Henri Désiré Landru (12 April 1869 – 25 February 1922) () was a French serial killer, nicknamed the Bluebeard of Gambais and a prolific marriage fraudster. He is confirmed to have murdered at least ten women and the teenage son of his first victim, primarily targeting lonely war widows whom he met through newspaper advertisements, seduced, defrauded of their assets, and then killed, disposing of their bodies by burning them in his stove. He committed these crimes between December 1914 and January 1919, first at a house in Vernouillet and later at an isolated villa in Gambais, near Paris. The true number of Landru's victims remains unknown, as police traced correspondence with 283 women, 72 of whom were never found. He is considered one of France's most famous and notorious murderers, whose investigation and trial became a media sensation in the aftermath of World War I. His case inspired Charlie Chaplin's film .
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. Police eventually concluded that Landru had met or been in romantic correspondence with 283 women during the First World War, meticulously categorized by their potential wealth; 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's trial in November 1921 at Versailles garnered immense public attention, attracting celebrities like Colette and Maurice Chevalier. Although he maintained his innocence and despite the lack of bodies, he was found guilty of eleven murders by a majority verdict on 30 November 1921, largely based on his meticulous notebooks and the circumstantial evidence. He was executed by guillotine on 25 February 1922.
Early life
Henri Landru was born in Paris into a modest but respectable working-class family. His father, Julien Landru, was a furnace stoker and later a factory manager, and his mother, Flore Henriquel, worked from home as a seamstress. Both were devout Catholics. Landru received his education at a Catholic school on the Île Saint-Louis, where he was described as a serious student, serving diligently as an altar boy and later as a sub-deacon. After graduating, he worked briefly in an architect's office.
At age 20, while still performing his military service, he began a relationship with his cousin, Marie-Catherine Rémy. When she became pregnant, he married her in Paris on 7 October 1893 to take responsibility and legitimize their first child, Marie, who had been born two years earlier. Landru had begun his obligatory four-year military service in 1889 in Saint-Quentin, eventually rising to deputy quartermaster. After completing his service in 1894, he returned to Paris. The couple went on to have three more children: Maurice (b. 1894), Suzanne (b. 1896), and Charles (b. 1900).
During the 1890s, Marie-Catherine worked as a laundress, while Landru struggled to hold down steady employment, working variously as an accountant, furniture salesman, mapmaker, and assistant toymaker. She later described him as a "model husband" in the early years, despite also telling police he was a "skirt chaser" from the outset. Some accounts suggest his turn to crime began after an employer at an architectural firm where Landru and colleagues had pooled savings allegedly embezzled the funds and fled to America; Landru, wanting to recover his lost funds, supposedly turned to fraud. Biographer Dennis Bardens disputed this, arguing Landru likely had few savings and may have defaulted on a loan from the employer instead.
Criminal career
Landru's descent into serious crime coincided with his ambition to become an inventor. In 1898, he designed a primitive motorbike, "The Landru," then defrauded investors for a non-existent factory. He pursued other unsuccessful ventures, including a plan for a suburban railway and an automated toy. Increasingly, he resorted to fraud, spending years on the run and seeing little of his family.
His first known conviction was for fraud on 21 July 1904, resulting in a two-year sentence served in Fresnes prison, after he was arrested following an attempted bank fraud and a suspicious, possibly feigned suicide attempt while in custody at La Santé Prison. Dr. Charles Vallon, a prominent criminal psychiatrist who examined him then, concluded Landru was "on the frontiers of madness" but legally sane and responsible for his actions, though he warned Marie-Catherine about his potential danger.
Between 1902 and 1914, Landru cycled in and out of prison for various minor frauds. In 1909, he attempted to swindle a wealthy widow in Lille, posing as a single businessman. He persuaded her to hand over her savings (reported as 20,000 francs in one account) but was caught trying to cash her investment certificates and sentenced to three years in Loos prison. Some speculate this experience led him to realize that eliminating victims would prevent prosecution, as he allegedly learned the lesson "no body, no crime." While he was imprisoned, his mother died in 1909. In April 1912, shortly after Landru's release, his father, Julien, hanged himself from a tree in the Bois de Boulogne, apparently out of shame and despair over his son's criminal life. Marie-Catherine later claimed Landru stole the 12,000 francs Julien had specifically left for her and the children.
In the winter of 1913–14, Landru conducted his most successful pre-war fraud, collecting 35,600 francs from multiple investors for another fictitious automobile factory. He fled with this money and much of his inheritance just before police arrived to arrest him in April 1914. In late July 1914, he was tried in absentia, convicted for his sixth time, and sentenced to four years' hard labour followed by lifelong deportation to New Caledonia. By using various aliases and constantly moving, Landru evaded this sentence and remained a fugitive as World War I began.
