(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] August 1988.
A killer stalks the
Mourmelon region of France.
Eight young men disappear
in just eight years.
Most are military cadets.
Officials dismiss
the men as deserters.
Family members fight for
the real story to be told.
- I still think we
were cheated all along,
cheated of justice,
robbed of it.
- [Narrator] One
dogged police officer
refuses to let the case go.
(Jean-Marie speaks
in foreign language)
- [Translator] And
I remember very well
saying to my captain,
"We've got our man."
- [Narrator] A small
corner of Northern France
becomes known as the
triangle of death.
What is happening
to the young cadets?
Several different
theories are uncovered.
Different suspects are
identified, tireless
detective work.
Tiny pieces of dirt and hair
lead police to a
shocking conclusion.
And in the end, the case
takes one last startling turn.
(suspenseful music)
(dog barks)
August 8th, 1987.
In a quiet patch of countryside
near the town of
Elancourt, France,
farmer Marcel Launt
takes his dog for a walk.
(dog barks)
It's a daily ritual that today
will have a grisly ending.
- Oh, dear!
- [Narrator] The body
has no wallet, no money,
no clues to his name.
Jacques Bouxin, head of
the violent crime division
of the gendarme, is
assigned to the case.
(Jacques speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] We
found a body with no ID
so we had no idea who he was,
where he was from,
where he was going.
We had nothing.
All we knew was that
this was a young man
whose body showed
traces of violence
and had been buried
in a shallow grave.
So this was murder.
- [Narrator] The first
theory is that this crime
is a petty robbery gone wrong,
(man grunts)
the body quickly buried
to hide the evidence.
The shallow grave is only
five meters from a local road
and just off a major
French highway, the A26.
It is one of the few wooded
bits of land in the area.
The body is taken to the morgue
at the nearby St.
Quentin Hospital.
- We have a young
male, a Caucasian,
in his late teens or early 20s.
We can see the
presence of some worms
in the posterior
of the right ear
indicating the body was likely
buried four to five days ago.
- [Narrator] The body was
buried in early August.
It's not badly decayed,
which helps to discover
how the victim died.
- We can see a horizontal
rounded strangulation groove,
less than a centimeter wide.
(Jacques speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] The
strangulation marks
were perfectly visible.
It was clearly a violent death,
but we still didn't understand
why he was killed or by whom.
- [Narrator] Immediately,
suspicion falls on a gang
that is targeting hitchhikers
in the north of France.
- [Translator] We
had information about
a gang of thieves,
who they were, where they lived.
We requested a search warrant
then raided their houses,
but we learned quickly
that they had nothing
to do with the case.
- [Narrator] The gang members
are thieves but not killers.
Their alibis are solid.
The investigation moves on.
The question is why are
there no signs of struggle.
There is no damage to
the internal organs,
no other marks to the face,
no wounds on the head.
How could the victim have been
killed without fighting back?
- There was a small bruise,
roughly two centimeters
wide on the right arm.
- [Narrator] Strange small
wounds on each arm could explain
why there were no other
injuries on the body.
- [Translator] At this
point, we realized
the victim had bruising
on the arms and wrists,
and this bruising would be
consistent with being tied up.
- [Narrator] The marks
lead to a second theory.
This wasn't an accidental
death during a robbery
but a premeditated crime.
The victim was bound
first, then strangled.
- [Translator]
Identification of the body
was of the utmost importance.
Without a name, a
case such as this
is like looking for a
needle in a haystack.
- [Narrator] Who was this man?
Where was he going?
Answers to these questions
will help find the killer.
Dental records are a vital tool
in helping identify
unknown victims.
In this case, police find
one tooth is missing.
Another is split in two.
None of it was caused
during the murder.
In the end, a small business
card found near the body
helps point police in
the right direction.
It leads them to Eroline
O'Keefe in Ireland.
- My daughter got a telephone
call in her work in London
to say that was
her boss missing.
It was her boss's business card
had been found in
France in a field,
and the police was checking
to see was her boss okay.
And she said, "Yes, he
is, he's at a meeting."
And they told her a body
had been found in France
and her boss's business
card was on it.
And she said,
"That's my brother."
- [Narrator] The body is
identified as Trevor O'Keefe,
an Irishman who was touring
the north of France.
