The Serial Killer of Nazi Paris: Dr. Marcel Petiot and the Escape Network Murders

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Paris, 1944 March.
Smoke pours from the chimney of

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a quiet townhouse on Rue Lasser.
At first, neighbors assume

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someone's just burning trash.
But the smell is wrong.

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Thick, sweet, sickening.
Eventually, someone calls the

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police.
Officers arrive, expecting a

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small nuisance complaint.
Instead, they discover human

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remains burning inside of the
furnace.

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Inside the house, they find
suitcases stacked against the

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walls, pools of quick lime meant
to dissolve bodies across the

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property, rooms filled with
evidence that something

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unimaginable.
Rooms filled with evidence that

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something unimaginable has been
happening here.

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And the owner of the house?
A Doctor Who calmly tells the

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police he's working for the
French Revolution.

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His name is Marcel Pichot, and
According to him, the bodies

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belong to Nazis and
collaborators.

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But the truth is much, much
worse.

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I'm Brittany Ransom and This is
When Killers Get Caught, a

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podcast where we examine the
lives, behaviors, and psychology

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behind the most extreme acts of
violence and what happens when

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the truth finally catches up.
Day one listeners might

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recognize today's case because
the story of Marcel Pichot was

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actually the first podcast
episode I ever recorded.

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But this time I wanted to
revisit it, expediting the

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story.
More historical context, more

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focus on the victims, and a
clear timeline of how this man

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managed to operate in Noxy
occupied Paris before he was

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finally brought to justice.
Because the story of Marcel

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Pichot is one of the strangest
crime stories of World War 2A.

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Respected Dr. A fake escape
network, dozens of people

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desperate to flee the Nazis, and
a house in Paris that would

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eventually be known as one of
the most horrifying crime scenes

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in all of French history.
Marcel Pichot was born January

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17th, 1897 in Osir, France, and
like many serial killers, his

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early life was marked by
disturbing behavior that

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appeared long before adulthood.
From a young age, Pichot was

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known as a difficult and deeply
troubled child.

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Teachers frequently disciplined
him for violence, disruptive

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behavior, and sexual misconduct
toward other children.

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One of the most alarming
incidents happened when he was

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still in primary school.
Pichot brought his father's gun

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to class and attempted to
sexually proposition an 11 year

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old girl.
When she refused him, he fired

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the gun in attempt to scare her.
Incidents like this made it very

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clear that his behavior was not
just rebellious, it was

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dangerous.
And as he moved into his teenage

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years, the problems only
escalated.

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Pichot began committing petty
crimes, theft, destruction of

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property, but by 17, his
behavior had progressed far

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enough that he was arrested for
attempting to rob the post

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office.
Authorities recommended he

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undergo A psychiatric
evaluation, Something that

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you're going to find happened a
lot in his life.

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Doctors determined that Pichot
was suffering from mental

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illness and instead of
prosecuting, the court decided

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to drop the charges.
It was 1914, and in many ways,

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this moment really set a pattern
that would follow Marcel for

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years.
Serious warning signs would

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appear, professionals raised
concerns, but the legal system

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ultimately allowed him to move
on without any meaningful

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consequences.
His education was just as

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chaotic as his behavior.
Peacho was actually expelled

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from pretty much every school
because of his disciplinary

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problems.
Eventually his academic record

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became so unstable that he could
no longer remain in a

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traditional school, and in July
of 1915 he was sent to a special

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Academy in Paris to complete his
education.

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Essentially kind of a last stop,
bad kids school by this point.

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The pattern here, it's very
clear.

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Violence, manipulation, criminal
behavior, repeated psychiatric

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warnings, all are present before
he even reaches adulthood.

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And yet, despite this troubled
start, or perhaps because people

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underestimated the danger he
posed, Marcel Picchu would go on

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to reinvent himself in one of
the most unexpected ways

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imaginable.
He became a doctor.

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Now, despite all of this turmoil
in his early life, he enters the

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French army during World War
One.

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He joins the military in January
of 1916.

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He's just 18 years old.
Like many young Frenchmen

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showing up, they are swept up in
this massive mobilization of the

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war.
But Peacho's time in the army

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quickly became just as chaotic
as the first part of his life.

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During the Second Battle of the
Ain in the spring of 19/17, he

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was wounded and exposed to
poison gas, something that was

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tragically common in Trench
warfare at the time.

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Not long after this, though, his
commanding officers began

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noticing serious changes in his
behavior.

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He appeared unstable, and he was
beginning to show signs of what

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they thought was a mental
breakdown.

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He was sent for psychiatric
evaluation and even while he's

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under psychological care, he
managed to continue getting into

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trouble.
During his treatment, he was

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arrested for stealing from other
patients.

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The investigators found he had
taken blankets, morphine

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wallets, personal photographs
and even love letters that

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belong to wounded soldiers who
are being traded in the same and

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even love letters that belong to
wounded soldiers who were being

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treated in the same facility as
him.

