A macabre nightmare at a French chateau
Robert and Joanne Hall’s dream of restoring and developing their French chateau dream home became a classic Gothic nightmare of ruination, insanity and murder.
Boy fakes abduction to escape dentist appointment
Let’s face it, nobody likes going to the dentist. How many of us wouldn’t have done the same, or even faked our own death, to get out of a trip to the dentist’s chair.
Search for missing boy Chayson Basinio called off — because he never existed
In an era when people create all manner of fake online identities, a strange case has emerged out of France of a missing child that only ever existed on a Facebook page. French police have called off the search and charged the woman allegedly responsible for the disturbing hoax.
The gruesome history of the guillotine
Contrary to myth, Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin did not invent the decapitation instrument that bears his name. Decapitation machines were used long before he was born.
Today in Crime History: Killer doctor Marcel Petiot jailed
Marcel Petiot was a physician, the mayor of his town, a hero of the French Resistance and an extremely prolific serial killer. Petiot – -and several who aided him — were apprehended on March 17, 1944.
Murder suspect released because court’s fax ran out of ink
The prime suspect in a murder case was released from prison to await trial because the court failed to respond to his faxed request for release in a timely fashion — they ran out of fax toner.
French jewel thief DNA betrayed by a kiss
The case reads almost like a plot taken from a film noire: A woman is tortured by two men for information. She breaks. They seem to share a moment of intimacy, one assailant kisses her. She uses his his kiss to exact her revenge. Only in Paris.
Charles Sobhraj: Crime Does Pay
Con man, jewel thief, drug dealer and serial murderer Sobraj did it all for a life of adventure and intrigue — and ultimately became a media celebrity.
French girl saves herself, films father’s sex abuse
A girl, 14, in Florensac, France, was reportedly being sexually abused by her father over the course of many months, with no help from the system in sight. But not unlike film heroine The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the smart kid eventually put a stop to the abuse by filming it with her web cam.
Body of suicide victim hung for eight years in his apartment
The body of a suicidal OCD sufferer was found hanging in his pristine apartment eight years later, and in perfect condition too.
- » Slideshow: Last Words from Death Row
- » Update: Most outrageous bestiality cases
- » Slideshow: Last Meals Before Execution
- » These Houses Have Gruesome Stories
- » Most Compelling Crime Photos Photo Gallery
- » Mugshots from rock bottom: Women
- » Slideshow: Pretty but deadly
- » Stories About Serial Killers and Related Investigations from the Crime Library
- » Slideshow: Caught in costume
- » These Houses Have Gruesome Stories
- » Slideshow: Cases for zombie awareness
- » I am a Vampire: 13 Crimes of Bloodlust Photo Gallery
- » A field guide to prison tattoos
- » Real-Life Crimes of The Wire Cast Photo Gallery
- » Attack of the Clones Photo Gallery
- » Slideshow: Dr. Kermit Gosnell and the Philadelphia abortion mill