He was three months short
of his 20th birthday.
- We got there
half ten at night,
pouring rain, wintertime.
And we went in and we asked
the police to show us the body.
And we identified who we were
by passports and whatever,
and they showed us Trevor's
runners and his watch,
and they showed
us the photographs
where they took Trevor out
of the ground by stages.
But it was Trevor.
- [Narrator] O'Keefe was
staying with his friends
in the city of Poligny.
On August 3rd, five days
before his body was found,
he told his friends he was
going to hitchhike to Calais.
The route he was going to take
would have brought him
right by St. Quentin.
Bouxin quickly developed a
dark theory of what happened
and calls in some help.
Captain Joel
Vaillant is the head
of the special investigations
unit of the gendarmerie.
His mandate is to modernize
the techniques of the gendarme,
the police who patrol
the French countryside.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] In 1988, we're
just at the beginning of DNA.
The technology that they
were beginning to use
in the United States
was not really being
used yet in Europe.
- [Narrator] Vaillant
is investigating
another gruesome crime,
one startlingly similar
to the O'Keefe case.
Five years earlier, the body
of Olivier Donner was found.
He was buried in a wooded
area near Mailly-le-Camp.
It's just 130 kilometers from
where Trevor O'Keefe is found.
Donner had been buried
for more than a month
when he was found.
Decomposition had set in.
The head was little more
than teeth and bones.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] It was obvious
from Donner's condition,
how he was found
that this could be nothing
but a criminal attack.
Because his head was infested
with worms and insects,
there had been a lot
of blood trapped there,
so he died by other
smothering or strangulation,
one or the other.
So now, we have a
connection with O'Keefe.
It reinforces our belief
that O'Keefe's death
was a criminal case too.
- [Narrator] If there is a
killer stalking Northern France,
Vaillant believes it's
only a matter of time
before he strikes again.
September 1987, weeks pass
without another murder,
but Captain Joel Vaillant fears
it is only a matter of time
until another body is found
buried in the woods of France.
Then a killer is caught
in Martigny, Switzerland.
Michel Peiry has kidnapped,
raped and murdered
four young hitchhikers,
including one in
Southern France.
- [Detective] So
tell me a bit more
about your story, please.
- Yes.
I was looking for
attractive people.
- [Narrator] He's Swiss,
but it's just a few hundred
kilometers from the Swiss border
to where O'Keefe and
Donner were killed.
Vaillant rushes to Martigny to
watch Peiry's interrogation.
It's a chilling encounter.
- I was ready every time
I picked someone up.
(mumbles) I took them
to a nice little place
and I kill them.
- [Detective] How?
- [Narrator] O'Keefe was
buried in a shallow grave.
So was Donner.
But all of Peiry's victims were
savagely beaten then burned.
Peiry's alibi for early
August is also airtight.
He's clearly not the killer
that Vaillant was looking for.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] What's intriguing
is when he's questioned,
he's asked, "Why did
you kill your victims?"
And his answer is, "I
didn't have any choice.
"I didn't want to get caught."
So faced with his mindset,
we're really up against a
serial killer, a sexual pervert.
Based on Peiry's logic,
our killer has no choice.
He has to kill.
In one year, we have two
murders, Donner and O'Keefe.
And after Peiry's interrogation,
I knew I was dealing
with a similar profile.
- [Narrator] Vaillant is
more convinced than ever
that the murders
of Trevor O'Keefe
and Olivier Donner are linked.
And he thinks the trail
of bodies is even longer.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] It's at
this moment I find out
other young men
have gone missing,
young men who were
in the military,
who were considered deserters.
I asked that we reopened
all these cases,
all of these men we call the
disappeared of Mourmelon.
I never wanted to
call them deserters
because it has an implication,
a legal meaning
for the families.
Desertion is a voluntary
act of leaving the army.
Did these young men
leave voluntarily?
Are they deserters?
Or did they disappear in much
more sinister circumstances?
- [Narrator] Patrick Dubois,
Serge Havet, Manuel Carvalho,
Pascal Sergeant, Patrick Gache,
all are young military
cadets, all were hitchhiking.
And since January of 1980,
they've all disappeared.