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Once again, he goes to trial,
the charges get dropped because

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he's mentally ill.
Military doctors evaluated him

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and they returned with a huge
laundry list of diagnosis mental

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disequilibrium, neurasthenia,
depression, melancholia,

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obsessions, and a bunch of
different phobias.

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Even by the standard of wartime
medicine, this was a really

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extraordinary list of
psychological problems.

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Now, at the time, neurasthenia
was a common diagnosis among

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soldiers returning from trench
warfare.

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It referred to a state of
extreme nervous exhaustion,

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chronic fatigue, headaches,
irritability, sleep

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disturbances, and overall sense
that both the body and the mind

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were completely worn down.
Today, many historians and

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physicians believe that a large
number of these cases would

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probably fall under trauma
related disorders or severe

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anxiety conditions.
The doctors also described

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Pichot as suffering from mental
disequilibrium, and that term

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used to be used to suggest that
a person's mental state was out

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of balance with reality and
practical terms.

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It meant his mind was struggling
to correctly interpret what it

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was bringing in, essentially the
stimulation from the world

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around him.
And a lot of times this would

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lead to distorted thinking,
instability and delusions.

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Another diagnosis was
melancholia, a condition that

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physicians use at the time to
describe severe and persistent

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depression.
So I guess they looked at

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depression as sort of like
something happening chronically

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or not.
And so if it was more of a

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chronic condition, like you were
consistently always depressed,

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like major depressive disorder,
that's what they called

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melancholia at the time.
It was associated with a very

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deep despair, loss of pleasure
in daily activities, profound

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mental and physical lethargy.
So like I said, major depressive

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disorder.
Now, with all of these things

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together, the military records
paint a troubling picture.

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A young man suffering from
serious mental instability

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repeatedly evaluated by now at
least six different doctors who

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have recognized that something
is very seriously wrong with

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him.
And remember, he's only 18 years

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old right now, but they're still
trying to make sense of all of

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this using the very limited
language and understanding of

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mental health that we had at the
time.

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It's only the early 1900s, and
despite receiving 6 separate

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psychological diagnosis and
spending the remainder of 1917,

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so the entire year that he was
19 years old he spent in a

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psychiatric ward, they still
said he was fit enough to return

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to duty, and so in 1918 they
sent him back to the front

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lines.
This time something suspicious

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happened though.
Somehow, Pichot shot himself in

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the foot.
That injury forced the army to

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transfer him to a completely
different regiment in September

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of that year.
Not long after, he was once

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again sent for another
psychological evaluation.

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But this time the military said
we're done and they discharged

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him on medical disability.
In fact, his final military

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report went so far as to
recommend that he be committed

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to an asylum after he was
released from the French army.

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But instead, something
remarkable happened.

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Rather than being
institutionalized, Pitchot was

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admitted into an accelerated
education program made for

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returning veterans, and through
that program, he earned a

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medical degree.
Now, after the war, Marshall

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Pitchot reinvented himself.
This is what he does now with

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his medical credentials.
He became Doctor Marcel Bichot,

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A decorated veteran and
physician, a combination that

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earned him instant respect in
World War One France.

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Post World War One France in
1921, he moved to the small town

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of Vilniev, Surjan and quickly
builds A thriving medical

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practice to his patients.
He appears charming,

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intelligent, very attentive.
He made house calls, spoke

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confidently about his medical
knowledge and he cultivated the

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image of a devoted country Dr.
But behind that respectable

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facade, he was already knee deep
in corruption.

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He starts deliberately
prescribing narcotics to his

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patients while he's secretly
applying for government medical

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reimbursement on their behalf.
So essentially how this worked

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in old school France was if you
couldn't pay your bills, you

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could then request medical
reimbursement if it was

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something mandatory.
So essentially kind of like

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Medicaid now, but essentially it
was specific to the situation at

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the time.
So Marcel was getting paid by

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his patients who were paying for
these drugs, and then he was

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also applying to the government
and saying, oh, none of my

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patients in this country town in
the middle of nowhere can afford

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to pay for me, so I need you
guys to supplement my income

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collecting 2 checks.
On top of that, he developed his

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own narcotic addiction.
And so I'm pretty positive all

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of this money that he's just
making hand over fist, it's

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going right inside of him
through his addiction.

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And frankly, the rumors around
town begin to circulate.

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His doctor, he's involved in
petty theft, black market

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medicine, illegal abortions,
which was very, very legal at

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the time in France.
Then in 1926, things take a dark

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turn.
He begins an affair with a

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teenage girl.
Her name was Louise Delevo, and

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she was the daughter of one of
Marcel's patients.

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In May of 1926, Louise just
disappears.

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Neighbors would report to the
police that they saw Marcel

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Pichot loading a very large
trunk into the car around the

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time that Louise went missing.
Just weeks later, a trunk gets

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pulled from the Yon River and
inside were the dismembered

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remains of a woman.
But they were.

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So I guess the only term I could
say is minced.

