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He was born Guy Rampillon, on 15th October 1962
in Angers, France, to an American father and a French mother. His
father, George Cartwright, was a soldier who worked as a cook on
the NATO bases. Abandoned by his parents when he was very young,
Guy was taken in by the DDASS, the French social welfare service.
He was placed with a foster family and at the
age of six, to aid in his adoption, was given the surname Georges,
after his father. He was adopted by the Morins and grew up in a
family of 12 adopted children. The young Georges never really
received the love, attention and stability he needed and soon
began to show a violent and aggressive streak in his personality.
The Crime
In his first violent attack, at the age of 14,
Georges tried to strangle Roselyne D, one of his mentally disabled
adoptive sisters, in 1976. Two years later, he attacked another of
his adoptive sisters, Christiane D. Concerned for the welfare of
her family, Mrs Morin arranged for Georges to return to the
authorities.
A year later, the 17-year-old Georges attacked
Jocelyne S in May 1980. Later that month he assaulted Roselyne C,
stabbing her violently in her face. Both girls survived their
attacks and Georges was arrested once more and sent to prison for
a year in Angers, in the Loire region. Upon his release from
prison, Georges moved to Paris with a friend. Here he lived in
squats in the east of the city. No one suspected Georges of being
the serial killer he was. He committed petty crimes to survive,
drank extensively and befriended young people interested in left-wing
politics.
A month after his 19th birthday, Georges
committed his first rape. On 16th November 1981 he attacked
Nathalie C, a neighbour, as she was returning home. He raped her,
stabbed her and left her for dead. Incredibly Nathalie C survived
the attack.
Following a five-month prison term for theft,
Georges attacked again. On 7th June 1982 in a car park of the 16th
arrondissement, he raped, stabbed and strangled Violette K but she
managed to escape and went to the police. A few days later,
Georges was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Shortly after his release, Georges attacked
Pascale N, 21, in a car park, where he raped and stabbed her in
February 1984. She managed to break free and run away. Later that
evening, police arrested Georges.
In 1985 he was sentenced at the Court of
Assizes of Meurthe-et-Moselle to 10 years imprisonment. Due to
good behaviour, towards the end of his sentence, Georges was
allowed out of prison during the day but was required to report
back each evening to spend the night.
Released from prison on 4th April 1992, Georges
wasted no time in finding another young female victim. On 22nd
April 1992 he attacked Eleonore D, who escaped and reported the
incident to the police. Georges was arrested once more.
On 7th January 1994 Georges attacked Catherine
Rock, 27, in an underground parking garage, where he raped and
murdered her. A mere six days later, Georges struck again. His
victim was radio host Annie L, whom he raped and murdered on the
patio of her home on 13th January 1994.
Georges’ next attack was on 8th November 1994
in the underground parking garage of 22-year-old Elsa Benady’s
home in the 13th arrondissement, where he raped and killed her. A
month later, on 10th December 1994, he raped and murdered Dutch
architect Agnes Nijkamp, 33, in her home in the 11th
arrondissement. The media began to report a ‘Killer in East
Paris’.
In June 1995, Georges attacked Elisabeth O and
tried to kill her but she made a narrow escape. On 8th July 1995
Georges raped and murdered Helena Frinking, 27, in her apartment
after she returned from an evening out. Georges assaulted Melanie
B on 25th August 1995 in the Marais quarter.
Some progress was being made in the police
investigation into the ‘Killer of East Paris’. However, whilst
Elisabeth O had managed to give a vague description of her
attacker, when shown a picture of Georges, she failed to identify
him. Police did have DNA traces left at two crime scenes by the
same individual and a footprint found at the location of the
Helena Frinking crime.
Five days later, Georges assaulted Valerie L in
the stairwell of her apartment block, on 28th October 1997. Less
than a month after that, Georges entered the home of Estelle Magd,
25, where he raped and murdered her on 16th November 1997. This
was to be the last victim of ‘The Beast of Bastille’.
The Arrest
Police investigation was finally gaining
impetus and investigators knew for certain that several of their
unsolved crimes were linked and that they potentially had a serial
killer on their hands. The media frenzy surrounding the killings
had unleashed a level of panic in the population of Paris. Georges
was being dubbed the ‘Beast of Bastille’ due to the fact that
several of his attacks had occurred in the Bastille quarter, the
famed Revolutionary era Parisian neighbourhood.
It was one of the largest manhunts in French
criminal history. Police finally found Georges in Montmartre and
arrested him on 27th March 1998 for the rape and murder of Pascale
Escarfail, Catherine Rock, Elsa Benady and Agnes Nijkamp. It
transpired that Georges’ DNA matched that found at all four crime
scenes, as well as at one attempted rape. Confronted whilst in
custody with the irrefutable DNA evidence, Georges confessed to
these four, as well as three other murders.
Kept in custody, Georges tried to escape in
December 2000; a few weeks before his trial was due to begin. He
and three cellmates attempted to saw through the bars of their
cell but were caught by prison guards. Georges was assessed by
psychiatrists and declared legally sane and fit to stand trial.