Four of the five were stationed
at the military
base in Mourmelon.
The fifth was at the nearby
base in Mailly-le-Camp.
Except for Olivier Donner,
none of those who have gone
missing have been found.
There are no bodies,
no evidence of a crime.
The cadets are all part
of France's compulsory
military service.
At the time, every
18-year-old Frenchman
had to serve 12 months
in the military.
Most upper class
teenagers find a way out,
but lower class young men
found themselves in
bases like Mourmelon.
(Gerard speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] The army was
pathetic from beginning to end.
They didn't want to hear
about disappearances.
They called the men deserters.
They never spoke
with the families.
The army dismissed
them completely.
The army treated
the families badly.
It treated the
justice system badly.
And because these men were poor
and from every corner of France,
they didn't have the resources
to make themselves heard.
- [Narrator] One other young man
also disappears near Mourmelon,
a young rocket enthusiast
who was heading to the
base for a demonstration.
Patrice Denis
disappeared in 1985.
He wasn't in the military,
and his family is not letting
his disappearance be ignored.
(Gil speaks in foreign language)
- [Translator] We spent a
week where he was last seen.
With friends, we beat the
bushes searching the area,
and people there asked me
if I knew there had been
other disappearances,
that cadets were missing.
So then we became very
worried, very concerned.
My parents began to write
letters to everyone,
the Minister of the Interior,
the Minister of Defense
because it was so near
to the base at Mourmelon,
and the battle began.
- [Narrator] To the
relief of the families,
Vaillant pursues his theory
that a serial killer is at work.
He asks French
psychiatrist, Jean-Luc Ploye
to piece together a profile
of who the killer might be.
(Jean-Luc speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] The
theory was that this man
was a military man and
still in the service,
that he had lots of
frustration either before
or during his career and he
was taking out this frustration
through these violent acts.
- [Narrator] Jim Wright, who
would eventually be drawn
into the investigation,
is a profiling expert
who worked with the FBI.
- Serial killers are
driven by fantasy,
and there's really no limit
to what a person's
fantasy can be.
If they fantasize about
a certain type of person,
that may be the type of person
that they're going to target
if they have access to them.
- [Narrator] All of
the victims disappeared
on Thursday or Friday night,
several on the same road.
The families and the media
begin calling this area
the triangle of death.
(Jean-Luc speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] A serial
killer is a predator.
He's going hunting.
He has his weapons
and his locations
where he'll find his prey.
- [Narrator] Like Patrice Denis,
Trevor O'Keefe was
not in the military,
but he has a similar
build and is a similar age
to all the cadets
who disappeared.
He also vanishes near
one of the bases.
Trevor O'Keefe is added
to the list of victims.
- So guys, we're going
to concentrate our search
around the Mourmelon.
It's right there, okay?
What we know is that apparently,
the victims disappeared on
the same road, which is--
- [Narrator] The gendarme
begin looking for suspects
who fit the early profile
they've assembled.
With such a strong link
to local military bases,
Vaillant begins
his search there.
More than 2,000 people
near the base at
Mourmelon are questioned.
Hitchhikers are sought out too.
The profile suggests
that the killer is sexually
attracted to his victims,
that he is choosing them
based on their looks.
But the only bodies
that had been found,
Donner and O'Keefe, show
no signs of sexual assault.
- What is sexually
gratifying to a serial killer
is not defined the way
you and I as normal people
would define sexual
gratification and
sexual pleasure.
One strong driving
force of a serial killer
is a need to exercise
control over people.
And when you think about it,
the ultimate control that
you have over somebody
is the control over
whether they live or die.
- [Narrator] Then
in December 1987,
evidence points
the investigation
in quite a different direction.
(Jacques speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] Things
began moving very quickly
when they found Trevor
O'Keefe's knapsack
in the area around Lake Der.
It's not far from Mourmelon.
And that knapsack is
the link, a strong link
between O'Keefe and the other
young men who had disappeared.
And when you look at the
young Irishman's physique,
you realize how much he
resembles a military cadet.
- [Narrator] Police
show pictures of O'Keefe
to people in towns nearby.
Was O'Keefe driven
through these towns
on the last day of his life?
Police investigate
Jean-Pierre McNab,
a local man who had recently
separated from his wife.
