A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them.[1] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines serial killing as "a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone".
| Name | Years active | data-sort-type="number" | Proven victims! | data-sort-type="number" | Possible victims! | Status | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aiutino, Vincenzo | 1991–1992 | 3 | 3 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Man with the Fifty Affairs"; Swiss who raped and strangled three women between 1991 and 1992 in Meurthe-et-Moselle | [2] | ||
| Alègre, Patrice | 1989–1997 | 5 | 5+ | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Raped and strangled women in Toulouse and Paris; his case caused accusations of a police cover-up | [3] | ||
| Madame de Brinvilliers | 1666–1670 | 3 | 3 | Executed 1676 | Aristocrat who poisoned her father and two brothers | [4] [5] | ||
| Avinain, Jean-Charles-Alphonse | 1867 | 2 | 2 | Executed 1867 | Known as "The Terror of Gonesse"; butcher who killed two people in robberies | [6] | ||
| Barbeault, Marcel | 1969–1976 | 8 | 8 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Shadow Killer"; killed his victims during the nighttime or early mornings | [7] | ||
| Chambet, Ludivine | 2012–2013 | 10 | 10 | 25 years imprisonment | Known as "The Poisoner of Chambéry"; nurse's aide who poisoned elderly people using antidepressants | [8] | ||
| Chanal, Pierre | 1980–1988 | 8 | 17 | Committed suicide awaiting trial | Soldier suspected of raping and murdering young men in Marne | [9] | ||
| Cottrez, Dominique | 1989–2006 | 8 | 8 | 9 years imprisonment | Murdered her newborn infants in her home in Villers-au-Tertre | [10] | ||
| Dankerque, Casimir | 1935 | 4 | 4 | Executed 1936 | Known as "The Monster of Artois"; murdered elderly people during robberies in Pommier and Achicourt | [11] | ||
| Dumollard, Martin | 1855–1861 | 3 | 3 | Executed 1862 | Known as "The Maid Killer"; with the help of his wife Marie-Anne Martinet, attacked and robbed maids in Lyon and Ain, killing three of them | [12] | ||
| El Borgi, Thierry | 1989 | 4 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Together with partner Philippe Siauve and two other accomplices, murdered three women and an officer between May and July 1989 | [13] | ||
| Fourniret, Michel | 1987–2003 | 8 | 12+ | Died in prison | Known as "The Ogre of the Ardennes"; with his help of his wife Monique Olivier, kidnapped, raped and murdered predominantly young girls across France and Belgium | [14] | ||
| Frantz, Véronique | 1852–1854 | 3 | 3 | Executed 1854 | Poisoned her employer's mother-in-law and wife to become his mistress; later poisoned him after she learned he planned to remarry | [15] | ||
| Garnier, Gilles | 1572–1573 | 4 | 4 | Executed 1573 | Known as "The Hermit of St. Bonnot"; reclusive hermit who confessed to murdering and cannibalizing young children | |||
| Georges, Guy | 1991–1997 | 7 | 7 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Beast of Bastille"; raped and murdered women in the Bastille neighbourhood of Paris | [16] | ||
| Haddouche, Jacquy | 1992–2002 | 3 | 3 | Died in prison | Career criminal who murdered women across the country | [17] | ||
| Heaulme, Francis | 1984–1992 | 9 | 9+ | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Criminal Backpacker"; murdered a wide variety of victims across the country, some with a yet-unidentified accomplice | |||
| Jégado, Hélène | 1833–1851 | 3 | 36 | Executed 1852 | Domestic servant who poisoned various people with arsenic | |||
| Keller, Yvan | 1989–2006 | 23 | 40–150 | Committed suicide awaiting trial | Known as "The Pillow Killer"; smothered and then robbed elderly women across France, Germany and Switzerland | [18] | ||
| Lacenaire, Pierre François | 1834–1835 | 2 | 2 | Executed 1836 | Poet and army defector who murdered two men with his accomplices | [19] | ||
