Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - "The Bluebeard of Gambais" Henri Désiré Landru Pt. 1

Episode Date: February 28, 2022

In France, a con man charmed women into getting engaged before robbing them and taking them to his country villa. Where they all mysteriously disappeared. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of suicide, violence, and murder. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. On a Sunday evening in March of 1915, 46-year-old Henri Land-Drew stood in a Paris metro train. As was his habit, he scanned the flow of people around him, looking into their tired faces. When his eyes landed on 19-year-old Andre Babelé, sitting alone, he saw what he'd been searching for. Weakness.

As Henri approached her, Andri glanced up and flashed him a wide smile. Henri grinned back. This would be easier than he thought. He introduced himself as Lucien Guillae and bowed. After a brief conversation, Henri asked Andre to accompany him to a room he rented in Gardinor. Andri agreed. Perhaps because she was bored, or maybe soliciting men was how she made extra money. Either way, there was something about Henri that drew her in.

She joined him, and her stay lasted for longer than just the night. For over a week, Andre stayed in the rented room, and Henri paid for everything she wanted. And just when she thought she couldn't be happier, he invited her to live with him in his country house. Andre needed very little convincing. She quit her nannying job, wrote a letter to her family, and bid adieu to Paris. Andri believed she had finally met the man of her dreams, the one to sweep her off her feet and carry her to a lavish life in the country. It was the fairy tale ending she'd always dreamt of. What André didn't realize was that Henri was not the prince in her story.

He was the villain. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is serial killers, a Spotify original from Parkast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today we'll take a look at Henri Desiree Landreux, also known as the Bluebeard of Gambi. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify.

In today's episode, we'll examine Henri's early military success and gleeful descent into a world of crime. Next time, we'll follow the careful investigation led by the families of Henri's victims, as well as one of the most famous murder trials in France's history. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer, the hunt can be exhausting. When detectives looked and searched to find any kind of evidence

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discomfort. Most French natives know the folk tale of Bluebeard, a story that dates back more than three centuries. According to the tale, Bluebeard was a wealthy aristocrat. One day he met a beautiful young woman and asked her to marry him. She happily agreed and moved in with him. He promised to give her everything she wanted, but he had one condition. She could not enter the locked room in his castle. She agreed, but as the weeks passed, she couldn't resist a peak. When she opened the door, she saw the corpses of his former wives stacked on top of one another. She turned to run, but Bluebeard towered over her, ready to make her his next victim. Over the years, different cultures have created their own adaptations of the story of Bluebeard.

But no matter the audience, his cruelty remains a consistent theme. A man who betrays and murders his lovers one after another is surely the kind of evil you can only find in folklore. But in the early 1900s, the residents of France didn't have to imagine the terror of Bluebeard's murders because Henri Desiree Landreux brought the nightmarish tale to life. Like his namesake, Henri's crimes were surrounded by mystery. It's important to note that no bodies were ever found, so all we really know is what Henri would admit to. But Henri's life wasn't always shrouded in secrecy. He was born in 1869 in Parenthood.

Paris, France. He lived on Il du la Cite, a small island in the Céne where the famous Notre Dame stands. Henri grew up in the shadow of the cathedral and with it its teachings. His family were devout Catholics. His father was a skilled industrial laborer and his mother was Alondres. Though little is known of how the family interacted, religion was fundamentally important to them. Growing up, Henri was an altar boy at a nearby church, and when he was a teenager, he became a sub-deacon. But Henri wanted more from life than the church could offer. He was too curious to be content assisting the priest with the same repetitive tasks. So in 1887, when he was 18, he took a second job as an architect's clerk. There, the teen found a passion

for building. But architecture wasn't the only thing that piqued his interest that year. He caught the eye of a young churchgoer named Marie-Catrine Ramee. The 19-year-old, the 19-year-old. The 19-year-old year old was immediately struck by Henri's handsome looks and mysterious demeanor. Curious about each other, they struck up a conversation after Mass one Sunday. Henri's charm won Marie-Catrine over and romance quickly blossomed. Two years later, in 1889, Marie-Catrine and Henri had a baby girl named Marie. The couple wasn't married, but they lived together as a family. But those weren't the only major developments in Henri's life.