- [Translator] One of
the theories we worked on
was to confirm the story
of a woman who told us
her husband had left the
marital home for Poligny.
We knew that Trevor
O'Keefe was in Poligny.
With both of them
there in early August,
we had to check to see if
the two had crossed paths.
- [Narrator] Before
he left his house,
McNab had threatened his wife.
When the gendarme
tracked him down,
a cord was found in his car
that he could not explain.
Blood is also found
on McNab's shirt,
blood that is the same type
as that of Trevor O'Keefe.
McNab is not in the military,
and there's no history
of sexual violence.
He certainly doesn't
fit the profile
the psychiatrists
have put together.
It leads to a new theory.
Perhaps McNab,
angry and desperate
over the failure of his
relationship, snapped.
Perhaps O'Keefe was the
victim of a random act of fury
and not part of a serial
killer's deadly rampage.
But the theory doesn't
hold up for long.
McNab is eventually cleared.
An innocent explanation is found
for the blood on his shirt.
The investigation stalls.
Then by the side of a highway,
a young hitchhiker
accepts a ride.
It will be the most
terrifying trip of his life.
August 9th, 1988.
It's been a year
since the discovery of
Trevor O'Keefe's body.
There are no new leads,
just dread that the
killer will strike again.
But in the town of Macon,
gendarme Andre Jeunet
is about to make a discovery
that will blow the
case wide open.
(Andre speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] That day, I
was with a young gendarme,
just on a regular patrol.
And at one point,
I saw a camper van
and I said to the young guy,
"Let's see what's going on."
At that time of day and
in that stretch of road,
a camper van just
seemed strange.
(suspenseful music)
- Good evening, officers.
- Good evening, sir.
May I see your papers, please?
- I'm in the family as well.
I'm military too.
- [Officer] Your papers?
- Yes.
Yes, certainly.
It's...
- Your name.
- Chanal, Pierre.
- Date of birth.
- [Pierre] It is
November 1946 (mumbles).
- [Officer] Profession?
- (mumbles) in Fontainebleau.
- Driver's license, please.
- [Pierre] It's in the back.
I have to get it, okay?
Just a moment.
(Andre speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] I saw someone
in the back stretched out.
I didn't know if these guys
had knocked over a house
and were just trying to lay low.
- [Officer] What's wrong there?
Who's that man?
Get him out of the car.
- It's just a
hitchhiker I picked up.
I mean, he was sleeping.
- Get out of the car.
- He was sleeping, it's okay.
- Get out!
- Okay, I'm coming.
- [Officer] Untie him right now.
- [Narrator] The hitchhiker
is Palazs Falvay,
a young Hungarian who is
touring Northern France.
- Listen, we're both military.
I was just having sex with him.
I mean--
- [Narrator] And he's terrified.
- Help me.
He's trying to kill me.
Help.
- Chef, chef!
- [Palazs] I was in the van.
- [Narrator] Pierre
Chanal insists
that this is nothing more
than a lovers' tryst.
- No, he said he was okay.
He agreed, really.
- [Narrator] Chanal says
he and Falvay are both gay
and enjoy rough sex.
The gendarme have caught
them at an awkward moment.
- Help me.
- [Narrator] Falvay choked
out a very different story.
He says he was picked up by
Chanal on the side of the road.
Chanal overpowered
him and tied him up.
He says he is convinced that
Chanal is going to kill him.
- No, it's okay.
It was, we were just playing.
- [Narrator] The gendarme
aren't taking chances.
- Everybody back to the station.
(Andre speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] So when
I had a look at his ID,
I realized that he'd
been in Mourmelon
and the dates were the same
as when the young
men disappeared.
And with what Falvay said,
I decided to take everyone
back to the station.
- [Narrator] Chanal
is a career member
of the French military.
He has seen combat in Lebanon
and has received four medals
for bravery and service.
Fellow soldiers describe
him as a warrior,
an incredibly fit man of steel.
(Andre speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] He should
have been an officer.
All of his evaluations
would lead you to believe
he should be an officer.
That was the career
path he was on.
- [Narrator] The gendarme
who arrests Chanal
immediately call
Captain Joel Vaillant.