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She was chopped into such small
pieces, they couldn't put her

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back together to figure out who
was in this giant trunk.

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And even though it was identical
to the ones that witnesses said

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that they saw Picho loading into
his car, police dismissed the

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connection because Louise had
already been officially listed

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as a runaway.
Now, despite this scandal, he

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does something impressive
honestly.

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He runs for mayor of Valmiev
Suryad, and during the campaign

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he actually hired people to
Heckle and disrupt all of his

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opponents speeches, essentially
making them not look like they

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were confident.
And it worked.

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He won.
In 1928, he marries Georgette La

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Belliere.
She was 23 years old and the

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daughter of a wealthy landowner.
They had a son pretty short

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after they were married, named
Gerhardt, also born in 1928.

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Now Bichot has everything going
for him.

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He's a respected Dr. kind of
respected, and he's now mayor

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and he has a beautiful wife and
a brand new baby boy.

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But it doesn't take very long
for him to get pegged as a

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corrupt politician.
He gets investigated for

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stealing taxpayer money, he gets
accused of siphoning oil from

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the railroad depot, and in that
case he actually got convicted

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and sentenced to three months in
jail, though the conviction got

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overturned through appeal.
Even after he was suspended from

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office for several months, he
got re elected and he came back

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in 1931 and somehow, despite the
endless allegations of theft,

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corruption, he gets gets elected
to the town's general council,

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becoming the youngest person and
Vionev Suryan to ever hold the

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position.
It doesn't last long though.

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00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:10,920
He's charged again, this time
for illegally diverting

232
00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:12,840
electricity from the city's
power supply.

233
00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:17,440
He gets fined, removed from the
council and finally his

234
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:22,280
political career is over.
Shortly after that he leaves

235
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:25,000
Vilnav Surgeron and moves to
Paris.

236
00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:30,160
And that's when Marcel Pichot
story moves from being just a

237
00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:35,320
little deadly to very deadly.
By 1933, Marcel Pichot had

238
00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:36,840
settled into his new life in
Paris.

239
00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:38,760
On paper, he still looked like a
success.

240
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,720
He was building this growing
medical practice and presenting

241
00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,880
himself as a competent, well
respected physician to the

242
00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:46,320
patients who walked through his
doors.

243
00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,760
He appeared professional and
intelligent and confident.

244
00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:52,880
You know, the kind of doctor
that people generally trust.

245
00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,280
But a lot of that reputation was
built on just straight lies.

246
00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:00,080
He exaggerated or outright
falsified part of his

247
00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,000
professional background to make
himself appear more accomplished

248
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:06,200
than he actually was.
And very shortly after he moved

249
00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:08,480
to Paris, all of the rumors
followed him from the

250
00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:11,360
countryside and started
circulating in Paris too.

251
00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,840
Patients and colleagues
whispered that Pichot is

252
00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:17,800
intentionally prescribing
addictive medicine to keep

253
00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,400
patients dependent on him.
Others accused him of performing

254
00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:24,400
illegal abortions, again
something strictly forbidden

255
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:27,080
under French law.
While proof was difficult to

256
00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:29,200
obtain, the pattern was fairly
familiar.

257
00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:34,280
Wherever Marcel Pichot practice
medicine, controversy, suspicion

258
00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:36,440
and crime generally seemed to
follow.

259
00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:41,040
Despite this though, in 1936 he
manages to secure an official

260
00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:44,960
position with the government,
the Medicine Detasseville, a

261
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,760
civil medical officer.
This role gives him the legal

262
00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:54,480
authority to examine bodies and
issue death certificates, an

263
00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:57,880
absolutely incredible
responsibility that places him

264
00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:01,000
at the intersection of medicine
in the legal system and

265
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,760
something he absolutely never
should have been even remotely

266
00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:07,800
close to.
For someone like Marcel, this

267
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:12,440
was a dangerous amount of
authority, but even with his

268
00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:16,360
growing status, he still
couldn't control all of these

269
00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:21,120
criminal impulses inside of him.
The kleptomania, it went up

270
00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:23,560
increased.
He just started stealing from

271
00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:27,000
everywhere.
And in 1936, he got arrested not

272
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,720
just for theft, but also for
assaulting a police officer

273
00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:34,920
during the arrest.
When he was evaluated by doctors

274
00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:37,760
after that arrest, the
conclusion was once again the

275
00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,200
same.
He was mentally unstable.

276
00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:42,600
Rather than sending him to
prison, the courts declare him

277
00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,760
legally insane in order that he
gets committed to a psychiatric

278
00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:48,760
institution, and he spends
roughly one year there.

279
00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,600
Now, while he was eventually
released in 1937, even the

280
00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:57,800
doctors who treated him
expressly said we doubt that he

281
00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:00,880
is mentally stable enough to
safely return to society.

282
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,400
But the reality is that French
psychiatry at the time didn't

283
00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:05,680
work the way that it works
today.

284
00:17:06,319 --> 00:17:10,240
Since the mid 1800s, France had
been working under a law that

285
00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:12,200
allowed people to be committed
to asylums.