Murders (1915–1919) The outbreak of World War I in August 1914 created a grim opportunity. With hundreds of thousands of Frenchmen mobilized or killed, newspapers filled with lonely hearts advertisements from war widows seeking companionship and security. Landru, exempt from service due to his age and dependents (and possibly his fugitive status), realized the appeal a seemingly stable man would hold. He began placing his own ads in major newspapers like Le Journal, presenting himself as a respectable widower: "Widower with two children, aged 43, comfortable income, affectionate, serious, and moving in good society, desires to meet widow with a view to matrimony" or "Serious gentleman seeks widow aged 35 to 45, or woman unlucky in love."
He received a flood of replies, often expressing hardship and loneliness. Landru meticulously cataloged these letters in notebooks, prioritizing correspondents based on perceived wealth. He used categories such as "Returns reply poste restante," "No money," "No reply," "Returns reply poste restante with initials," "Probably has assets," "Reserve, further investigation required," discarding those deemed "propertyless." He focused on seemingly naive women with assets, gathering further information before initiating contact.
Murders at Vernouillet In December 1914, Landru rented the Villa Ermitage in Vernouillet, 35 km northwest of Paris. This became the site of his first confirmed murders.
Jeanne and André Cuchet (late January or early February 1915) Jeanne-Marie CuchetAlso spelled Jeanne Koushet or Jeanne Couchet. (39), an attractive Parisian lingerie seamstress widowed in 1909, had met Landru before the war, likely in 1914. He used the alias "Raymond Diard," claiming to be a postal inspector or industrialist from Lille displaced by the war. He charmed Jeanne, promising marriage and a secure future for her and her illegitimate son, André (then 16 or 17Sources vary on André's age, stating 16 or 17.), even offering to secure André a government job. Jeanne's sister and brother-in-law distrusted "Diard," sensing he was a fraud, but Jeanne dismissed their concerns.
After Landru disappeared briefly at the war's outbreak, a distraught Jeanne, accompanied by André and her brother-in-law, visited Landru's empty house near Chantilly. There, they found papers revealing his real identity (including marriage and criminal records). Despite this, and arguments over his reluctance to marry, Jeanne reconciled with Landru when he reappeared. When her family continued to warn her against Landru, she severed ties with them and, in December 1914, moved with André into Landru's rented villa in Vernouillet. André, meanwhile, was eagerly anticipating his early military recruitment.
Jeanne and André were last seen alive around 26 January 1915. Shortly after, neighbours reported thick, acrid smoke smelling of burning flesh billowing from Landru's chimney. Police who came to investigate accepted Landru's explanation that he was burning rubbish. It is almost certain he murdered and incinerated them in his stove. Landru had deposited 5,000 francs (claimed as inheritance) in June 1914, which police suspected came from Jeanne.
Thérèse Laborde-Line (26 June 1915) Thérèse Laborde-LineAlso spelled Thérèse Laporte-Line or Laporte-Line. (46), an Argentine-born divorced widow and former hotelier, felt estranged from her son and daughter-in-law. She met Landru in June 1915, likely through his 1 May advertisement or one she placed herself. On 21 June, telling friends she was moving to her "future husband's house," she sold her furniture. She was seen gardening at the Vernouillet villa but disappeared after 26 June 1915. Landru subsequently sold her securities and stored some remaining furniture in his garage.
Marie-Angélique Guillin (c. 3 August 1915) Marie-Angélique Guillin (51), a retired housekeeper living near Gare de Lyon, inherited 22,000 francs and responded to Landru's 1 May 1915 ad. Believing his story of being the next Consul-General to Australia needing a hostess wife, she visited his villa and returned apparently overjoyed. On 2 August, she moved from her apartment to Vernouillet. She vanished two days later, around 3 August. Landru sold her securities and, posing as her brother-in-law authorized to act for her due to paralysis, withdrew 12,000 francs from her bank account. Starting in August, a trunk was left abandoned at a local train station. Months later, in February 1916, station staff noticed a foul odor; the trunk contained the badly decomposed, dismembered remains of an unidentified middle-aged woman.
Murders at Gambais
By late 1915, neighbours in Vernouillet were suspicious. Feeling exposed, Landru sought greater seclusion. In December 1915, he rented the isolated Villa Tric, nicknamed "L'Ermitage" ('The Hermitage'), in the village of Gambais, south of Paris. Situated from the nearest house, it offered privacy. Upon moving in, Landru promptly purchased a large kitchen ovenSome Japanese sources refer to the appliance as a "stove" (ストーブ). and a large quantity of coal.
Berthe Héon (December 1915 or January 1916)