Serial Killer Arrested After Police Uncover “Heaps of Bodies” And “Twisted Arms And Legs”
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Neighbors living next to Marcel Petiot, an extremely eccentric and secluded medical doctor, never could have speculated on the horrors that went on at 21 Rue Le Sueur until the police raided his manor.
Months prior to Petiot’s arrest, black smoke escaped from his home, but most assumed it was nothing more than an illegal brewing operation; these were common during France’s prohibition.
Never could they have guessed that the smoke inhaled by neighbors for several months was the burning corpses of several unlucky victims.
The blackened smoke was especially heavy on March 6th, 1944, pushing one of Petiot’s neighbors, Andree Marcais, to call and complain to the local police.
Police and firefighters quickly arrived at 21 Rue Le Sueur, and after rapping heavily on the front door and getting no response, one firefighter climbed to a small banister and peered through the sooted window.
Seeing the outline of what he thought was a human body, he smashed open the window with his fire axe and climbed inside. The soot covered rescuer emerged from the home minutes later where he leaned against a wall and vomited.
“Gentlemen, you’d better go and take a look in the basement. I think you’ll find plenty that interest you.”
Police entered Petiot’s home and found several burning stoves, which provided the only source of light in the total blackness of the smoked-out home.
Near each stove were the piled up remains of several human victims.
“By the dim light of the burning stove, police made out bits of bone and flesh scattered around a pile of twisted arms and legs.” — Doctor of Death, Daily News.