286
00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,240
But doctors didn't actually have
the final say on whether someone

287
00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:19,119
stayed committed.
That decision would ultimately

288
00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:21,680
belong to the government
officials and the courts.

289
00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:25,440
The law mainly focused on if
someone was an immediate threat

290
00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:28,119
to public order.
A person could be considered

291
00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:30,920
unstable, depressed or
psychologically disturbed.

292
00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:33,480
But if authorities believed they
weren't acting relatively

293
00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:37,080
dangerous, like actively going
through psychosis, they could

294
00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,280
still be released.
And the system was already

295
00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:42,720
strained.
World War One had left France

296
00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:46,360
with hundreds of thousands of
soldiers who were all suffering

297
00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:49,120
from psychological trauma.
By the 90s, psychiatric

298
00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:52,040
hospitals were overcrowded,
underfunded, forced to

299
00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,600
prioritize patients who were
violent, psychotic or completely

300
00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:58,960
unable to care for themselves.
Someone like Marcel Pichot, who

301
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:03,640
was educated, articulate and he
looked outwardly like he could

302
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,960
hold a profession.
He just didn't fit into that

303
00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:09,960
category.
So even though Pichot had

304
00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:14,120
accumulated this long list of
diagnosis and repeated warnings

305
00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:18,400
from doctors, the system wasn't
built to keep someone like him

306
00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,720
confined indefinitely.
And once again, Marcel Pichot

307
00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:25,520
walks back into the world.
And do you think this time

308
00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:27,520
behind bars made him a changed
man?

309
00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:31,440
Nope.
Shortly after his release, he

310
00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,800
begins again to get in trouble
with the law, this time for tax

311
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,480
fraud, and they fine him, charge
him for falsifying his financial

312
00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,760
records.
By the time Germany invaded

313
00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:47,000
France in 1939, Marcel Picciot
had this absolutely gigantic

314
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:48,640
list of criminal activity behind
him.

315
00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:52,320
Theft, fraud, assault.
Repeated psychiatric diagnosis

316
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,400
warning that he is unstable and
he's going to do something bad.

317
00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:59,280
And yet somehow he's still
practicing medicine.

318
00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:05,440
He still has patients.
With Germany occupying France,

319
00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:08,920
Marcel began to create a new
persona again.

320
00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,440
The Nazis had tightened their
control over the country, so

321
00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,360
Marcel began presenting himself
as a member of the French

322
00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:18,280
Resistance in the early years of
the occupation.

323
00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:20,560
Some of what he did actually
appeared to be helpful.

324
00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:24,080
He used his position as a doctor
to provide false medical records

325
00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:27,760
and disability certificates.
Those were for French citizens

326
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:29,880
who were being forced into
German labor camps.

327
00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,920
He also treated workers who are
returning from those camps and

328
00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:37,440
they were sick or injured.
But even though he was doing

329
00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:41,200
something good, he just couldn't
go long without doing something

330
00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:44,440
terrible, and his patients
started complaining that he was

331
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,800
again over prescribing
narcotics, fueling addiction

332
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,600
while profiting from their
dependents.

333
00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:54,240
In 1942, he was convicted again
for illegally prescribing and

334
00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:58,120
other drug related offenses.
Rather than slowing down,

335
00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:01,800
though, the conviction seemed to
push him further into the deep

336
00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:04,640
end, and at this point,
Pichotis.

337
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:08,880
He adopts a new identity and he
starts calling himself Doctor

338
00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:11,600
Eugene.
Under the identity of Doctor

339
00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,840
Eugene, he created what appeared
to be an underground escape

340
00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:18,880
network designed to help people
flee Nazi occupied France.

341
00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:23,040
The network was called Fly
Talks, and he claimed that he

342
00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:26,760
had connections with Argentine
authorities who could transport

343
00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:29,200
refugees from France to South
America.

344
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,560
And to understand why Marcel was
able to kill so many people

345
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,480
without any suspicion, you kind
of have to understand the world

346
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:37,640
that these victims were living
in.

347
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:41,240
By the early 1940s, France was
under Nazi occupation.

348
00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:43,440
Jewish families were being
rounded up to put into

349
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:45,920
concentration camps.
Members of the resistance were

350
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:49,280
haunted by the Gestapo.
Informants were absolutely

351
00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:51,680
everywhere.
An arrest meant torture,

352
00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,000
deportation or just straight
execution.

353
00:20:54,640 --> 00:21:00,000
People were desperate, and real
escape networks did exist in

354
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:04,560
Paris and all throughout Europe.
There were smugglers, diplomats,

355
00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:08,040
priests and other resistance
groups quietly moving refugees

356
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:10,200
across borders into Spain,
Switzerland.

357
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:14,160
Then once they could get more
money, they got them on ships to

358
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:17,280
other countries across the
ocean.

