Detectives went to Gambais where a pile of remains was found in the ashes of the fireplace and stove. Combined it was more than 9,000 pounds of charred debris of which 3,300 was thought to be human remains as well as 47 teeth. The equivalent of three heads, five feet, and six hands.
In the back yard detectives found three dead dogs with a rope around their necks under a pile of papers in a shed at the far edge of his home. They belonged to his last victim, Marie-Therese Marchandier. Landru told the authorities that he was asked to kill them
It was all very calculated. After he killed them he would return to Paris to their home and clean it out with the help of his son Maurice. Filling two storage units with everything they owned until he could sell everything. Landru took exacting notes of everything. He noted each and every piece he sold, the date, and how much he was paid. Also noting when he bought saws and coal. All of this today would be a slam dunk but this was over 100 years ago and forensic science wasn’t quite as advanced.
At his arrest, he had two small black notebooks on hand. One hidden in his coat's lining documents the names of all the women he met.
His notes were incredibly detailed, like this example from May 19, 1915
9:30 cigarette kiosk, gare de Lyon Mademoissle Lydie
10:30 Cafe Place St Georges Mme Ho…
11:30 metro Laundry Mme Le C…
14:30 Concorde north Mme Le…
15:30 Tour St Jacques Mme du
17:30 Mme Va…
20:15 Saint Lazare Mme Le…
He kept every single piece of paper and receipt and it was the train tickets that broke down his entire case.
Courtship with Landru always had the same timeline. They would meet and have a few simple dates and once he realized they had means he would propose, visit the bank then go away for the weekend together to his country house, and never return. Landru would buy two tickets in one direction but only a return for himself. As investigators went through box after box they found the single train ticket over and over. He clearly intended to return to Paris alone and his excuse was rather flimsy.
It was now the spring of 1919. World War I was behind us for five months now and the press now had a new tool at their disposal, photography. As soon as the story hit the papers with photos of Landru more families wondered if he could be the reason for the disappearance of their loved ones.
Mademoiselle Freedman on April 16, 1919, contacted the police to say she recognized him and that he dated her sister whom she hadn’t heard from in four years. And this was just the start.
Newsstands couldn’t stack the issues fast enough and Le Matin named him the Le Barbe-Bleue de Gambais, (the Blue Beard of Gambais) based on the 17th-century story by Charles Perrault
TRIAL
On August 18, 1920, a year and a half after his arrest Judge Bonin filed charges. The supporting documents were over 7,000 pages and the evidence was close to 5,000 pieces.
On November 7, 1921, his trial began in the Assize Court in Versailles. After 2 and a half years of coverage daily in the newspaper it was the place to be. All of society wanted a seat including Maurice Chevalier and Colette who was dispatched from Le Matin. Colette covered many of the high-profile murder cases and we have another one coming up soon. Bien Sur, Colette couldn’t tell the story like anyone else and always gave a little extra empathy to her subjects and their life.
Regarding Landru, she wrote: “Did he kill? Then it is while whistling a little tune, and wearing an apron for fear of stains. . . . We remain stunned in front of the tranquil and gentle murderer, who keeps a diary of his victims and rested, perhaps, while at work, with his elbow on the window and feeding the birds some bread.”
His popularity and obsession resulted in over 800 proposals for marriage and close to 5000 fan and love letters.
For twenty days the train from Paris to Versaille was filled and as the trial came to a close the public hung on every detail. On November 21 the courthouse was filled for the testimony of Fernand Segret, his one-time lover who was a lucky survivor of Landru. She couldn’t get through her first day on the stand and return on the 22nd. She told the story of how they met on the tram one day and he followed her until she acknowledged him.
On November 30, 1921, at 6:40 pm the jury was sent to deliberate. At 9:10 pm the jury returned with a guilty conviction, although there had never been a body to prove he had killed a single one of these ladies.
