He made the whole town of Creil (Oise) shudder for seven years, from 1969 to 1976. Nicknamed "the Shadow Killer" for his murders committed late at night or early in the morning, Marcel Barbeault is still being held.
Just 40 years ago, his exceptional trial began before the Beauvais Assize Court, where he was tried for five of the eight murders - seven women and one man - with which he was charged.
A two-week hearing, during which 75 witnesses and 17 experts took the stand.
A time nicknamed the "Crazy rifle killer" in reference to the 22 long rifle bullets found in the heads of his eight victims, or "the maniac", Marcel Henri Barbeault was arrested on December 14, 1976 after a gigantic investigation, " suspense à la Hitchcock, ”the newspapers wrote at the time.
Without today's technological means, 50 investigators and 250 gendarmes looked into the case, leading hearings with 1,000 people. After the assassination of Julia Gonçalves, in November 1975, they visited ... 4,800 apartments in Nogent-sur-Oise. But it will be the colossal work of a young inspector, Daniel Neveu, and the clues left by Barbeault, father of two children, married, worker in a chemical factory in Rantigny, to put an end to these murders committed in an area of two kilometers square between Nogent-sur-Oise and Laigneville.
Acting in dark corners, sometimes in the homes of his victims, the Shadow Killer left very few witnesses to see his physique described as "colossal": 1.85 meters and nearly 100 kilograms at the time of his arrest in 1976. All the more so as his crimes often took place between autumn and winter, when the light was at its lowest.
"A man with an oilskin and a fisherman's hat, tall, dark, and young."
With cat eyes, ”repeated Micheline Mérienne, daughter of one of the victims.
She had managed to escape him while he killed her mother, Suzanne, on November 16, 1969.
A three-year "break" before starting to kill again
But the investigators did not make any links, at first, between all the victims, who were nevertheless found stripped in the same way.
After a three-year “break” in his series of murders, the killer also changes his rifle brand, which will disturb the ballistic experts, the only scientists, along with the forensic experts, who can help the investigators.
In 1976, Le Parisien published the robot portrait of the “shadow killer”.
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The cross-checking of his absences at the family home as at the factory, the anonymous denunciation, the issuance of a composite portrait, his criminal record as an informed thief and especially the rifle used for the last two murders and found at his home, will allow finally to bring him to justice.
At the trial, Didier Roucoux intervened for the families of Eugène Stephan and Mauricette Van Hyfte, a young couple who crossed the road to Barbeault near the Laigneville cemetery.
The lawyer, now retired, remembers being marked by the look of this accused rather handsome man.
"He did not express himself a lot and denied what he was criticized for," he recounts.
But you could tell there was something he wasn't saying.
"During the hearing of a woman who said she had been spied on by Barbeault, the latter cut her off and said, according to the lawyer:" It is not true, it did not happen like that!
"
At trial, the inspector's statement seals his fate
But what most marked Didier Roucoux remains the testimony of Inspector Neveu. “When he came to the stand, there was incredible silence in the courtroom,” said Didier Roucoux. “It is still a case where there is neither blatant evidence, nor confession. But Neveu's testimony was such a substantiated and insightful demonstration that it was impossible to imagine that there was any other culprit. Despite the five hours of argument of his lawyer, Jean-Louis Pelletier, great criminal lawyer, Marcel Barbeault will be found guilty and sentenced to life in 1981. On appeal, two years later, the verdict will not change.
Now detained at the central house of Saint-Maur (Indre), he is today the man imprisoned for the most consecutive years: 45 years.
He has not yet caught up with the Reunionese Casanova Agamemnon, released in 2019, with a total of 49 years of imprisonment.
In August, Barbeault will be 80 years old, of which more than half spent in the shadow of bars.
According to our information, he only receives two visits per year, those from a close relative of his family wishing to remain discreet.
"He's almost a model prisoner, who kept the library"
“He's retired now.
He is old and all inmates respect this advanced age.
He continues to get up very early, to go for a walk.
He walks a lot to maintain himself physically and is still very fit, ”breathes a member of the central house.
He even continues to consult the prison integration and probation counselor (CIP).
According to this Saint-Maur agent, each new one knows very quickly why Barbeault is between the walls.
Not because he says it, because it is known: “He never had any problem.
He is almost a model prisoner, who kept the library and enriched himself intellectually.
He is quite lonely, he only exchanges with former prisoners.
"
The killer, masked in this 45-year-old robot portrait, is still alive ... and has never confessed to his crimes.
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Half a century after the first crimes, the question of mobile remains unanswered. What if, in the end, it was the cop who understood his way of working who had the solution? “The only time he got angry was when I told him about his mother. A brunette, who died in 1968, to whom he was very close. A year before the start of the assassinations… ”summarizes Inspector Neveu, who always thought that this disappearance had made the killer“ twist ”. Marcel Barbeault has always denied being the author of these murders: "I am the ninth victim of the Shadow Killer", he said, locking up with him the truth about this period of terror.
