Jacques Plumain

Name and identity

Jacques Plumain (né le 14 août 1973, également surnommé le Fantôme de Kehl) was a French serial killer who operated in Germany and France between October 1999 and May 2000 and killed four women in that period (including one who survived).

Timeline

• 14 août 1973 — Jacques Plumain was born.
• 25 juillet 1999 — Sylvia Hiéronimus, 30 ans, was discovered dead in the rear yard of a Strasbourg apartment building.
• 11 octobre 1999 — Hatice Celik, une aide-soignante turque de 22 ans, was killed in Kehl.
• 19 janvier 2001 — Jacques Plumain struck a Strasbourg motorist in the stomach with a sabre de samouraï on a parking of Strasbourg.
• janvier 2001 — Jacques Plumain was arrested for assaulting a motorist with a sabre de samouraï.
• mars 2000 — Jacques Plumain was said to have assaulted a woman in a Berlin? (No such fact is present in the provided text; omitted.)
• mai 2000 — The series of murders in the period 1999-2000 ended by May 2000.
• 15 mai 2000 — Ursula Brelowski was killed in the forest of Wantzenau near Strasbourg.
• 16 mai 2000 — Ursula Brelowski was described as being stabbed near Strasbourg.
• 4 décembre 1999 — Gisèle Dallmann, une porteuse de journaux de 66 ans, was killed in Kehl by stabbing.
• 23 novembre — In the same city, a 39-year-old woman was seriously injured with a démonte-pneu.
• 18 mai 2005 — The trial of Jacques Plumain opened.
• 3 juin 2005 — Jacques Plumain was sentenced to 30 years of criminal imprisonment (peine de sûreté) and was acquitted for the murder of the Turkish woman killed in October 1999.
• 12 avril 2006 — Jacques Plumain was sentenced to life imprisonment (sentence to life imprisonment on April 12, 2006).
• 19 janvier 2001 — (Also stated in multiple parts of the text) Plumain struck a Strasbourg motorist with a sabre de samouraï after a dispute about priority.
• 24 septembre 2003 — Jacques Plumain was judged before the cour d’assises du Bas-Rhin for three days for an attempted murder with a sabre of samouraï on a Strasbourg motorist.
• 26 septembre 2003 — The cour d’assises du Bas-Rhin sentenced Jacques Plumain to 12 years of criminal imprisonment.

The offence

Jacques Plumain killed three women and assaulted a fourth between October 1999 and May 2000.

Hatice Celik (surviving/exception from conviction)

Jacques Plumain was acquitted for the murder of Hatice Celik, une aide-soignante turque de 22 ans, killed in October 1999. The text described Hatice Celik as being struck to death in Kehl in the early morning around 4 h le 11 octobre 1999. Jacques Plumain was said to have knocked her out from behind, dragged her out of view, stabbed her and then strangled her before lowering her underwear; it was stated that there was no rape.

Barbel Zobel

Barbel Zobel, une femme de 38 ans, was assaulted in Kehl while she was leaving home early in the morning to go to work. She was struck from behind and had time to call for help; her husband intervened and Jacques Plumain had to flee. Jacques Plumain later admitted having assaulted Barbel Zobel but stated he had never wanted to kill her. He said he assaulted her because he was stealing bicycle tires and she surprised him.

Gisela Dallmann / Gisèle Dallmann

Gisela Dallmann / Gisèle Dallmann, une femme de 66 ans, was killed in Kehl around 3 h du matin while she distributed newspapers into letterboxes. Jacques Plumain said he was looking for a nightclub and got lost on small paths; he said he saw Gisela Dallmann distributing newspapers, approached her from behind, and that she was afraid. Jacques Plumain said he pressed his hand against her mouth; she bit him, and to make her stop he killed her by striking her and then dragging her body to an isolated corner where he cut her carotid and lowered her underwear. He also admitted putting his finger in her vagina to make it appear as if there had been a rape. The body of Gisela Dallmann was found in the back yard of a building.

In the 2005 trial account, Gisèle Dallmann was described as being stabbed multiple times on 4 December 1999 at Kehl.

Ursula Brelowski

Ursula Brelowski, 44 ans (also described as 45 ans in another section), was killed on 15 mai 2000 in the forest of Wantzenau near Strasbourg. Jacques Plumain said he encountered Ursula Brelowski while she was cycling and thought he recognized her as someone he knew. Ursula Brelowski told Plumain he had mistaken her; Plumain claimed she said: "Je n'ai pas de nègres dans mes relations". The account stated that Jacques Plumain became violent, struck the woman until she lost consciousness, dragged her into the forest, and stabbed her about a dozen times (in the torso, arms and legs) before strangling her. As with the other victims, he lowered Ursula Brelowski’s underwear to make it seem as if there had been a rape.

In the trial account, lawyers for Ursula Brelowski’s family claimed she would never have called Plumain "nègre", and that he killed Ursula Brelowski only out of impulse and not because of racism.

Investigation

Conflicts between psychiatrists and psychologists appeared when they learned of Jacques Plumain’s violence before the series of crimes was attributed to him. Some did not consider him dangerous. A psychologist described him as:

"fabulateur et manipulateur, affecté d'un grave traumatisme et d'une angoisse massive, ayant besoin de projeter des pulsions agressives à l'extérieur de lui-même".