The fact that Falvay was
a hitchhiker and was bound
is too similar to the
O'Keefe case to be ignored.
Vaillant sends his
second in command,
Jean-Marie Tarbes,
to investigate.
- [Translator] The
first interrogation
lasted from three to
six in the morning.
Right off the bat,
I felt something.
I had a gut feeling.
It was something
small but important.
I knew that we had to follow up.
I knew I had to convince
Captain Vaillant.
This man shouldn't be let go.
- At ease.
I am Tarbes
from the special
investigation unit in Reims.
I want to talk to you about
the cadets in Mourmelon.
- I had nothing to do with that.
- But you've heard
about them, haven't you?
- That has nothing
to do with me.
- I see.
Let's talk about Mourmelon.
- Yes, I was an
instructor there so--
- [Translator] I found him
fairly sure of himself,
confident, and yet, at
the same time, defensive,
very defensive.
It didn't add up.
It was small things, the
way he answered a question,
the occasional facial tick,
the way his eyes
opened and closed.
He was hiding something.
- [Narrator] The interview
continues till dawn.
Whenever the conversation
turns to Trevor O'Keefe
or the missing cadets,
Chanal denies any involvement
but becomes defensive and angry.
Tarbes is deeply suspicious.
(Jean-Marie speaks
in foreign language)
- [Translator] And
I remember very well
saying to my captain,
"We've got our man."
So we had to continue the
investigation, reopen it,
find out his background.
Who was this Pierre Chanal?
- [Narrator] The
first thing police do
is to closely examine
Chanal's camper van.
For two days, forensic
experts comb the vehicle
for any clues that might
tie Chanal to the death
of Trevor O'Keefe or the
missing military cadets.
In 1988, forensic science
is still gaining acceptance
in France, but Loic Le
Ribault is a believer.
He runs the top private
forensics lab in the country.
(Loic speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] I didn't
know what I was looking for.
Going through a car
is a lot of work.
This camper van was even worse.
It was absolutely full of stuff.
So the first thing we did was
take everything out of it,
the sheets and the blankets.
Then I examined it with a laser
to see if I could
find blood or sperm.
We vacuumed the entire interior.
And of course, everything
we took was put under seal.
All the evidence was
put in plastic bags
which we sealed with red wax
and had a tag
describing the contents.
- [Narrator] There is other
more obvious evidence.
Several vibrators are
found, an artificial vagina.
In all, 70 separate items
are taken into evidence
including ropes, chains, straps
and 32 pairs of men's underwear.
(Loic speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] I remember that
we found a lot of underwear
and one pair in
particular was English.
It had a Marks & Spencers label
and it was too small for Chanal.
- [Narrator] The underwear
leads to the latest theory,
that Trevor O'Keefe
was killed by Chanal
and the Irish teenager
wasn't the only one.
Chanal is forced to watch
as the search of
his van continues.
A large foam mattress is removed
from the back of the van.
The mattress is filthy,
covered with hair.
The sheets are
soiled with semen.
(Jean-Marie speaks
in foreign language)
- [Translator] It was
really his second home.
He lived in his van.
This was the most
important piece of evidence
we had to investigate.
- [Narrator] Chanal continues
to declare his innocence.
Somewhere in the items
collected from his van
is the forensic evidence
that will help clear his name
or seal his fate.
It's been a year since
the body of Trevor O'Keefe
was found in a farmer's
field in Northern France.
The hunt for his killer
has led investigators
to the cramped room
of a military trainer.
Gendarmes search Pierre
Chanal's barracks
for proof that might connect
him to O'Keefe's murder
and that of several
other young men.
The room is spare, unadorned.
It lacks even the most
basic personal touch.
(Andre speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] He
was isolated, alone,
a man who has no personal life.
One feels like this was a man
who wanted no
contact with others.
He was completely
solitary, without question.
And in the context of the
army, this was unusual.
(tense music)
- Chef.
Chef, take a look.
- [Narrator] Sophisticated
video equipment is found.
- Chef, look, camera.
- Photo.
- [Narrator] Along with
some pornographic videos.
- [Officer] Chef.
(Jean-Luc speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] In the original
profile which I assembled
in 1985, I told Captain
Vaillant that this killer
would be gay and in the
military, a career member
who was looking for victims
he could find easily.