359
00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:22,080
These underground routes did
save thousands upon thousands of

360
00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:24,800
people.
So when someone heard that there

361
00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:27,560
was a doctor in Paris who could
get people out of France and

362
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,120
onto ships headed to South
America, it didn't sound

363
00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:33,280
impossible.
It sounded like hope.

364
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:39,640
But hope came with a price.
Marcel charged 25,000 francs per

365
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:42,880
person, which was about $28,000
today.

366
00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:47,360
And, well, adjusting for
inflation, that would be about

367
00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:52,960
$447,000 for people who believed
that they were buying a chance

368
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,360
to live, they were willing to
pay.

369
00:21:56,120 --> 00:21:59,440
That meant most of the victims
arrived carrying only the things

370
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:01,800
that they owned, the last of
their items.

371
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,120
Families sold their homes, their
businesses, their jewelry, their

372
00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:09,320
family heirlooms, all to get
this 25,000 franc fee.

373
00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,440
And I mean, don't have a big
family because now all of a

374
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,840
sudden you got to find 150,000
francs.

375
00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,080
And then they arrived with this
money to Pucheau's house.

376
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:23,400
They bring their suitcases
packed with clothing, passports,

377
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:27,320
photographs, wedding rings,
sometimes generations of family

378
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:29,280
treasures.
Things that weren't worth a lot

379
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:31,680
of money, but they were
important to these families.

380
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:36,280
Investigators would find most of
those belongings still in

381
00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,240
Marcel's house.
Suitcases were stacked against

382
00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:43,120
almost every wall in the home,
clothing neatly folded, personal

383
00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:46,000
documents all left behind.
It looked like a group of

384
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,120
travelers had simply vanished in
the middle of their trip.

385
00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:53,560
And they kind of did.
Many of his victims were Jewish

386
00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:55,880
refugees trying to escape
deportation.

387
00:22:56,360 --> 00:22:59,760
Others were resistance couriers
or political dissidents who

388
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,120
feared that they were going to
be arrested and probably

389
00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:04,840
executed.
Some were criminals hoping to

390
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:06,760
disappear before the Gestapo
just caught them.

391
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:09,560
But what they all had in common
was that they were desperate.

392
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,720
They believe they were buying a
chance to survive World War 2,

393
00:23:13,360 --> 00:23:16,000
and instead they walked into a
doctor's office and they never

394
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,040
came out.
When investigators would later

395
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,160
examine the remains they found
in Pecho's house, they could

396
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:26,280
confirm 26 victims.
But some historians believe that

397
00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:30,840
he may have killed upwards of 60
or more people, based on just

398
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:34,720
the sheer number of suitcases,
personal belongings and bags

399
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:36,400
that investigators found in the
home.

400
00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:39,600
But the true number, we'll
probably never know.

401
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,440
When police examine the remains,
many of the bodies have been

402
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:47,400
burned.
I'm going to use the term

403
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,040
dissolved in quick lime, even
though that's not exactly what

404
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:52,680
it worked.
But they had been dumped in

405
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,440
quick lime, or he had
dismembered the body parts so

406
00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:01,320
severely that identification was
almost impossible, essentially

407
00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,280
the same thing that he did with
Louise.

408
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:07,880
In normal circumstances,
investigators might have relied

409
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:11,320
on families to come forward,
report missing relatives, or

410
00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:14,640
recognize the personal items.
But these weren't normal

411
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,160
circumstances.
It was still the middle of World

412
00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,480
War 2.
Paris was a city where people

413
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:23,600
were disappearing every day and
Jewish families were living and

414
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:27,120
hiding, using false identities
or trying to avoid the attention

415
00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:29,800
of the authorities.
For many of them, publicly

416
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:32,560
claiming a missing relative
would mean that they were going

417
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:36,200
to expose themselves to the very
danger they were trying to

418
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,040
escape in the 1st place.
There's just no one who was

419
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,920
going to walk into a police
station in Nazi occupied France

420
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,840
and go, well, that suitcase
belongs to my Jewish brother and

421
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:48,320
his whole family.
At this time, silence was

422
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:52,360
survival, and that silence made
identification virtually

423
00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:54,840
impossible.
Those suitcases, jewelry,

424
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:58,040
documents, and clothing that got
recovered from Marcel's house?

425
00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,840
Most of them were never
officially connected to anyone's

426
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,800
remains or to any families.
In the end, the chaos of war

427
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,200
didn't just help him hide his
crimes while they were

428
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,880
happening, it helped erase the
identities of the majority of

429
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:17,040
his victims.
Now, Marcel didn't work alone.

430
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:22,040
He had three accomplices, Raul
Frier, Edmund Pintard and Renee

431
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:26,920
Gustav Nezen debt, and their job
was to find victims, help

432
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,600
recruit people, find desperate
people, send them to Doctor

433
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,520
Eugene.
Once the victims arrived, Pichot

434
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,360
told them that before they were
going to leave France, they

435
00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:39,200
would need a special set of
vaccinations that would help

436
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:42,600
protect them during travel.
Just didn't seem too crazy to

437
00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:45,560
people who were listening to
him, but instead what they got

438
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,440
injected with was straight
cyanide after they died,

439
00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:52,680
painfully at that.
He stole all of their valuables,

440
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,120
which he brought with them.
Anything that was worth any real

441
00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:59,080
money he sold, like jewelry,
really nice luggage, and he

442
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,600
would dispose of the bodies.
Hold on to the cash.