Just a few months after Marie was born, 20-year-old Henri traveled to a small northern town in France called Saint-Contá to fulfill his obligatory military service. At the time, many Frenchmen found the military a toxic environment, ruled by hypermasculinity and social politics. But Henri thrived. He used his charm to navigate military politics deftly and establish himself as one of the officers' favorites. But in typical fashion, he didn't play by the rules.

Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Henri's actions while serving in the military reveal some early tendencies of antisocial personality disorder. While he was never diagnosed, his behavior fits the criteria set by the DSM-5. According to the manual, antisocial personality disorders have two domains. disinhibition and antagonism. While in the military, Henri flattered his higher-ups and quickly became a favorite, he may have manipulated and betrayed his colleagues, and perhaps even bribed the officers,

all traits under the antagonism domain. While these tendencies may be red flags in everyday life, they helped Henri gain status in the military. He quickly realized he could gain power through manipulation, and it thrilled him. For three years, the young soldier, climbed the ranks in San Quanta, earning two promotions, while his less politically savvy colleagues suffered through grunt work. Instead of having to do the grueling tasks of a low-level soldier, Henri was sent to an office to assist with accounting and bookkeeping. At his desk, the 23-year-old was enthralled with the military's financial process. He learned firsthand that money meant power. As long as he was in control of the assets, he could dictate the ebb and flow of the French

military's resources. Who got what supplies, which rations went where? It must have been a heady rush. While there's no proof of this, it's possible that in that time, Henri learned some unfavorable and even illegal financial practices. But his actions throughout his life suggest that he didn't care about breaking the rules as long as it meant more power. Though he enjoyed his time in the military, Henri still had no desire to be a subordinate to others. So in the autumn of 1893, he used his charm to convince his superiors to grant him an early discharge. Within weeks, Henri was back in Paris.

His discharge papers claimed he suffered from sunburn. But the truth was, he requested a discharge so that he could quickly marry Marie Katrine, who was pregnant again. To avoid another scandal, they wed that October. Seven months later, their son Maurice was born. According to Marie Katrine, Henri was a caring and attentive father. He supported the family, even if that meant bouncing around odd jobs.

But he wasn't happy. The 24-year-old missed the thrill of climbing the military ladder and playing with high-stakes finances. He wanted more. It's probable that his success in an environment as competitive as the military convinced Henri that he was exceptional. After all, he'd been rewarded with promotions, avoided punishments, and was discharged when he asked to be. He felt invincible, and now his normal life left him unsatisfied.

To fill this void, Henri carved out a secret life separate from his family. Part of this meant chasing after women. Perhaps Henri found that wooing ladies was similar to earning a military officer's approval. He loved winning people over with his lies, and he knew exactly what buttons to push to keep. people dazzled. But even this wasn't enough. With the exception of Marie-Catrine, Henri seemed to view women as toys he could discard once he was bored.

He realized that what his life lacked was a purpose, and a few years after his discharge, he thought he'd found one. Henri decided he wanted to be a famous inventor. Although this seems like an odd departure, he had a background in architecture, was good with his hands, and believed he could create something important enough to change. changed the world. He started to design and assemble mechanical inventions, anything from dolls to motorbikes. By the turn of the century, the automobile and motorcycle craze was seeping into Paris, and Henri developed a strong interest in vehicles. Night after night, he laid awake,

trying to dream up something grand enough to make him rich. While there's nothing wrong with having ambition, Henri's obsession likely had more to do with his narcissism than a true desire to be an inventor. However, these two things sometimes go together. A 2013 study published in the Personality and Individual Differences Journal found that entrepreneurs score significantly higher on a narcissism scale than people in other fields. Narcissism appears to help individuals stick up for themselves and take risks. In Henri's case, the need to prove his excellence drove him to want to create something nobody else could. But Henri didn't find easy success. He attempted to patent a motorbike design, but Paris's burgeoning transportation industry was extremely competitive.