- [Narrator] One
of the home movies
taken from Chanal's apartment
shows soldiers on maneuvers.
Chanal says he shot
the footage in Verdun
during the first week of August.
It proves he could not
have killed Trevor O'Keefe.
But police discovered that
the soldiers in the video
are from a battalion
that didn't go to Verdun
until the 10th of August.
When confronted with the
lie, Chanal changes his story
and says he was at his
base in Fontainebleau
when O'Keefe was killed.
An empty checkbook found
in Chanal's apartment
cast doubts on that story too.
March 17th, 1989.
It's been half a year since
the arrest of Pierre Chanal
in the Palazs Falvay case.
Captain Joel Vaillant
and Jean-Marie Tarbes
had been carefully
poring over the evidence
that would tie him
to the other cases.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] While the
investigation was continuing,
we began to prepare our
interrogation of Chanal.
(Jean-Marie speaks
in foreign language)
- [Translator] We
prepared 611 questions
for his interrogation.
We divided them into subjects,
but then we mixed them up.
We wanted to see
if he would be able to
keep his story straight.
- [Narrator] It was
time to confront Chanal
about the triangle of death.
- There have been a
number of disappearances
in Mourmelon area
between 1980 and 1987,
August the 7th, the 20th, 1981,
September the 30th, 1982.
- It's impossible to say
where I was on those dates.
- [Officer] August
the 23rd, 1985.
- It's impossible to say
where I was on those dates.
- April the 20th, 1987,
- It's impossible to say where
I was on those precise dates.
- [Officer] Listen, Chanal.
Here is your
signature on documents
showing that you were
on base on those days.
This is your signature.
Right, Mr. Chanal?
- Yes.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] When we asked
him very specific questions,
when we backed him
into a corner, his
facial ticks acted up.
He began to get very angry
and threw himself
down on the floor.
Then he would shut
down completely.
- One shouldn't be
really surprised
when sitting down and
talking with these people
to see a mixture of emotions.
And it may not relate so much
to what's being said
in the interview
as it is to what's going
on in their own minds,
and those emotions
are going to seep out.
- [Narrator] Vaillant plays
one of the homemade videotapes
discovered during the raid
of Chanal's apartment.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] I
put this tape in,
and on it, Chanal
is exposing himself.
Right away, the ticks
began and the sniffing,
and he has this
extraordinary reaction.
- You made this
tape, didn't you?
With fancy music playing
in the background.
It's quite something, no?
Take a look at this!
Guards!
- Come on, kill me!
- Calm down!
- [Pierre] You're a sadist!
You're a sadist!
- You calm down!
It's an order!
You calm down and
keep quiet, okay?
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] We
had to restrain him,
and after that, he
refused to talk.
I kept talking to him,
but it was a monologue.
- Mr. Chanal, (mumbles).
We are brothers in
the military, right?
So just call me.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] So I
said that the person
who did these things couldn't
keep it to themselves forever.
- No one can keep such
a terrible secret.
- [Translator] And such
a person would need help.
This person wasn't a criminal.
They were sick.
- Let me help you.
- [Translator] I felt
he was very receptive.
- Yes, Captain.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] At
11:30 that night,
we get back to the holding
cell and he's confused, dazed.
He came back towards me.
He didn't know where he was.
And at that moment, there was
something, an understanding.
But according to French law,
I could not question
him further.
If I could have, I am sure I
could have gotten him to talk.
- [Narrator] October 23rd, 1990.
Pierre Chanal has been in
custody for a year and a half.
Finally, he comes to
trial for the kidnapping
of the Hungarian
hitchhiker, Palazs Falvay.
Armed with a damning
videotape that Chanal
took of himself with Falvay
and the testimony of
the young hitchhiker,
Chanal is sentenced
to 10 years in jail.
Joel Vaillant has failed
to get his confession,
but he's confident
he can build his case
with Chanal behind bars.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] When
Chanal was tried
for the crimes against Falvay,
we told ourselves we had
the time to dig into this,
to really find the
proof we needed,
the concrete proof that
he was also involved
in the other crimes.
(Gerard speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] When he
was charged with Falvay,
it was as clear as
the nose on your face
he was guilty of everything.