443
00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:06,040
At first he dumped them into the
Sand River, but bodies appearing

444
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,040
in the water risked attracting
attention, so he began

445
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:10,520
experimenting with other
methods.

446
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,560
Now I didn't want to call it
dissolving with quick lime

447
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,000
before because I'm going to
explain quick lime and how it

448
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:19,840
works right now.
So in Marcel's basement, he

449
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,400
created what was called a quick
lime pit, believing that it was

450
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:26,600
going to dissolve the bodies.
This was something that during

451
00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,320
the time period, early nights, a
lot of different criminals

452
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,560
believed, but it actually
doesn't.

453
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,160
It doesn't do what people think
it does.

454
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,760
So quick.
Lyme is calcium oxide and it

455
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:39,960
doesn't destroy human remains at
all.

456
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:44,080
Instead of dissolving the
tissue, it dries the tissue out,

457
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:48,280
which ultimately slows down
decomposition and in some case

458
00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:52,280
completely preserves different
parts of the body.

459
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:57,440
So in reality, that Pit and
Picho's basement was reducing

460
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:01,160
the smell of decay, discouraging
animals or insects from

461
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:05,840
disturbing what had become a
weird, strange mass grave

462
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,680
underneath his house.
Eventually, he turned to another

463
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,320
method, incineration.
But that has its own problems

464
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,200
too.
See, human bodies are about 60%

465
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,320
water, and before tissue can
burn, that water has to

466
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,640
evaporate.
Modern crematoriums operate

467
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:26,600
anywhere between 1400 and
1800°F, depending on the size of

468
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:28,120
the body that needs to be
cremated.

469
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:32,160
And even at those temperatures,
it can take upwards of three

470
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:36,120
hours to reduce a single body
down to bone fragments.

471
00:27:36,360 --> 00:27:39,440
And that's another thing too.
I don't know if you've had

472
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,320
anyone in your family get
cremated or you've looked at the

473
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,040
remains, but I have because I
was a morbid child.

474
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:51,560
And it's not all ash.
A lot of it is bone chunks, and

475
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:56,480
in fact, I follow a creator
online named Caitlin Doty, and

476
00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,080
she said that there's actually a
device called Acremulator that

477
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:04,240
helps grind the bones so that
they are smaller and not

478
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:08,040
alarming to families who
received this bag of remains.

479
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,880
That's not going to happen in a
furnace in people's homes.

480
00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:16,640
It's designed to heat a house,
not cremate anyone.

481
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,360
It simply just cannot reach
those kind of temperatures.

482
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:24,560
And instead of making the bodies
disappear, the chimney began

483
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,360
announcing these bodies to the
neighborhood.

484
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:32,600
And all of this is going on in a
townhouse that he purchased in

485
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:38,360
1941 a few blocks from the Arc
de Triomphe, one of the most

486
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:42,840
busy and recognizable landmarks
in all of Paris outside of the

487
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,680
Eiffel Tower.
So many people are coming

488
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:51,440
through this area, and what they
are noticing is thick, billowy

489
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:57,560
smoke just coming out of this
chimney 24 hours a day.

490
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,600
For someone running a mass
murder operation, he was

491
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,600
remarkably bad at keeping a low
profile.

492
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:09,040
Now, eventually, the Descopo
begin hearing rumors about an

493
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,360
underground escape route that's
moving people out of France.

494
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,760
And so they think they've
discovered the resistance

495
00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:18,600
smuggling network.
So they decide to launch a sting

496
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:21,840
operation and they send a
prisoner and are named Ivan

497
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:24,320
Dreyfus through the system to
test it.

498
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,120
And they're like, if Ivan gets
out, then we'll know where

499
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:29,880
they're taking them.
We'll know everything about this

500
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:31,320
and we can come find these
people.

501
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:37,400
Only problem, Ivan just dies.
They never hear from him ever

502
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:41,800
again.
And so the Gestapo think, OK, it

503
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,960
probably worked and he just
decided to take his freedom and

504
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,320
not come back to prison.
So they keep probing.

505
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:53,160
And so they finally capture the
three accomplices for yay,

506
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,280
Pintard and Mezendek.
Under torture.

