Henri Désiré Landru

Henri Désiré Landru (12 April 1869 – 25 February 1922) () was a French serial killer, nicknamed the Bluebeard of Gambais. He murdered at least seven women in the village of Gambais between December 1915 and January 1919. Landru also killed at least three other women and a young man in the house he rented from December 1914 to August 1915 in the town of Vernouillet, a town northwest of Paris. The true number of Landru's victims is suspected to be higher.

Landru was arrested on 12 April 1919 at an apartment near Paris's Gare du Nord, which he shared with his 24-year-old mistress Fernande Segret. The police eventually concluded that Landru had met or been in romantic correspondence with 283 women during the First World War. Seventy-two were never traced. In December 1919, Landru's wife Marie-Catherine, 51, and his eldest son Maurice, 25, were arrested on suspicion of complicity in Landru's thefts from his victims. Both denied any knowledge of Landru's criminal activities. Marie-Catherine was released without charge in July 1920 for health reasons. Maurice was released on the same day because the authorities could not establish his guilt.

Landru continued to protest his innocence during the yearlong investigation. He was charged with the murders at Vernouillet and Gambais. This included the murders of ten women and his first victim's teenage son. Landru's trial in November 1921 at Versailles was attended by leading French celebrities, including the novelist Colette, and the actor and singer Maurice Chevalier. His attorney was Vincent de Moro-Giafferi, the lawyer who also defended Herschel Grynszpan. On 30 November, Landru was found guilty by a majority verdict of all eleven murders and sentenced to death. He was executed by guillotine on 25 February 1922. Provided by Wikipedia