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Henri GIRARD
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Poisoner -
To
collect insurance money
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders: 1912 / 1918
Date
of arrest:August 21,
1918
Date of birth: 1875
Victims profile: Louis Pernotte
/ Madame Monin
Method of murder: Poisoning
Location: Paris, France
Status: Committed suicide in prison by means of swallowing a germ cultive
on May
1921
Girard, Henri
A French killer-for-profit, Girard insured his victims' lives before poisoning them with home-grown germ cultures and collecting the cash. Arrested in 1921 and charged with two homicides -- committed in 1912 and 1918, respectively -- Girard was awaiting trial on capital charges when he committed suicide by means of swallowing a germ culture.
Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia
of Modern Serial Killers
Henri Girard, "The
First Scientific Murderer"
The case of Henri
Girard is important because ir represent one of the first known uses of
biological agents to carry out a poisoning homicide.
The financial manipulator Henri
Girard, purportedly a rather dashing-looking Parisian, made it his
practice to insure the lives of various acquaintances and have himself
listed as their primary beneficiary.
These people soon died under
mysterious circumstances by his hand. Girard's poisonous weapons of
choice were the natural toxins from the mushrooms of genus Amanita, as
well as various pathogenic bacteria.
Soon after the deaths of Girard's
acquaintances Louis Pernotte and Madame Monin, the insurance companies
became very suspicius, and an investigation ensued..
Girard was
taken into custody in 1912 but cheated the French court by taken one of
his own toxic germ cultures (most likely typhoid), wich he had secreted
in his personal effects (Kershaw, 1955).