According to him, another entrepreneur stole his design and his glory. It was the same cutthroat world he faced in the military, but this time he was losing. Frustration built up in Henri as he waited for his big break. Finally, he decided he was done waiting. If he was truly an exceptional person, as he firmly believed himself to be, believed himself to be. The rules shouldn't apply to him anyway. Besides, he'd already learned that the only way to get what he wanted in life was to take it. In 1898, the 29-year-old created a design and prototype for a new motorbike that he called La Landreux. He displayed the bike at a machinery show,

and then he charmed a group of investors into giving him the funds to build a factory. He promised his investors that he'd make La Landreux world famous, but instead he took their cash and vanished. At the turn of the 20th century, it wasn't difficult to disappear. Even with the police looking for him, Henri evaded capture by staying mobile. He moved between various locations in Paris. If he got nervous that the authorities were close on his tail, he would retreat to the coastal city of Luavra. Even still, he managed to see his family quite frequently. Henri lived this way for four years. Though we can't know exactly how he spent his time, his taste for crime likely guided his actions. In 1904, he resurfaced for yet another scheme. Henri walked confidently into a bank in

central Paris and approached the cashier. Though we can't say for sure what he did. It's likely he tried to withdraw money from someone else's account. However, something went wrong and he was caught in a I'm not a wanted man, fled the bank, pursued by the authorities. He dashed into the street, but the next thing he knew, rough hands were dragging him into custody. It was the first time Henri had been caught for his crimes, but his streak of offenses was long enough to put him behind bars for a while. As he sat in the Santee prison in Paris, the 35-year-old tried to think of a way out. Not long after his arrest, a guard walked into Henri's cell to find him most.

away from killing himself. When the guard shouted at him, Henri immediately stopped what he was doing. While it's possible that the idea of prison drove Henri to attempt suicide, it's more likely that he staged the scene in hopes of getting a psych evaluation. If this was his plan, it worked. Dr. Charles Valon was summoned immediately to examine the prisoner. Henri was likely hoping for a diagnosis of insanity so that he wouldn't be held responsible for his crimes.

but Dr. Valon decided otherwise. The psychiatrist wrote that Henri was, quote, on the frontiers of madness, but had not yet crossed them. Dr. Valon did note, however, that the court should be lenient on him. Perhaps swayed by the doctor's recommendation, the judge sentenced Henri to only two years in prison. He could live with this. He'd be a free man by 1906 and back to his schemes.

After the trial, Dr. Valone took Marathon Dr. Villene took Marie-Katrina aside. He told her that, though he didn't believe Henri was insane, she should be careful in the future. The doctor had no idea what Henri was capable of, but he had a feeling that they would soon all find out. Coming up, Henri's monstrous new schemes begin. I'm Sarah Turney, host of Disappearances, a Spotify original from Parkast. In 2020, I used social media to help bring justice to my sister, Alyssa's, nearerner. nearly two decades-long disappearance.

Now, I'm exploring the many reasons people disappear, and finding that the truth may be even harder to locate than the person. Who forced a famed explorer to lose his way? What did a missing Hollywood starlet leave behind? And how could the heiress to a Chicago candy fortune just vanish? Every Thursday on Disappearances, join me for a deeper look into history. most gripping missing persons cases. Tracking timelines, analyzing clues, and piecing together as many answers as possible to find

the actual truth. Follow the Spotify original from Parkast Disappearances. Listen free only on Spotify. Episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to scroll. Green favorites you've already read twice.

Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Now back to the story. By 1906, Henri had finished his sentence in Los Ante. While we don't know much about his time behind bars,

it's likely that he used his charm and wits to survive, It seemed everywhere he went, Henri knew how to get his way. As soon as he was released, he dove back into a life of crime. We aren't sure exactly what shady business he was up to. He may have continued to defraud investors. But soon, Henri had another idea. Instead of duping businessmen, Henri decided to hone in on a different target. Women.

