Simone Weber

Background

Simone Weber was 60 years old at trial. She was described as “round and dowdy” and as “an ordinary woman from a rural family.” She had married twice and had five children, two of whom were dead. She faced two murder allegations.

Her first husband, a retired fireman, told the court she tried to commit him to an insane asylum as their brief marriage soured. Her first husband was named Jacques Thuot. Her siblings testified that she stole their meager inheritance.

A psychiatrist who examined Simone Weber testified that she was a habitual liar. Simone Weber proclaimed her innocence from the defendant's box and did not let criticism go unanswered. She said of her first husband, Jacques Thuot: “He only thought about loafing and going dancing until 7 o'clock in the morning,” and added: “The doctors told me I couldn't live with a hood like that any more.” She also said to the jury: “As you've been able to see, Mrs. Haag spies on people,” and told the jury: “As you've been able to see, Mrs. Haag spies on people.” She said of the garbage bags: “I'm not the demon they've made me out to be.” She further said the sacks were filled with canned food: “We heard a big noise. Poof! . . . At first, I thought she (Weber) had fallen,” and “Then right after, we heard the sound of a motor. Like a vacuum cleaner gone crazy, like a chain saw. It shook the ground. It lasted about three minutes.”

Presiding Judge Nicholas Pacaud warned the hundreds of spectators not to “ooh” and “aah” at her ripostes.

Philippe Rochette, a director of the newspaper Liberation, described the trial as “perhaps the biggest since World War II.”

The offence

Simone Weber was accused of killing:

• her elderly husband by poisoning him with the drug digitalis (digitalis laced in his food), and
• her lover Bernard Hettier by drugging him and then shooting him, followed by cutting up his body using an electric knife and power saw.

Simone Weber was alleged to have poisoned her 81-year-old second husband, Marcel Fixard, one month after they were married, shortly after he bequeathed his pension to her. Prosecutors alleged Marcel Fixard died a month after their marriage in 1980, leaving Weber his military pension in a will that prosecutors characterized as a fake.

Prosecutors alleged that five years later Simone Weber killed Bernard Hettier because she believed he was having an affair. She was accused of drugging and shooting her lover, then curring up his body with an electric knife and power saw.

Investigation

Police found the heart drug digitalis in a pot in Weber's home. It was not prescribed for her. Police also said they found traces of a human protein on a power saw that Weber rented the day before Bernard Hettier's disappearance was discovered in the trunk of his car. Police believed a human torso found in a suitcase in the Marne River was Hettier’s, though they were unable to prove it because the head and limbs were cut off. Hettier was officially listed as missing.

Pathologists found no traces of digitalis in Fixard's remains. Fixard's remains were exhumed six years after he died, following Hettier's disappearance in June 1985.

A neighbor who said she showed Weber how to use an electric carving knife testified that she heard a loud thud and machinery noises coming from the sister's apartment.

Simone Weber was later seen loading plastic garbage bags into her car.

Prosecutors alleged that Weber threatened to kill Hettier because she believed he was unfaithful. Witnesses also testified that they saw Hettier enter a building where Weber's sister owned an apartment the night he disappeared.

Trial

The trial began on Jan. 17 in the eastern city of Nancy. It lasted six weeks. Simone Weber faced two charges of murder. The case was described as a sensational murder case in years and as riveted France.

A 12-member jury took only a few hours to decide the fate of Simone Weber.

Simone Weber fainted during trial after declaring to jurors: “I'm not the demon they've made me out to be.” She was rushed to a hospital, where doctors said she was not in danger.

Defense attorneys argued the evidence against Weber was circumstantial.

Henry-Rene Garaud, an attorney, told the jury: “Proof, proof, absolute proof,” and said: “Do not condemn based on hypotheses.”

Philippe Rochette said: “ Maybe people have had enough of the Gulf and they want a diversion, no matter how grotesque,” and added: “ It's a passionate trial, because there's no proof. Then, there's the personality of the defendant.”

Sentencing

On February 28, 1991, Simone Weber was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

She was found guilty of murdering her lover Bernard Hettier and dismembering his body in order to dispose of it. She was also accused of poisoning her husband. She was cleared of poisoning her 81-year-old husband.

Prosecutors sought life imprisonment with a minimum 18 years in jail before parole.

Outcome

The jury convicted Simone Weber and sentenced her to 20 years in prison. She was cleared of poisoning her husband and convicted in relation to the dismemberment of her lover.

Bernard Hettier remained officially listed as missing.

Other details

Simone Weber was charged with poisoning her 81-year-old husband one month after marriage and with cutting up her lover five years later.

The prosecution evidence included witnesses who said Weber threatened to kill Hettier and testimony from a neighbor and a witness above Weber’s sister’s apartment.

One key witness was Marie Haag, 78, who lived above an empty apartment in Nancy belonging to Weber's sister. Marie Haag testified that Weber frequently visited the apartment but never stayed overnight until June 22, 1985, the day Hettier disappeared. Haag said Simone Weber came up that afternoon and asked her how to use an electric carving knife.

Haag testified: “ We heard a big noise. Poof! . . . At first, I thought she (Weber) had fallen,” and that “ Then right after, we heard the sound of a motor. It shook the ground. It lasted about three minutes.”

She also testified that about dawn she saw Weber load at least seven blue garbage bags into the trunk of her car. Haag said she came across a similar garbage sack half full of sand on the staircase two days later, adding: “ It smelled of blood.”

Simone Weber told the jury the sacks were filled with canned food. She also told the jury: “As you've been able to see, Mrs. Haag spies on people.”