned to prison because of his poor health. According to Le Parisien , Fourniret had Alzheimer's and heart problems, among other things, before his death .

Criminal acts and inferences

Fourniret was convicted of voyeurism and violent crimes as early as 1966 . On September 4, 1982, he kidnapped fourteen-year-old Dahina Le Guennan and raped her. In 1987 he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Évry , but was released on probation after a few months - after taking into account the pre- trial detention since 1984. Shortly afterwards he committed his first murder of seventeen-year-old Isabelle Laville in Auxerre . Then he settled in Belgium . There he led an inconspicuous life as a supervisor of a school canteen in Gedinne .

Sautou Castle

During his pre-trial detention in France, he met Jean-Pierre Hellegouarch , a member of the Action Directe terrorist group . Shortly before his dismissal, Hellegouarch took Fourniret into his confidence and commissioned him to manage the “ war chest ” of Action Directe together with Hellegouarch's wife Farida . Instead, Fourniret killed the woman, took the money and in 1988 bought Sautou Castle in Donchery in northern France for two million francs (then approx. 590,000  DM ; today's equivalent: approx. 532,000  EUR ) . The hunting lodge from the 19th century is located near Sedan, five kilometers south of the Franco-Belgian border, isolated in a hilly landscape. He renovated the fifteen hectare property into a luxurious guest house. The extensive construction work in the following years, during which he also dug long trenches, did not arouse suspicion. According to Fourniret's confession, he had buried at least two of his victims there.

On July 26, 2003, he tried to kidnap thirteen-year-old Marie-Ascension. However, she managed to jump out of his car. Fourniret was arrested that same year. According to press reports, however, the Belgian authorities had been made aware of him two years before his arrest: a woman testified to the police in April 2001 that she had been harassed and persecuted by a man in a white van on the way home in southern Belgium. She gave a precise description of Fourniret and gave the license plate number of his vehicle. Only three weeks later, thirteen-year-old Mananya Thumpong, whose murder Fourniret has since confessed, disappeared in Sedan.

On July 1, 2004, his wife, Monique Olivier, testified that her husband had committed ten murders. She helped him with the kidnappings and watched the rapes. The next day, Fourniret confessed to eight murders. Later he added a ninth. It is assumed that there are actually considerably more, as there is a gap of ten years in his statements. In addition to France and Belgium, unsolved murders in Germany , the Netherlands, Austria and Denmark are also being investigated for a possible perpetrator of Fourniret. An initially suspected connection to Dutroux turned out to be unfounded. In early 2006 media reports caused a stir that Fourniret was present at the trial of Christian Ranucci , who was executed on the controversial allegation of the murder of a girl in 1976 .

The search for the bodies began in his presence on July 3, 2004. On the castle grounds, the investigators excavated two skeletons, which are believed to be the remains of Elisabeth Brichet and Jeanne-Marie Desramault.

Overall, Fourniret claims to have killed the following people and apparently hid the bodies in France and Belgium:

  • Isabelle Laville (17) - disappeared from Auxerre on December 11, 1987.
  • Fabienne Leroy (18) - was found strangled in August 1988.
  • Jeanne-Marie Desramault (22) - disappeared on March 18, 1989.
  • Farida Hellegouarch - wife of Jean-Pierre Hellegouarch, probably killed in 1989.
  • Elisabeth Brichet (12) - from Namur . All trace of her was lost on December 20, 1989. Her disappearance had often been linked to the Dutroux case.
  • Joanna Parrish (20) - the body of the young British woman was found on May 17, 1990 in a river in Auxerre. She had been raped and strangled. Fourniret confessed to the murder in February 2018.
  • Natacha Danais (13) - was kidnapped on November 21, 1990 in the French town of Rezé near Nantes . Three days later, her body was discovered 70 kilometers from Nantes in the dunes of Brem-sur-Mer on the Atlantic coast .
  • An unknown au pair - she worked for the Fourniret couple and is believed to have been murdered in 1993.
  • Celine Saison (18) - disappeared on May 16, 2000 in Charleville-Mézières . On July 22, 2000, her body was found in a forest near Sugny in the Belgian Ardennes .
  • Mananya Thumpong (13) - Every trace of her is lost on May 5, 2001 in Sedan. Hikers found her body on May 2, 2002 in a forest near Nolleveaux , 30 kilometers from the place where Celine Saison was found.
  • Estelle Mouzin (9) - Fourniret kidnapped, raped and murdered her in 2003, which the wife did not confess until 2020.
  • Unknown motorist - Fourniret says he shot him with a hunting rifle at a motorway service station in order to get his money.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Michel Fourniret is dead: French serial killer was 79 years old. In: Der Spiegel. Retrieved May 10, 2021 .
  2. ↑ AFP -Meldung of 28 May 2008
  3. ↑ Par Le Parisien avec AFP Le 10 may 2021 at 16h05, Modifié Le 10 May 2021 at 16h36: Le tueur en série Michel Fourniret est mort à l'hôpital à l'âge de 79 ans. May 10, 2021, accessed May 10, 2021 (fr-fr).
  4. ↑ Par Le Parisien avec AFP Le 10 may 2021 at 16h05, Modifié Le 10 May 2021 at 16h36: Le tueur en série Michel Fourniret est mort à l'hôpital à l'âge de 79 ans. May 10, 2021, accessed May 10, 2021 (fr-fr).
  5. ↑ Exchange rates. In: Deutsche Bundesbank . Accessed on May 11, 2021 (course cannot be viewed directly, a data series must be downloaded).
  6. ↑ This figure was based on the template: Inflation determined, has been rounded to a full EUR 1,000 and relates to January 2021.
  7. ↑ Joanna Parrish murder: French serial killer 'confesses' to 1990 killing. BBC News, February 16, 2018, accessed May 10, 2021 .
  8. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Serial killer Michel Fourniret allegedly killed nine-year-olds - DER SPIEGEL - Panorama. Retrieved November 16, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Fourniret, Michel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French serial killer
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Sedan
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Paris