Henri was short and well-built, with a bald head and a strong mustache and beard. He wore elegant clothes and had a certain mysterious allure. The same demeanor that caught Marie-Katrine's eye in 1887 still worked its magic, allowing Henri to pick up women on the bus or on walks. In 1909, Henri met and seduced a recently widowed woman named Jeanne Iso-Re. He convinced her he was a businessman from Amiens, a town north of Paris. Soon after meeting, Henri proposed to Jeanne and she happily accepted. Immediately, he presented her with a premarital contract that he'd written up, giving him access to her savings.

Then he cleaned out 10,000 francs everything she had. The marriage didn't last long. When Henri tried to cash in Jeanne's investment deeds at a bank, he was caught. His true identity was revealed, and he was hauled back to prison for another two and a half years. At this point, most of Henri's family was accustomed to his schemes. But his religious father was heartbroken over the criminal path his son walked. In 1912, the man died by suicide. Henri was unable to attend his father's funeral because he was in jail.

In his will, Henri's father left his savings to Marie Katrine and his grandchildren. By then, the couple had four kids. Though Henri provided for his family from time to time, he also risked their stability and safety with all of his cons. Knowing this, Henri's father had tried to move his 12,000 francs around his criminal son. However, when Henri finished his stint in jail in late 1912, he took the inheritance for himself. He seemed to show no remorse for stealing from his own family. A 2018 article published in the journal,

Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, found that certain personality disorders have been associated with fraudulent activity. in particular narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders. While Henri never received a formal diagnosis, he displayed character traits of both of these disorders. And if he did indeed live with these conditions, they may have been the drivers of his crimes. In Henri's case, he wanted the feeling of winning, even at the expense of his loved ones.

And rather than feel guilt for his actions, he was always looking ahead to his next scheme. The 44-year-old soon pulled off another con. While the details of what he did are unclear, he escaped the experience with a large amount of money. Then he went into hiding. In July of 1914, he was tried and convicted for fraud in absentia.

If Henri was ever caught, he would face four years of hard labor, followed by exile on the French Pacific Island of New Caledonia. But Henri didn't plan on being caught. In fact, he was already working on his next crime. Henri wanted to replicate the scheme that saw him swindle 10,000 francs from the widow, Jean Isouret, years earlier. But he wanted to be more careful this time.

He knew if he kept his greed in check, he could use the same idea on several unsuspecting women. In the winter of 1913, Henri started taking out adverts in the Lonely Heart section of various newspapers, under the name Monsieur Ramon Dior. He described himself as a successful businessman and widow who was looking for a wife. Soon Henri got a response. Jen Couchet was a 38-year-old widow who wanted stability for herself and her 16-year-old son, Andre.

At first, Jen worried she wasn't wealthy enough to meet Raymond D.R. standards. As a seamstress, she only had the savings her husband left her. But after meeting in person, Henri insisted that money didn't matter. It seems that Henri was so attracted to Zhen, he was happy to take her as a partner, rich or poor. The pair were engaged soon after. Jen was impressed by Henri, who claimed to be a talented engineer. Excited that she'd met such an illustrious man, Jeanne introduced Henri to her sister, Filomena. Like always, he turned on his infamous charm with grandiose lies about his own success.

But for some reason, Filomena had misgivings about Henri. and saw right through his overly polite manner. She could sense he wasn't genuine. Filomena's husband also became suspicious when Henri mentioned he'd performed his military service in Indo-China. Having served there himself, he asked a few questions that are re-answered incorrectly before changing the subject.

After the encounter, Philomena begged her sister to be cautious, but Jen was steadfast. It's unclear if she loved Henri or if she simply saw him as her ticket to a subject. stable life. Whatever the reason, she wasn't willing to give up on the engagement so quickly. Of course, Jen didn't know Henri was on the run from the police. So when he suggested they move out of Paris into the small village of La Chussie, she believed it was a romantic gesture.