507
00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:00,800
Those 3 reveal that the
mysterious Dr. Eugene is

508
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:05,600
actually Marcel Pichot and the
Gestapo arrive and they arrest

509
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,480
him along with a couple other
people who didn't actually do

510
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,200
anything wrong.
I distinctly remember that they

511
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,040
also brought his wife in and I
feel bad because she absolutely

512
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,080
knew nothing about what he was
doing and so she just got

513
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:24,000
tortured for no reason.
Now, ironically, because Picho

514
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,400
had never actually worked with
real resistance members, they

515
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,400
couldn't actually identify any
resistance members during these

516
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,800
interrogations that they did.
And eventually they have to

517
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:39,440
release him and everyone that
they kidnapped in January of

518
00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:42,800
1944, they were still
suspicious, but they didn't have

519
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:49,440
any proof until two months
later, March 11th, 1944.

520
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:56,040
Marcel's neighbors complained so
many times about the horrific

521
00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:00,520
smell and thick black smoke
pouring from his chimney that

522
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,520
finally police decided they were
going to look into it.

523
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:05,960
And actually, they brought
firefighters because they were

524
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,600
like, maybe his house is on
fire.

525
00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:12,440
Instead, they find 10 bodies in
various stages of decomposition.

526
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:18,360
Most of the remains are found
just kind of all thrown into the

527
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:21,520
furnace at the same time, which
doesn't make any logical sense

528
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:26,120
if you're actually trying to get
rid of remains because even in a

529
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,920
crematorium, they don't throw 10
people in at the same time.

530
00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:34,400
But they find another quick line
pit in the backyard.

531
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,160
They find all sorts of
dismembered body parts that

532
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:42,000
don't match in bags like canvas
bags just sitting in the

533
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:45,200
basement.
They are stunned by the amount

534
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,960
of suitcases, clothing and
personal belongings just all

535
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,480
over the entire property.
The line pit, the furnace that's

536
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,760
running 24 hours a day.
There were hooks and chains and

537
00:31:55,760 --> 00:32:00,600
circle the the lime pit, the
furnace running 24 hours a day.

538
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:04,520
There were hooks and chains and
surgical tools in the basement.

539
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:11,080
The police were nauseated and
this discovery exploded into

540
00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:13,720
international news.
It appeared in newspapers across

541
00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,800
Switzerland, Belgium,
Scandinavia, and soon everyone

542
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,080
had a name for Doctor Marcel
Pichot.

543
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:24,680
They called him Doctor Satan,
and after initial police

544
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:29,800
interviews, they released him
and he disappeared immediately.

545
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,880
He told his friends that the
Gestapo was hunting him because

546
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,800
he had executed German
informants while working for the

547
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,160
resistance.
And while in hiding, he decided

548
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:42,000
to grow out his beard.
And he started using lots of

549
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,240
different aliases.
And he moved in with one of his

550
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:46,560
patients, who's named Georges
Rodeau.

551
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:51,720
For months, the most infamous
killer in Paris was invisible.

552
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,840
It was still really huge news
what had happened in his home.

553
00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,400
And so he decided that the best
way to hide from the police was

554
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:03,520
to join them.
He took the name Henry Valerie.

555
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:06,840
He grew out that mustache and
the beard, so it was huge.

556
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:10,800
And he joined the French forces
of the interior, the FFI, which

557
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,600
was a coalition of resistance
groups that formed near the end

558
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:17,000
of the war to help liberate
France from Nazi occupation.

559
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:21,480
Incredibly, he managed to blend
in so well that he rose through

560
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,920
the ranks and was given in the
title of Captain Valeri.

561
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,920
For a brief moment, it seemed
like he may have successfully

562
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,400
disappeared into the chaos of
wartime France.

563
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:35,120
But it didn't last very long.
See, in the fall of 1944, a

564
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,520
newspaper called Resistance
published a story about Marcel

565
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:42,560
Bichot, accused him of not only
murder, but that he was a German

566
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,240
collaborator.
And the accusations actually

567
00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,400
reunited interest in the case,
and the police begin to search

568
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,040
for him again.
This time it was a lot more

569
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:55,920
urgent and ironically, one of
the officers who was tasked with

570
00:33:55,920 --> 00:34:00,240
helping to locate the dangerous
fugitive Marcel Pichot was

571
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,600
Captain Henry Valerie.
So the police asked him to find

572
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:07,800
himself.
But that wasn't why he got

573
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,760
caught.
His downfall came from a simple

574
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,080
mistake.
While hiding, he sent a letter

575
00:34:14,199 --> 00:34:18,159
to his attorney asking that
attorney to defend him publicly

576
00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:22,080
and inform the newspapers that
the accusations were all lies.

577
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:26,760
His attorney did as he was told
and that let investigators know

578
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:30,880
a very critical detail.
Marcel Pichot is still in Paris,

579
00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:35,719
so they began to narrow their
search and on October 31st, 1944

580
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:38,520
he was recognized while he was
traveling through the Paris

581
00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:40,760
metro and was immediately
arrested.

582
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,400
When officers searched him, they
found 31,700 francs in cash, a

583
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:50,360
pistol and 50 different sets of
identity papers, evidence of

584
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:54,400
just how many false identities
he had been using over just the

585
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:58,960
last like 8 months.
His trial became one of the most

586
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:02,640
sensational in post war France.
Throughout the proceedings

587
00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:05,200
though he insisted.
I've just been working for the

588
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,920
resistance the entire time.
He claimed that every single

589
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:12,360
person that he killed was an
enemy of France, Nazi

590
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:15,320
collaborators, informants or
traitors.