On February 25, 1922, Landru was led to his death in front of the courthouse of Versaille. Sentenced to death by guillotine his lawyer asked him once more if he wanted to confess anything. Landru told him it was a suitcase he was taking with him. Also asked if he wanted a shot of rum and a cigarette but replied they were bad for his health.
At 6:10 am on February 25, Anatole Deibler dropped the blade and the life of Landru ended like his victims, without a head. Deibler was a third-generation executioner
After his family declined burial he was added to the death row cemetery near the courthouse. Years later his family moved him to a hidden location. In Hollywood, the Museum of Death has on display the head of Landru, or so they say. Much like the penis of Napoleon, can we really know for sure it is his?
Where was his family?
His wife/cousin Marie Catherine Rémy Landru tried at first to plead ignorance but during the investigation, another side was discovered. At first, Landru had fooled his family into thinking he was a traveling antique salesman and that is partially correct. Checking back in every few months until their assistance was needed.
His son Maurice was arrested when he had been found with jewelry that belonged to a few of the victims that his father gave him. After serving two years in prison he was released and went back to helping his father clear out the apartments and selling the belongings of his victims.
His wife Catherine, would dress up in the clothes of the missing woman and accompany her husband to the bank pretending to be the missing woman and cleaning out her accounts.
His daughters at first pleaded their innocence but records found that they would rent buildings and homes under other names for their father.
Fernande Segret never really recovered after the trial. She moved to Lebanon to be a teacher but returned to Paris and sued the director Claude Chabrol for her depiction in his movie on the killer. On January 21, 1968, the anniversary of the day she met Landru she killed herself by jumping into the moat of the Cathedral de Flers.
The Blue Beard of Gambais continues to inspire. Charlie Chaplin made Monsieur Verdoux in 1947 and countless movies and documentaries come out every other year.
As for the oven that was the scene of so much horror and brought to the trial of November 1921 it was auctioned off not long after. On January 23, 1932, the director of the Musée Grevin, the Paris wax museum was the winning bidder with 4200 francs. Later it was sold to Laurent Ruquier who wrote a play inspired by the story in 2005.
And on a more touching note, the French doctor that was called to inspect the pile of ashes later buried a box of bones and remains silently under a weeping willow in the Jardin des Plantes. I will be sure to find that tree and give a little prayer to those victims of the Bleue Bearde of Gambais.
The house of horrors in Gambais is still there. The Villa Tric was sold and became a restaurant for a few decades and now it is a private residence. Not sure I would want any food from that kitchen or to live there but maybe they got a good deal. Neighbors say people are always stopping to look and walk around the property that so many horrific acts occurred.
Recently in 2018 RF1 and a team of investigators believes from looking through all the documents that he may have had more victims. Of the 283 names in his journals 72 of the women were never looked into. A few more victims could have died at his hands, but we may never know.
Victims
February 1915: Jeanne Cuchet 39 missing in Vernouillet
February 1915: André Cuchet, son of Jeanne Cuchet, 17 disappeared in Vernouillet
June 26, 1915: Thérèse Laborde-Line, born on August 12, 1868 in Chascomús, Argentina missing in Vernouillet;
August 3, 1915: Marie-Angélique Guillin, bornn April 15, 1863 in Bellavilliers, Orne 52, missing in Vernouillet
December 8, 1915: Berthe-Anna Héon, 55, born in Le Havre missing in Gambais
December 27, 1916: Anna Collomb, 44, widow, missing in Gambais
April 12, 1917: Andrée-Anne Babelay 19 disappeared in Gambais
September 1, 1917: Célestine Buisson missing in Gambais
November 26, 1917: Louise-Joséphine Jaume, 38 , disappeared in Gambais
April 5, 1918: Anne-Marie Pascal, born on November 5, 1880 missing in Gambais
January 13, 1919: Marie-Thérèse Marchadier, born on October 27, 1881 in Bordeaux, former prostitute owner of a passing house on rue Saint-Jacques, in Paris, known as the beautiful Mytèse, 37, who disappeared in Gambais