Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris

CHAPTER 3. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

1 “the charred remains” Paris-Midi, March 12, 1944.

2 a sickening sweet … “it smelled just like” Jean-François Dominique, L’affaire Petiot: médecin, marron, gestapiste, guillotiné pour au moins vingt-sept assassinats (Paris: Éditions Ramsay, 1980), 10.

3 “a pile of skulls” René Piédelièvre, Souvenirs d’un médecin légiste (Paris: Flammarion, 1966), 73.

4 “respectable people” Massui, Le cas du Dr Petiot (Brussels: E.D.C.1944), 11.

5 “it was impossible to tell” Marie Lombre, Report, June 3, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

6 “cries for help” Victor Avenelle in report, March 17, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II, and elaborated in his Audition, May 30, 1944, in carton n° III. See also Paris-Soir, March 28, 1944.

7 Others claimed to hear APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II; Several biographers also cite the testimony of another Petiot family living on rue Le Sueur. There was none in 1944. But eighty-two-year-old Amais Petiot had lived on the fourth floor of No. 18 until 1942, and her husband Eugène until his death in 1935. The second oldest of their four children was also named Marcel Petiot.

8 smaller pile of lime … brown suitcase Objets saisis rue Le Sueur, 13/3 PV No. 4, March 14, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

9 a cart Report, March 13, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III. The cart, lime, gas mask, needle, bust, the jars, and other items here were sealed as evidence by March 15, as outlined in Charles Deforeit’s report, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

10 a black satin dress Report, Objets saisis, March 14, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° I.

11 old-fashioned woman’s hat As police learned, the former owner of 21 rue Le Sueur, Princess Colloredo-Mansfeld, had purchased it for a friend, Georgette Mazeaublanc, who lived in the house between 1932 and 1939. This woman left the hat there when she moved out. Report, March 28, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

12 twenty-two toothbrushes Georges Massu, L’enquête Petiot: La plus grande affaire criminelle du siècle (Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1959), 198–199.

13 specimens of human genitals Report, March 15, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

14 “Order from German” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 234; Maeder, The Unspeakable Crimes of Dr. Petiot (Boston: Little, Brown, 1980), 10.

15 then a twenty-four-year-old Inspector Hernis, in his investigations, later discovered her age. Note, March 22, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

16 René Nézondet remembered René Nézondet, Petiot “le possédé” (Paris: Express, 1950), 34–35.

17 “If she returns” Frédérique Cesaire, L’Affaire Petiot: Grands procès de l’histoire (Paris: Éditions De Vecchi S.A., 1999), 14.

18 Petiot was seen loading Nézondet, Petiot “le Possédé,” 38.

19 “A murder is” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 13.

20 Massu was a native Massu “Biographie,” APP, KA 108, n° 93298.

21 In January 1908 Massu personnel record, APP, KA 108, n° 93298.

22 “Motor Car Bandits” Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009), 208–248. See also Richard Parry, The Bonnot Gang (London: Rebel Press, 1987).

23 “good training” Georges Massu, Aveux Quai des Orfèvres. Souvenirs du Commissaire Massu (Paris: La Tour Pointue, undated/1951), 11. The methods used at the time are described by a former chief of police judiciaire, Commissaire Guillaume, in Trente-sept ans avec la pègre (Paris: Editions de France, 1938), 44–48, 202–205.

24 “without raising the voice” Massu, Aveux Quai des Orfèvres, 13–14, 244.

25 The massive, unruly Janet Flanner, Paris Was Yesterday 1925–1939 (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972), 216–217; Life, July 10, 1939. George Sand’s granddaughter testified at the trial, for the defense.

26 “about forty years old” … “considered dangerous” Arrest notice, March 13, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

27 “The steps of an investigation” … “an idiot” Massu, Aveux Quai des Orfèvres, 8.

28 about nine thirty Alice Denis, Audition, March 12, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

29 “Yesterday evening” Raymonde Denis, Audition, March 12, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° II.

30 a veritable prewar café Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 226.

31 504 vials Réquisitoire définitif, December 31, 1945, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII, and for the conclusion of a large amount far surpassing the average, AN 334 AP 65, 3361.

32 “diabolical and grimacing” Report, March 16, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.