They rented a small villa and pretended to be married so they wouldn't cause a scandal. Henri was adamant about keeping their privacy, claiming it was one of the reasons he wanted to move to the country in the first place. While Jeanne stayed at the villa and her son André stayed in Paris with friends. Henri traveled for days at a time. Jen thought it was for business, but really he was spending time with Marie-Katrine at his children. He disappeared for weeks, busy with his double life. After a few months of this arrangement, Jeanne began to feel suspicious of her fiancé.

She got the feeling he wasn't where he claimed to be. In August of 1914, Jeanne went with Henri on one of his trips to Paris. But shortly after they arrived in the city, Henri went off and disappeared without warning. Anoyed, Jeanne enlisted her brother-in-law to help her investigate. They decided to travel back to the villa in La Choucci to see if Henri was there. But he was nowhere to be found. Frustrated, Jeanne snooped through some of Henri's things. She opened a small chest and a sense of shock and dread set in.

The chest contained papers with Henri's real name, plus evidence of his real family. Other documents like blank identity papers and contract templates suggested that he was involved in some sort of criminal activity. Horrified, Jeanne and her brother-in-law told her sister the news. Philemena, having always felt there was something off about her sister's fiancé, was happy to help Jen get to the bottom of Henri's betrayal. After some digging, they discovered that Henri was on the run from the police. Jen promised her sister and son that she would never see him again. However, Jeanne wasn't as resolute as she made out. She was poor and alone, not to mention World War I had just started.

She sensed that life in Paris would soon become difficult for a working-class widow like herself. Within a month, Jeanne had made up with Henri accepted his real name, family, and criminal lifestyle. Henri assured Jen of his feelings for her and claimed that he would soon divorce his wife. The pair moved from La Choucée to a town called Bernouillet. And into a dingy house, they called the lodge. It was small and run down, but Jen was happy to be out of Paris while the war escalated. However, Jeanne's son Andre hated the lodge. He wanted to be on the front lines of the war, fighting alongside his older friends.

He wrote to them constantly, telling them he couldn't wait to turn 18 and enlist. His last letter sent at the end of January of 1915 was full of enthusiasm at hope. And then, silence. After the first month of 1915, nobody heard from Jen or Andre Coucher again, and Henri didn't offer much explanation, though he later claimed that the mother and son had gone to England. Even Philomena assumed her sister was alive for a while. Perhaps she was simply ignoring her for suggesting she leave Henri.

That said, Henri never reported Jen and Andre missing, and there appeared to be no evidence that. that the two were dead. It seemed Henri had pulled off his con after all. Coming up, Henri casts a wide net and claims more victims. Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued, ask your doctor about Zepbound, terse appetite, the first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity,

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Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection only at Sephora. Now back to the story. After years of defrauding businessmen, Henri Desiree Landreux, lied about his identity and proposed marriage to 39-year-old seamstress, Jen Coucher, inviting her to start a new life with him. and by February of 1915, Jeanne and her teenage son André had vanished from Henri's home. If the disappearance bothered Henri, he didn't show it. He returned to business as usual, moving around to avoid police detection. Henri also returned to the Parisian newspapers,

planting more fake adverts in the lonely heart section to attract wealthy women. This time, he described himself as, age 45, single with no family, Savings of 4,000 francs, having owned home, wishes to marry a lady of similar age and situation. Thanks to World War I, there was no shortage of single women and lonely widows. Women were desperate to find men who could financially and emotionally support them through the turmoil, and Henri knew he could play that part. Several women responded to Henri's ads. Thrilled by this initial success, he created a case file for every response.

He also bought a small black notebook in which he took careful notes. As far as we can tell, his usual routine went like this. After making contact through the newspaper ad, Henri would meet the interested women to discuss marriage. He'd judge their looks, their family, and most importantly, their finances. Though he'd chosen Jean Coucher, despite her meager savings, his notes suggested that he didn't want to make that mistake again. He scratched out names of women who didn't meet his financial excellence. expectations. After their first meeting at a cafe or bar where he greeted them with flowers, Henri would write descriptions of the women. They were often rude and superficial.