| Laget, Pierre | 1922–1929 | 1 | 3 | Committed suicide in prison | Dentist who poisoned his second wife; suspected in the murders of his first wife and aunt | [20] | ||
| Lagrée, Pierre | 1915–1916 | 4 | 6 | Executed 1916 | Soldier who killed people during robberies; confessed to two more while residing in New York, United States | [21] | ||
| Landru, Henri Désiré | 1915–1919 | 11 | 11+ | Executed 1922 | Known as "The Bluebeard of Gambais"; killed mistresses and lovers during the war period; inspired the character of Monsieur Verdoux played by Charlie Chaplin | [22] | ||
| Lastennet, Claude | 1993–1994 | 5 | 5 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Strangled elderly women | [23] | ||
| Lefèvre, David | 1999–2011 | 3 | 3 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Swamp Killer"; killed two acquaintances for trivial disputes and dumped their bodies in swamps, having previously served time for killing a homeless man | [24] | ||
| Lesage, Celine | 2000–2007 | 6 | 6 | 15 years imprisonment | Suffocated and strangled her newborn infants in Valognes | [25] | ||
| Louis, Émile | 1975–1980 | 7 | 7 | Died in prison | Prime suspect in the murders of handicapped women in Yonne | [26] | ||
| Malèvre, Christine | 1997–1998 | 30 | 30 | 10 years imprisonment | Killed terminally-ill patients in Mantes-la-Jolie | [27] | access-date=7 March 2014 --> | |
| Millet, Albert | 1954–2007 | 3 | 3 | Committed suicide to avoid apprehension | Killed two girlfriends and one of his lover's friends in Hyères | [28] | ||
| Monvoisin, Catherine | data-sort-value="1601" | 17th-century | 1000 | 2500+ | Executed 1680 | Head of a Paris fortune teller network who sold poisons, contributing to thousands of deaths | [29] | |
| Negroiu, Rodica | 1982–2004 | 2 | 3 | Released 2017 | Known as "The Poisoner of Maxèville"; Romanian who poisoned two husbands in Nancy, and allegedly her first husband in her home country | [30] | ||
| Palmier, Yoni | 2011–2012 | 4 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Perpetrator of the Essonne serial murders | [31] | ||
| Paulin, Thierry | 1984–1987 | 18 | 21 | Died in prison | Known as "The Beast of Montmarte"; gay man who sexually assaulted and murdered old women in Paris | [32] | ||
| Peiry, Michel | 1981–1987 | 5 | 11 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Sadist of Romont"; Swiss national who sexually abused and murdered hitchhikers across several European countries and the USA | [33] | ||
| Pel, Albert | 1872–1884 | 1 | 4 | Died in prison | Known as "The Watchmaker of Montreuil"; watchmaker who poisoned his parents and lovers | [34] | ||
| Pesquet, Bernard | 1941–1976 | 7 | 7+ | Died in prison | Known as "The Landru of Val-d'Oise"; killed his best friend in 1941, released from prison and murdered at least six others | [35] | ||
| Petiot, Marcel | 1926–1944 | 27 | 63+ | Executed 1946 | Doctor who murdered would-be refugees fleeing from the Nazis | [36] | ||
| Philip, Baptistine | 1871–1878 | 3 | 3 | Died in prison | Fatally poisoned her employer, husband, and uncle-in-law for monetary gain | [37] | ||
| Poirson, Louis | 1995–2000 | 4 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "Rambo"; Malagasy-born stonemason who kidnapped and raped women, killing four of them | [38] | ||
| Prévost, Victor | 1877–1879 | 2 | 4 | Executed 1880 | Known as "The Butcher of La Chapelle"; former peacekeeper who murdered an acquaintance and his mistress; suspect in two disappearances | |||
| de Rais, Gilles | data-sort-value="1401" | 15th-century | 400 | 400+ | Executed 1440 | Compatriot of Joan of Arc and satanist who confessed to murdering scores of children | [39] | |
| Riaud, Joseph | 1860–1875 | 1 | 3 | Executed 1876 | Beat his third wife to death in 1876, and suspected in the deaths of his previous two spouses | [40] | ||
| Recco, Tommy | 1960–1980 | 7 | 10 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | One of the oldest living French prisoners | [41] | ||
