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Smell of burning corpses finally unmasked doctor turned grisly serial killer who murdered 150
Apr 17, 2025
No-one suspected eminent physician Dr Marcel Petiot of killing, rather than curing, during the 1940s Nazi occupation of Paris, but many of those who turned to him for help were never seen again
It was the dawn of the 1940s. Paris was in the grip of Nazi occupation and the city was shrouded in fear, But the Gestapo’s reign of terror provided perfect camouflage for a prolific serial killer who is believed to have killed as many as 150 people - operating in plain sight.
No one would have suspected the eminent physician Dr Marcel Petiot of killing, rather than curing. But while Petiot claimed to be a member of the resistance, helping people to escape the Nazis, the people who accepted his help were never seen again.
Their bodies were rotting at the bottom of the river Seine or in the basement of Petiot’s home. His evil was exposed when he tried to destroy evidence by burning the corpses - and neighbours complained to police about the rancid smell.
Author of Die in Paris about the serial killer, Marilyn Z Tomlins, says: “They let their noses lead them to the basement, where they found bodies burning in the furnace of a water boiler. From the furnace, stuck an arm, a human arm with fingers still on the arm. Inside the boiler, they could see a human head.”
Assorted rib cages, jaw bones, and large chunks of charred flesh from at least 10 victims littered the floor. A pit of quicklime contained the remains of yet more bodies.
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