Pierre Chanal

Case record: Pierre Chanal

Pierre Chanal (Saint-Étienne, Loire, 18 November 1946 – Reims, 15 October 2003) was a French soldier and suspected serial killer.

Background

Chanal was a career soldier and rose steadily through the ranks. He served in the 4th Dragoons regiment as a senior warrant officer. Chanal became a career soldier as soon as he was old enough to enlist, escaping from a desperately poor family of 16 children and a violent, alcoholic father. He volunteered for service with the French military contingent deployed in Beirut at the height of Lebanon's bloody civil war.

Comrades described Chanal as “an archetypal warrior and man of steel”. An investigating officer described him as “a block of marble”. One police officer said: “He acted like he was a prisoner of war.” Another police officer provided the observation about the arrest circumstances: “He acted like he was a prisoner of war,” said one police officer.

The offence

Chanal was suspected of murdering young men who disappeared in northeastern France between 1980 and 1987, including in or near the Marne region, northeast of Paris. Seven of the bodies have never been found. The disappearances in that area became known as the “triangle of death”.

Chanal was convicted of the rape and kidnapping of a young Hungarian man, Falvay, Balázs, whom he picked up hitch-hiking in 1988.

In the same period, Chanal was accused of murdering three of eight young men who disappeared between 1980 and 1987. His alleged victims included:

• Falvay, Balázs (Hungarian), abducted and raped, and later linked to the earlier case in which Chanal was caught assaulting him in 1988
• Trevor O'Keeffe (Irish), who was found battered and strangled in a shallow grave in August 1987
• Patrice Denis and Patrick Gache (army conscripts), who disappeared from Mourmelon army camp in 1985 and 1987 respectively

Chanal’s modus operandi was described as luring young men to take a ride with him in his VW Combi Van and then overpowering them. He was described as overpowering and assaulting them, including rape and strangling.

He also was described as video taping his victims “in the throws of their agony”.

Investigation

The investigation began when “a pair of men's underpants labelled "Made in Britain" were discovered in Chanal's van.” Police believed they belonged to Trevor O'Keefe, a 20-year-old Irishman who vanished two years earlier during a walking tour that took him through the Marne region. O'Keefe’s naked body was eventually found dumped in a wood, where he had been savagely beaten and strangled with a cord knotted in a fashion taught in the French commando forces.

Police discovered that Chanal had purchased his video camera only a few days before the first of the disappearances happened eight years earlier. Police also established that nobody had been reported missing in the region while Chanal was in Lebanon.

Investigators said the attack on the Hungarian hitchhiker would have ended in murder if the assault had not been interrupted.

A year after Chanal’s release, fresh forensic-science tests on the camper van discovered traces of human hairs. Subsequent DNA analysis indicated the strong probability that the hairs came from the last two of the conscripts to disappear.

With the help of the FBI's behavioural science unit, investigators arrived at a conclusion about Chanal’s personality. The reports described him as “both obsessive and sadistic - characterised by aberrant sexual conduct which leads him to seek pleasure by inflicting humiliation and suffering on others”.

Chanal was formally placed under investigation in connection with the disappearances while he was in prison for raping and torturing the hitchhiker.

Police were also investigating how Chanal managed to obtain the razorblade despite the presence of two guards outside his room and regular checks by hospital staff.

Justice Minister Dominique Perben said Chanal’s room had been carefully searched on Tuesday evening and someone could have deliberately passed the razorblade to him. Perben said: “The razorblade didn't arrive mysteriously,” he told French radio. “Either there was an oversight or the razorblade was slipped in by someone in the last hours before his death.” He added that Chanal had pretended to be asleep, even after having cut open his artery.

Arrest

Chanal was arrested in 1988 when a police patrol, investigating the sight of a Volkswagen camper van on an isolated country road, found him assaulting the Hungarian hitchhiker he picked up near the Mourmelon camp. Chanal had trussed the hitchhiker up in a parachute harness while a video camera recorded the assault.

In true military fashion, Chanal provided only his name, rank and service number to the arresting officers.

Trial

Chanal was tried and convicted for the kidnapping and rape of Falvay, Balázs, and received a ten-year jail sentence for the attack. He had denied the murder charges brought later.

The murder trial commenced in 2003. During that time, Chanal refused to attend the trial in the northern city of Reims and had been on hunger strike to protest his innocence.

The trial opened with Chanal accused of killing conscripts Patrice Denis and Patrick Gache, as well as Irish hitch-hiker Trevor O'Keefe. The conscripts disappeared from Mourmelon army camp in 1985 and 1987 respectively, while O'Keefe was found strangled in a shallow grave in 1987.

Chanal had said he would not be judged for something he had not done. His lawyer said he was also too weak after three months on hunger strike to attend.

Chanal had warned some time ago that he would rather kill himself than face life imprisonment.

Chanal attempted to kill himself earlier in the year, and the trial was postponed after he tried to kill himself in May.

Sentencing

Chanal received a 10-year sentence for the kidnapping and rape of Falvay, Balázs. He was released in 1995 on probation. With time off for good behaviour, he was due for release in 1994, but was kept in detention after the O'Keefe case was added to his dossier. He was released from jail in June 1995, to live at a sister's home near Lyons under strict judicial control.

Appeals

There were no appeal outcomes stated.

Outcome

Chanal committed suicide during detention in 2003 while on trial. Police said he appeared to have used a razor blade to sever an artery in his leg, despite being under round-the-clock guard.

He slashed the main artery in his left leg with a razorblade. He was on hunger strike to protest his innocence, refused to attend the trial, and killed himself in the hospital where he was being treated.

Chanal’s death ended the trial.

Aftermath

The families of all the victims gathered at Reims hoping to find out the truth and were devastated by what had happened. Roger Denis, father of Patrice, said: “There'll be no justice for our son and that's my biggest regret.”

Chanal’s sister Simone said her brother had been the victim of the justice system, which had driven him to his death.

On January 26th 2005, the Court of Bankruptcy of Paris awarded 36,000 Euros to each of the eight families as compensation for the loss of their loved ones.

Timeline

• 1988 — Chanal was arrested after a police patrol found him assaulting Falvay, Balázs, in a Volkswagen camper van near the Mourmelon camp
• August 1987 — Trevor O'Keefe was found battered and strangled in a shallow grave
• 1980–1987 — Eight young men disappeared in northeastern France; seven bodies have never been found
• 1985 — Patrice Denis disappeared from Mourmelon army camp
• 1987 — Patrick Gache disappeared from Mourmelon army camp
• 1987 — O'Keefe was found strangled in a shallow grave
• 1995 — Chanal was released in June 1995 on probation under strict judicial control
• May 2003 — The trial was postponed after Chanal tried to kill himself
• July 2003 — Chanal began a hunger strike to protest his innocence
• 15 October 2003 — Chanal died in hospital hours after the start of his trial
• 1 January 2005 — The Court of Bankruptcy of Paris awarded 36,000 Euros to each of the eight families as compensation for the loss of their loved ones
• 14 October 2003 — Chanal committed suicide in prison by severing an artery with a razor blade

Other details

Chanal was described as “both obsessive and sadistic - characterised by aberrant sexual conduct which leads him to seek pleasure by inflicting humiliation and suffering on others”. Investigators and police linked hair traces found in Chanal's van to the disappearances through DNA analysis after advances in DNA technology.

He was also accused in connection with disappearances while in prison for raping and torturing the hitchhiker. Police said they feared the assault would have ended in murder had it not been interrupted.