The families were impatient
to have him charged
with the disappearances
of their children.
- [Narrator] In fact, an
already troubled story
was just about to
get much worse.
June 19th, 1995.
Pierre Chanal walks out
of prison a free man.
He has been a model prisoner.
With time off for good behavior,
he has served just five
years of a 10-year sentence
for kidnapping and assault.
While Chanal is in prison,
little progress is made
on any of the evidence
gathered from his van.
Procedural delays
and legal wrangling
have stalled the investigation.
The man some suspect of
being a brutal serial killer
responsible for the deaths
of at least eight young men
faces no new charges.
(Jean-Marie speaks
in foreign language)
- [Translator] We
just didn't have
all the evidence together.
We were still talking to experts
and public opinion was
turning against us.
We were attacked
for being too slow.
- [Narrator] The families of
the men who have disappeared
throughout Northern
France are appalled.
- [Translator] For my
parents, it was a scandal,
a complete injustice.
- We felt let down
by the system again.
Judge Charles Marien sat
at a table very near to me
and he promised me,
he said he promised he
would not release Chanal.
He said Chanal will do 10
years in prison, but he didn't.
- [Narrator] Chanal is out of
jail but watched carefully.
Under intense pressure, Chanal
maintains his innocence.
He calls a local radio
station to plead his case.
- [Translator] In
spite of my innocence,
I know that I'll
be found guilty.
And if that happens,
I'll end my life.
(Gil speaks in foreign language)
- [Translator] I think he
tried to turn the tables,
reverse the roles.
The families were the aggressors
and he held himself
up as a victim.
He wanted it to seem
as if the entire system
had turned against him.
- [Narrator] With pressure
from the families growing,
a new judge is appointed
to the Chanal case,
Pascal Chapart, his main focus,
the forensic evidence
gathered from Chanal's van.
For years, it has been
stored in a dusty attic.
The new judge demands that
it all gets sent to him.
(Jean-Marie speaks
in foreign language)
- [Translator] Pascal
Chapart for me,
quite apart from the fact that
he became a very good friend,
he's the man who
reopened this case.
- We went to see
Chapart (mumbles)
and he said, "I will not leave
this case until it moves.
"I promise you," he
said, "I won't leave."
- [Narrator] In spite
of his determination,
progress is slow.
The crimes occurred in several
different jurisdictions.
Jean-Marie Tarbes
reexamines the evidence
taken from Chanal's van.
He finds several hundred pieces
of hair and other evidence
that had been collected
but never analyzed.
Jean-Paul Moisan is called in
to examine the new evidence.
(Jean-Paul speaks
in foreign language)
- [Translator] The
sample sent to us
were hair and skin
found in his van.
We examined 457 hairs.
We found some of those
belonged to Chanal,
and we found three kinds
of mitochondrial DNA.
It corresponded to
three of the victims,
Gache, Denis and Falvay.
The possibility of this match
with somebody in the
general population is 0.06%,
which is rare but not
out of the question.
But remember, we found
three different sets of DNA
from three different victims
in a vehicle we suspected
they had been picked up in.
- [Narrator] What might
be another key piece
of forensic evidence
has gone missing.
Lot 19 has disappeared.
(Loic speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] The famous lot 19
was the one which
contained a sample of earth
which came from the shovel
we found in Chanal's van.
And as the case was so
important, I kept my own sample,
saying to myself
this is significant.
- [Narrator] Le Ribault's sample
from the blade of the shovel
is compared with the dirt
found at the shallow
grave of Trevor O'Keefe.
Tiny crystals in the dirt
are unique to the region
and are identical
in both samples.
- [Translator] I know that
the shovel in Chanal's van
was used to dig the grave.
I'm not saying he
was holding it.
What I am saying is
that this is the shovel
that was used to
bury Trevor O'Keefe.
- [Narrator] Police captain
Joel Vaillant wants more.
To build his case, Vaillant
consults an American expert.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] I went to
Quantico, FBI headquarters
and talked to Jim Wright
who gave us his opinion.
- When they came over,
I didn't speak French
and they didn't speak English.
