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

CHAPTER 11. SIGHTINGS

1 Monster of rue Le Sueur Variants were also used, particularly the “Vampire de l’Etoile” (Le Petit Parisien, March 23, 1944) and “Vampire de la rue le Sueur” (Le Petit Parisien, March 29, 1944).

2 the Werewolf of Paris Chicago Daily Tribune, April 10, 1946.

3 In the métro Paris-Soir, March 25, 1944.

4 scalping Le Cri du Peuple, March 26, 1944.

5 The police Le Cri du Peuple, April 8–10, 1944.

6 “Satan in person” A reporter for Le Matin heard similar comments, March 18–19, 1944.

7 A psychic claimed Letter, March 22, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° V.

8 on a country road in Yonne Or, in a variant form, in the river, though this was proved false, the New York Times reported, March 25, 1944.

9 “If Petiot is still alive” Georges Massu, L’enquête Petiot: La plus grande affaire criminelle du siècle (Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1959), 238.

10 Fifty thousand concierges Maurice Toesca, Cinq ans de patience 1939–1944 (Paris: É. Paul, 1975), entry dated March 12, 1944, 218.

11 A man in Orléans Le Petit Parisien, March 20, 1944. There is also a police report from Orléans of a sighting about this time in Report, March 17, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

12 “Pity” Albert Massui, Le cas du Dr Petiot (Brussels: E.D.C., 1944), 59.

13 “freemason brothers” Paris-Soir, April 1, 1944.

14 “It is a myth” March 29, 1944, Léon Werth, Déposition: Journal 1940–1944 (Paris: Viviane Hamy, 2000), 594.

15 “Petiot, he runs” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 238.

16 “fatal injections” … “crowded war news” Time, March 27, 1944. The author of the piece also noted the belief that Petiot was a fabrication.

17 “Madame, your bones” Jean-Marc Varaut, L’abominable Dr. Petiot (Paris: Balland, 1974), 160.

18 “real-life equivalent” St. Petersburg Times, May 28, 1944.

19 “Will Dr Petiot” Paris-Soir, March 18, 1944.

20 “Who would have believed” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 75–76.

21 about nine fifteen or nine twenty Verification, March 18, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III; Maria Vic, Audition, March 24, 1944, also in n° III.

22 “Burn the papers!” Report, March 18, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

23 purchased about three hundred kilos Report, March 19, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° III.

24 Redouté would later Georges Redouté, Audition, November 4, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° V.

25 The concierge Report, November 4, 1944, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° V.

26 “only went out” Ibid.

27 If only, he mused … “impatient as a young dog” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 56, 58, 60–61, and 74.

28 “debris of bones” Le Matin, March 22, 1944.

29 Massu said that he knew Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 152.

30 “field of vision” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 132.

31 “reduced to hypotheses” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 153.

32 “at the level of the neck” Report, August 31, 1942, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII.

33 “trace of violence” Ibid.

34 two human hands Police report of Courbevoie, August 22, 1942, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII.

35 “a man of the lecture hall” Le Petit Parisien, March 22, 1944.

36 “We forensic scientists” Ibid.

37 four thighs alone Report, November 19, 1942, APP, Série J, affaire Petiot, carton n° VII.

38 “a storm cloud of mosquitoes” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 154.

39 “Is it tomorrow” Massu, L’enquête Petiot, 156.