Serge Fortin

Mass murderer

4known / alleged victims

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Case Facts

Gender: male
Country: France
Location: Le Verger, Ille et Vilaine, Brittany, France
Date of birth: 1954
Age at first offence: 45
Characteristics: revenge
Victim profile: Henri Bohuon, 78, and his wife Denise, 72 / Marie Lepage, 73, and her daughter Marie-Claire Berthelot, 52 (neighbors)
Method of murder: Shooting
Date(s) of murder: September 7, 1999
Years active: 1999
Date of arrest: Same day
Status: Died in custody
Sentenced to life in prison; commuted to 30 years in prison on October 2001; committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell on October 4, 2003

Case Summary

Timeline

October 2001 — His sentence was commuted to 30 years in prison.
October 2003 — He committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell in the prison of Rennes.
October 4, 2003 — He committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell.
October 11, 2003 — “On October 11, 2003, Serge Fortin commits suicide in the prison of Rennes.”

Background

Serge Fortin was a 45-year-old unemployed locksmith. He was jobless. He was 45 at the time described in the account and later described as 49 while serving a sentence of thirty years.

The offence

A jobless man killed four neighbours in a village feud in western France and surrendered after anti-terrorist police surrounded his home for several hours.

Serge Fortin shot two retired farmers in one house and a pensioner and her daughter in another house in the hamlet of Le Verger, near the Brittany town of Rennes. A fifth person was wounded.

Investigation and surrender

He surrendered after anti-terrorist police surrounded his home for several hours.

Death in custody

Serge Fortin committed suicide in the prison of Rennes.

The account stated: “Committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell on October 4, 2003.” It also stated that he was “expia[ting] a sentence of thirty years.” It further stated: “Serge Fortin, 49, was expiating a sentence of thirty years.” It also stated that “This former locksmith to the unemployed committed suicide for strangulation.”

Outcome

His sentence was commuted to 30 years in prison on October 2001. His status was listed as “Sentenced to life in prison.”

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