He wrote that one woman was vulgar with a grating voice. Another had intolerable sinuses, and a third got her loot and furniture on the death of her old man. These notes were essential for Henri to keep track of his plots. By the spring of 1915, he was meeting as many as seven women a day. He couldn't afford to slip up or he'd get tossed back into prison. By the end of spring, Henri had proposed to at least two women. He told them his name was Georges Framier or Georges Petit and that he was a successful manufacturer or industrialist. To one woman, he pretended to be an undercover agent fighting German enemies. Despite Henri's notes, which explicitly dismissed women who were too poor, he seemed to bend his own rules.

sometimes, he entertained a few partners with finances similar or worse than Jeanne Coucher's. On several occasions, he even lost money because he paid off a woman's dead or rented her a room. For someone so carefully prepared, Henri seemed to easily lose sight of the very purpose of his scheme, financial gain. But it's unlikely he was doing these favors for love. It's highly probable that Henri was somewhat addicted to his own con. Although he wanted to make money, he got a rush from tricking women. He liked inventing various personas for himself. Often he played the successful businessman or inventor

that he had failed to become. A 2005 article published in Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law explains that pathological lying is often an escape into a self-made fantasy. Henri loved the false narratives he laid out for his girlfriends, so much so that he likely couldn't resist keeping up the con long after it stopped being profitable. In late June of 1915, 46-year-old Therese-Laborne followed Henri to the lodge for a romantic getaway.

Henri bought a return ticket for himself, but for Therese, he bought a one-way ticket. At the country house, Teres wrote to a friend that she was about to be happily married, but after this, all of her correspondence stopped. Just like Jean Coucher before her, Tere's was never seen again. Even though Terey's was the third person to vanish from the lodge,

none of Henri's neighbors noticed anything alarming about his behavior. He could be standoffish and private. Plus, smoke from his fires constantly wafted into the streets, but there was nothing to suggest he was dangerous. It's unclear if Henri had killed Jen and Andre Couchet in a fit of passion or as part of a plan, but with Terez, things were different. It seems her murder. had been calculated. Henri had been hunting. Henri returned to Paris after Therese disappeared.

He likely bounced around Barry's apartments to say hello to his real family, then his several faux-fiances. Only a few weeks after Teres went missing, Henri invited Marie Angelique Guillaen to the lodge. The 52-year-old widow was uneducated, and Henri found her homely. But she had inherited it a decent sum from a wealthy engineer she had had an affair with. What's more, Marie Angelique told her children that she was moving to Australia with her new beau, though she never made it that far. Once they got to the country home, Henri forbade Marie Angelique from going into a specific locked room. It was a strange request, but Henri was adamant.

He told her he wanted to be able to trust her, so she agreed. But just like Bluebeard's wife in the fair, fairy tale, the bride-to-be couldn't contain her curiosity. One day when she thought Henri was out of the house, Marie Angelique looked through the keyhole. Inside, she didn't see a horrible collection of bodies, but what she did see was still puzzling. Women's clothes and other items were strewn across the room. Before Marie Angelique could get a better look, Henri was at her side, full of rage and demanding to know what she was doing. For a moment, the woman thought her fiancé was going to hit her. But Henri quickly composed himself, transforming back into the gentleman she knew.

Henri explained that the clothes belonged to his late mother. He claimed he saved her belongings as a tribute and couldn't bear to throw them away. Marie Angelique seemed to accept this story, at least enough to carry on with the relationship, but still, Henri decided that she had seen too much. A month later, in August of 1915, Henri invited Marie Angelique back to her. for another stay at the lodge. He bought himself a return ticket from Paris, but Marie Angelique's was one way.