When the SRPJ de Strasbourg and the police de Kehl established a link, their work connected a series of murders of women found naked and lying on their stomachs and struck at the back of the neck. The killer was then nicknamed "le fantôme de Kehl".

The police criminelle allemande investigated the violent death of another young woman, 23 ans, discovered at Tüttlingen in janvier 1999, and stated it could be linked to Plumain.

Jacques Plumain was also under a fourth mise en examen for murder, that of Sylvie Hiéronimus, 30 ans, discovered on 25 juillet 1999. The text described the position of her body as similar to the previous victims and stated the crime was still under instruction and could be the first in the series.

Arrest and other convictions

Jacques Plumain was arrested in janvier 2001 for assaulting a motorist with a sabre de samouraï. He claimed he had a score to settle with this motorist, with whom he had violently argued a few months earlier. For this act, he was sentenced in 2003 to 12 years in prison.

24 septembre 2003 — trial for attempted murder with a sabre

Jacques Plumain was tried before the cour d’assises du Bas-Rhin for three days for attempted murder by means of a sabre de samouraï on a Strasbourg motorist. He was aged 30, from Guadeloupe. The text stated he had disputed with the motorist at that time due to a refusal of priority. It also stated he was suspected of being a serial killer who had killed four women and attempted to assassinate a fifth at Kehl.

In the same period it was described that: "Il aurait tué quatre femmes, dont deux à Kehl (Allemagne) et deux à Strasbourg, et tenté d'en assassiner une cinquième à Kehl."

26 septembre 2003 — sentence to 12 years

The cour d’assises du Bas-Rhin sentenced Jacques Plumain to 12 years of criminal imprisonment, in line with the penalty sought by the ministère public.

Confession and statements

During questioning about the crimes, Jacques Plumain admitted them relatively easily and said that, the evening of the murder of Ursula Brelowski, he had gone out to kill because he felt increasingly strong urges. He also admitted he had not intended to kill Barbel Zobel but had assaulted her because he was stealing bicycle tires and she surprised him. He denied any involvement in the murder of the young Turkish woman.

At the end of the trial opening on 18 May 2005, he was described as cold and detached and speaking almost not at all. It was established that he had invented a character named Maïve, and it was said that Maïve (as per Plumain’s terms) would have killed all these women.

At the trial, Jacques Plumain said he had assaulted Barbel Zobel partly because she resembled his own mother.

He asked for forgiveness for the families of the victims during the period after 18 May when he accepted to face them, saying:

"Je voudrais demander pardon. Je ferai tout pour chercher à savoir pourquoi j'ai fait ces gestes-là. J'ai peur en vous regardant en face de cette descente dans le puits"

Trial (Bas-Rhin / Haut-Rhin) and legal outcomes

3 juin 2005 — first conviction and acquittal

Jacques Plumain was sentenced on 3 June 2005 to 30 years of criminal imprisonment, with a peine de sûreté of 20 years. He was acquitted for the murder of the young Turkish woman killed in October 1999.

In the description of this verdict, he was found guilty of the murders of Gisela Dallmann and Ursula Brelowski and of attempted murder of Barbel Zobel, while being innocent of the murder of Hatice Celik, which he had always denied. The text also stated that the avocat général Brice Raymondeaud-Castenet had requested life imprisonment with a 22-year sûreté period.

Appeal and second sentence (life imprisonment)

The parquet appealed the decision. Jacques Plumain was condemned a second time to life imprisonment, with a sûreté period of 30 years.

In the appellate sentencing account, Jacques Plumain was described as being judged by the cour d’assises du Haut-Rhin and as being sentenced to life imprisonment with a sûreté period of 20 years, which was described as almost what the prosecutor had requested. The text also stated that his sentence was heavier than at the first trial in June 2005.

Sentencing (summary of stated terms)

• 3 juin 2005 — 30 ans de réclusion criminelle assortie d'une peine de sûreté de 20 ans; acquitté pour le meurtre d'Hatice Celik.
• 12 avril 2006 — Sentence to life imprisonment on April 12, 2006; the appellate outcome was described as perpétuité with a sûreté of 30 years, and also in another section as perpétuité with a sûreté of 20 years.

Other details

Jacques Plumain had been described as an ex-security agent from Guadeloupe. He had little known his father, had left his island early for the metropolis, and had offered a double face to those who knew him during the instruction period: a liar who built a profile of hero to manipulate, according to psychiatrists. The text also described him as having little known his father and having left early for the metropolis.

He was described as having a family life with a fatherless childhood and as being a father of two children, and as having had many conquests described as violent with his partners. He was described as sometimes violent with his companions, and one quoted expression compared him to "un loup et un agneau en un seul homme".

It was stated that he was raised by his mother with his five brothers and sisters, all born to different fathers, and that he came to the metropolis at the age of 16. He worked as a cook, then enlisted in the first regiment of artillery of Montbéliard and later of Illkirch-Grassenstaden until February 1999. The text stated that his murderous path would have started from that time.

All the victims mentioned in the accounts were described as German. They were killed over a short period in 1999 and 2000, stabbed with a knife or struck in the neck with a démontage-pneu. It was stated that none of the victims had been raped, and that the women discovered dead lay on their stomachs with the lower part of their bodies made bare by their attacker.

The article also stated that he was surnommé "le fantôme de Kehl" in Germany.