We had a translator,
but there was some times
when we didn't need a translator
because we really knew
what we were saying because
of that common language
and the camaraderie
and the brotherhood.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] From the
information we gave him,
he confirmed that we were
up against a serial killer.
This type of person will
only stop in two ways,
they are arrested, or
they will kill themselves.
- [Narrator] The gendarme
feel that they're closing in.
It will take several more years,
but the case of Pierre Chanal
does finally make it to court.
October 14th, 2003.
16 years after the
body of Trevor O'Keefe
was found in a shallow grave,
the trial of Pierre
Chanal finally begins.
But Chanal was not there to
hear the charges against him.
He is too weak to
attend the trial.
A suicide attempt has
landed him in hospital.
And for the last three
months, he has refused to eat.
- [Translator] The
trial will take place
even though Chanal is
sent to hospital in Reims
because he was on
a hunger strike.
I saw him the day
before the trial began.
He looked like a skeleton.
His physical state
was precarious,
but his mental state was fine.
He was determined.
From the moment I
became his lawyer,
he said he had already
been tried and convicted,
and he vowed he would
never go to trial.
- [Narrator] The
case of Pierre Chanal
is about to take its
final shocking turn.
Pierre Chanal is on trial for
the murder of Trevor O'Keefe
and the disappearance
of two other young men.
The case rests on three
slender pieces of hair
and a pile of dirt.
It's not a lot but
it's the best shot
at putting a suspected
serial killer behind bars.
(Gerard speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] The first
afternoon of the trial,
Chanal refused to be there.
His lawyer was there.
The trial goes forward.
And for us, it was
almost a miracle.
We didn't think the
trial would take place.
And the evening after the
first day, we were euphoric.
Finally, finally, we would
have him in front of us.
And we had heard that he
had started to eat again.
For us, a page had turned.
This was a new chapter.
- [Narrator] The
euphoria is short lived.
The very night his trial begins,
Chanal makes good on
his defiant threat.
He hides the blade
from a disposable razor
in the tape of his IV tube.
He uses it to slice
into his right thigh.
He severs his femoral artery.
Silently, alone in
his hospital bed,
Pierre Chanal bleeds to death.
- [Translator] I shivered.
I said, "You mean
he's really dead?"
And then I realized that
everything was gone.
Everything had melted away.
We had done all of
this for nothing.
Chanal had won.
- Well, we felt
cheated of justice.
We were robbed of justice.
Chanal should be in prison.
He shouldn't be dead.
(Gil speaks in foreign language)
- [Translator] All the
families wanted to know
what had happened
to their children.
So our first reaction
was we'll never know,
and then we were angry.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] It was
a tragic end for him
but it was even more
so for the families.
- [Narrator] The
death of Pierre Chanal
ends the string
of disappearances
that had haunted
Northern France.
The publicity of the trial
also forces military officials
to take one last look
at their records.
In 22004, the names
of two other recruits
who have disappeared turned up.
Both Michel Gianini
and Aldo Tacchini
vanished in the late 1970s.
Both of them were
based in Valdahon,
another camp where
Chanal was an instructor.
The man who stared
Chanal in the face
believes there are
even more bodies.
(Joel speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] In
the back of my mind,
I know there are more victims,
other hitchhikers
who have disappeared,
but we may never know.
- [Narrator] The families
who fought for so long
to get their story heard
do finally win an
important victory.
Until 2002, the French military
still considered the
men deserters, but
in 2005, it relents.
And in court, the families
win a landmark settlement.
(Gerard speaks in
foreign language)
- [Translator] The Paris court
made an incredibly
courageous judgment.
For us, the lawyers,
it restored our faith
in the judicial system.
The court recognized
all of the issues
that we had brought to
their attention, everything.
The court agreed that everyone
we represented was a victim
not only of Pierre Chanal but
also of the justice system.
- [Narrator] The families
of the missing men
received money and recognition.
But after so many years,
bitterness remains.
- [Translator] I
felt satisfaction.
It was the first time
anyone had acknowledged
how badly the families
have been treated,
but also disappointment.
The case may be officially over,
but the for the
families, it goes on.
- [Narrator] The crimes of
Pierre Chanal die with him.
The truth is buried forever.
The families, already
missing sons and brothers,
will never have the
answers they need.
(suspenseful music)