Marie Angelique was never seen again. A few weeks after Marie Angelique disappeared, Henri ended his lease at the lodge. Perhaps his neighbors had started to complain about the smoke coming from his chimney. Henri didn't like raising eyebrows. Besides, Henri wanted a more private country home. Within a few months, he found a run-down cabin in Gambi,

called Vila Trique. He signed the lease in December of 1915 under a false name. After several weeks, Henri brought Bertha Hain, another of his fiancée's, to the new home. He'd already had her sell all of her items and say goodbye to her friends, making her believe they would move to Tunisia where he had business. Just like the other women Henri brought to his home, Berta vanished, but hers would be the last known disappearance for several months. Though Berta was the fourth person to vanish while spending time with Henri, none of them

were reported missing. At the time, letter writing was the main form of communication, so it was difficult to check up on those who didn't live nearby. Plus, in the chaos of World War I, people were constantly moving around. When neighbors or friends fell out of touch, it was rarely caused for serious concern. However, while Henri escaped suspicion from his victims' friends and families, his new town of Gambi proved to be more difficult to hide in. Neighbors constantly gossiped about Henri, who they knew as Monsieur DuPont and as many women.

It seemed like he had a new companion every time he arrived from Paris. Plus, he was secretive and never told anyone what he was up to, beyond that he was an automobile salesman. Rumors began to circulate. Some of the town's residents speculated that Henri was a German spy. Wartime paranoia was rife, so neighbors kept a particularly. close eye on the private, standoffish gentleman. One evening, in the spring of 1916, a cyclist rode by Henri's house.

He noticed a large gray tradesman's vehicle idling outside Henri's gates. But that wasn't the only unusual thing about the house that night. There was a horrible smell, and it was easy to tell where it was coming from. Foul white smoke poured out of the chimney. The cyclist moved on, but he couldn't get the odor out of his head. Less than an hour later, the cyclist had a flat tire and stopped to repair it in the forest outside of town. There, he saw the same gray van approach. He watched a man get out of the driver's seat and grab a heavy package from the back.

He dragged it to a nearby pond and dropped it in. The cyclist assumed that the man was a poacher who wanted to hide his hall, so he didn't report what he saw at the time. Later that same night, a local woman was walking in the same area of the forest and spotted a man digging. a hole. She stopped to see what he was doing, but the man glared at her so intensely, she hurried home. To be clear, the source of the smell coming from Henri's fireplace was never determined, nor was the true identity of the man seen in the woods. However, lawyers and criminologists later speculated that Henri was discarding bodies or other evidence that night.

For some reason, there was a brief pause in the disappearances. After Berta vanished in December of 1915, the rest of Henri's fiancée's and girlfriends remained safely in Paris. Or if they did visit Villatriek, they all made it home again safely. But for the most part, Henri corresponded with his married of women through letter writing, since he was frequently on the move. It was also likely that Henri was getting paranoid about the police catching up with him. At some point in early 1915, he moved Marie-Catrine and his children to a new city where they lived under false names. Some of Henri's girlfriends accepted his travel excuses, but Anna Colombe, a 39-year-old insurance

company typist with significant savings, was growing frustrated with her fiancée's distance. She wrote to him constantly and grew angry if he didn't respond within a few days. For a while, Henri tolerated Anna, but in December of 1916, he decided he'd had enough. He bought her a one-way ticket to Vila Treak, a trip from which she knew. never returned. By now, five people had vanished while under Henri's roof. And while he was likely getting some cash out of these disappearances, it seemed he stopped focusing on financial gain. We can assume this because he started picking up sex workers and poor women who had nothing he could steal. In March of 1917, 47-year-old Henri saw Andre Babelais sitting alone outside of a metro

station. She was young and didn't look like she had any money to offer. And yet, he approached her with the charm that had won him so many hearts already. And soon enough, she'd vanished like all the rest. We don't know for sure what first inspired on Rilandrew to lure women to his secluded country houses where they disappeared forever. But by 1917, it seemed he didn't need a reason. He was out for blood. Thanks again for tuning in to Cereal. killers. We'll be back soon with part two of the Blue Beard of Gambi, where we'll uncover more victims and explore one of the most infamous trials in French history. For more information on Henri Desiree Landreux. Amongst the many sources we used, we found Richard Tomlinson's book

Landreux's Secret, the deadly seductions of France's lonely hearts killer, especially helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include

Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Brendan Hawkins, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Joshua Kern. This episode of serial killers was written by Kit Fitzgerald,

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