591
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,480
And according to his story, he
had discovered the bodies in his

592
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:21,720
home, just like the police had,
and assumed they were victims of

593
00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:26,400
resistance activity.
Investigators quickly dismantled

594
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:29,040
that claim.
None of the major resistance

595
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:32,640
groups recognized Marcel.
Some of the organizations that

596
00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:35,640
he claimed membership in weren't
even real.

597
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:40,160
During early interrogations, he
admitted to killing nineteen

598
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,120
German collaborators between
1940 and 1945.

599
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,000
But when police began to analyze
the remains found inside the

600
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:50,760
home, they were able to identify
through evidence 26 different

601
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:54,160
sets of remains.
But even then, Pacho insisted

602
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:56,680
that those deaths were part of a
larger campaign against the

603
00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:59,800
enemies of France.
At one point, he told them he

604
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:03,480
had eliminated 65 enemies during
the war.

605
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:07,680
His lawyer tried his best to
frame Pacho as a misunderstood

606
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,040
patriot.
Sure, he had done terrible

607
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:13,240
things, but it was in the
service of France, the defense

608
00:36:13,240 --> 00:36:15,760
argued, that he had been
eliminating traitors and enemies

609
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,120
during wartime.
The court wasn't convinced.

610
00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:21,560
And it was mainly because of
Marcel.

611
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,280
Marcel's behavior during the
trial did not support this

612
00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:28,600
narrative.
Throughout the proceedings, he

613
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,880
mocked the prosecutors.
He interrupted witnesses.

614
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:34,920
He treated the courtroom like it
was his personal stage.

615
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:38,640
He answered questions very
sarcastic.

616
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:42,960
He openly taunted the
prosecution, and he showed very

617
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,960
little regard for the gravity of
the charges against him.

618
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:50,240
At several points, he even
smiled while describing the

619
00:36:50,240 --> 00:36:54,240
deaths of Jewish families that
he claimed were collaborators.

620
00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:57,160
For many in the courtroom, it
was shocking.

621
00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:02,160
Instead of appearing remorseful
or defensive, he seemed amused

622
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:06,920
by the spectacle of the trial.
And by the end, the jury was not

623
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:11,120
just unconvinced by the defense,
they were openly disgusted.

624
00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:14,680
And they found him guilty of
murder for profit, along with

625
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:19,680
135 additional criminal charges
tied to fraud, theft and

626
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:23,200
identity forgery.
He was sentenced to death by

627
00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:28,640
guillotine.
On May 25th, 1946, Marcel Pichot

628
00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:31,720
was executed.
His final words to the witnesses

629
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,080
were calm.
Gentlemen, I ask you not to

630
00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:37,600
look.
This will not be very pretty.

631
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:43,760
In a city already drowning in
fear and disappearance, Marshall

632
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:45,440
Pichot discovered something
chilling.

633
00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:48,680
War creates the perfect place
for monsters to hide.

634
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:51,840
During Nazi occupation, people
vanished every day.

635
00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:55,800
Some were taken by the Gestapo,
some were deported to camps,

636
00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:58,920
others simply disappeared into
the chaos of a continent.

637
00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:03,000
At war, families were left in
silence, never knowing if their

638
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,160
loved ones had escaped or if
they were already dead.

639
00:38:05,720 --> 00:38:08,640
And inside that uncertainty,
Picho found his cover.

640
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,720
His victims were never just
evidence in a police report.

641
00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:14,840
They were people trying to
outrun history, Jewish families

642
00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:18,120
desperate to escape deportation
resistance, couriers trying to

643
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:20,360
survive long enough to see
France liberated.

644
00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:23,480
People who sold their homes,
their heirlooms and everything

645
00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:27,000
they owned for the fragile
promise of a way out.

646
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:31,200
Instead of finding safety, they
walked into the home of Doctor

647
00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:35,360
Picho, and for years he hid
behind carefully constructed

648
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:38,800
identities.
Dr. Mayor, resistance fighter,

649
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,640
captain.
Every new title, another mask,

650
00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:44,680
another way to move unnoticed
through a city full of ghosts.

651
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:47,520
But even the most careful lies,
they've traces.

652
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,480
Suitcases left behind, valuable,
stripped from dead bodies,

653
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:55,080
neighbors staring at black smoke
rising from a chimney.

654
00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:59,400
Petro spent his life believing
he could erase the evidence of

655
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:01,920
everything he'd ever done.
But he was wrong.

656
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:05,080
Because no matter how long it
takes, the truth always finds

657
00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:09,120
its way back to the surface.
I'm Brittany Ransom, and this

658
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,320
has been another episode of When
Killers Get Caught.

659
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:16,560
Thank you for listening and
until next time, remember the

660
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:17,960
truth always leaves a trail.