| Rezala, Sid Ahmed | 1999 | 3 | 3+ | Committed suicide in custody | Known as "The Killer of the Trains"; Algerian-born rapist who murdered at least three women near train tracks | [42] | ||
| Richetto, Luigi | 1893–1899 | 4 | 4 | Died in prison | Italian concierge who robbed and murdered three women and one man in Lyon, dismembering their bodies afterwards | [43] | ||
| Robini, André | 1955–1956 | 3 | 3 | Unknown | Known as "The Old Lady Killer"; assaulted and robbed numerous elderly women in Paris and Versailles, killing three of them | [44] | ||
| Roy, Rémy | 1990–1991 | 3 | 3 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Minitel Killer"; murdered three gay men after staged sadomasochistic acts | [45] | ||
| Salameh, Patrick | 2008 | 4 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Marseille Ripper"; kidnapped, raped and murdered three prostitutes and a student in Marseille | [46] | ||
| Sasia, Giuseppe | 1934 | 4 | 5+ | Executed 1936 | Known as "The Shepherds' Killer"; Italian criminal who killed and then robbed shepherds in Draguignan; suspected of an earlier murder in 1930 | [47] | ||
| Scieri, Antoinette | 1924–1926 | 12 | 12 | Died in prison | Italian-born nurse who poisoned elderly patients with herbicide pyralion | [48] | ||
| Sedrati, Nadir | 1999 | 3 | 5 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Cutter of the Canal"; murdered and dismembered three people, disposing of the remains into the Marne-Rhine Canal; suspect in two other disappearances | [49] | ||
| Siauve, Philippe | 1989 | 4 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Together with partner Thierry El Borgi and two other accomplices, murdered three women and one man between May and July 1989 | [50] | ||
| Stranieri, Alfredo | 1997–1999 | 4 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Classified Ad Killer"; Italian-born con man who committed two double murders in order to obtain property or used cars | [51] | ||
| Succo, Roberto | 1981–1988 | 7 | 7 | Committed suicide in prison | Murdered his parents in native Mestre, Italy, before fleeing to France and killing five more people | [52] | ||
| Tissier, Patrick | 1971–1993 | 3 | 3 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Rapist who murdered two girls and a woman; his case and that of Christian Van Geloven influenced a judicial reform in France concerning infanticides and child killings | [53] | ||
| Tomasini, François | 1907–1913 | 3 | 3 | Executed 1914 | Shot two men in Volpajola, shortly after his release from prison for a previous murder | [54] | ||
| Vacher, Joseph | 1894–1897 | 11 | 27+ | Executed 1898 | Known as "The French Ripper"; drifter who raped, murdered, dismembered and disemboweled his victims across southeastern regions of the country | [55] | ||
| Vérove, François | 1986–1994 | 4 | 4 | Committed suicide before any apprehension | Nicknamed "Le Grêlé" ("the pockmarked man"), Verove, a former police officer was blamed for four murders and a series of rapes since 1986. His confession was found on his suicide note alongside his body after he committed suicide in 2021. The crimes include the 1986 murder of an 11-year-old child, Cécile Bloch, in Paris. | [56] [57] | ||
| Waxin, Denis | 1985–1992 | 3 | 3 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Pedophile who raped and murdered children in Lille | [58] | ||
| Weber, Jeanne | 1905–1908 | 10 | 10+ | Committed suicide in prison | Insane woman who strangled children, including her own | [59] | ||
| Weidmann, Eugen | 1937 | 6 | 6 | Executed 1939 | German who murdered and robbed people around Paris, including American dancer Jean de Koven; last public execution in the country | [60] | ||
| Zanchi, Honoré | 1992–2009 | 4 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment; commuted to 30 years | Biker who killed assailants of his friends in order to "avenge" them | [61] | ||
April 27, 1991 in L'Humanité (in French)
April 27, 1991 in L'Humanité (in French)
