Thierry Paulin

Hello everyone and welcome back to Unthinkable, a true crime podcast. Thank you for joining me today. My name's Lisa. Now, today's case it's horrible. So this was recommended to me by someone on Instagram. So thank you to username EBUBJJ for your recommendation. So today I'm going to talk about the life and crimes of a French serial killer who terrorized Paris during the 1980s. His victims were all vulnerable elderly women who he would torture and kill to get his hands on their money to fund his lifestyle.

This is the case of Thierry Paulin. Now before we get started, I just want to put a massive disclaimer here. I have trouble pronouncing words anyway. At the best of times, you're probably aware if you listen regularly, I do get a lot of words wrong. The names in this case are French names, and I've tried practicing them before I start recording, so I've been like rehearsing the names. But as soon as I press record, it just falls out of my head, and I can't remember them. So I apologise in advance for my questionable pronunciations.

Right, so Thierry Pauline, he was born on the 25th of November 1963 in Fort de France in Martinique, which is a small French-speaking colony in the Caribbean. So his parents were Guy Pauline and Rosa Helena Larcher. His mother was only 16 when she had him. And two days after his birth, his parents actually break up, and his dad leaves Martinique and he moves to mainland, uh, France, leaving his son behind. Now, Rosa, she was so young and she was struggling to provide and care for Thierry by herself.

So when he was just 18 months old, Thierry was left with his maternal grandmother. During this time, Rosa had virtually no contact with her son, and she actually moved to another town. She got married and had three more children. Thierry stayed with his grandmother until he was 10 years old. And reports say his grandmother, although she provided basic needs, she was quite neglectful towards him. She didn't interact with him much, and he was left alone most of the day and into the evening because his grandmother ran a restaurant.

Now, when Thierry is 10, his mother finally gets in contact, and now that she has a stable and settled life with a new family, she wants to get her son back. So Thierry leaves his grandmother and moves across town to live with his biological mother. But he hasn't seen her since he was 18 months old. So he doesn't know her. He hasn't seen her since he was a baby. And now he's leaving the home he grew up in to move in with strangers. As you can imagine, this move was difficult for Thierry. He really struggled to adjust to the new household.

He struggled to bond with his mother. I mean, she essentially abandoned him and went on to have another family. Thierry was described as being quite hostile and aggressive towards his half-siblings, so you can imagine he's had some resentment towards them. The dynamics in the home become so dysfunctional that just two years later, Thierry's mother actually decides she can't cope with him anymore and she sends him away again. And this time he goes to live with his father in mainland France. But he's never even met his father.

So you can see that this is creating a really unstable childhood for him. He's literally being passed around all over the place, but then being told to leave as if nobody wants him. This is going to create an abandonment issue, isn't it? It's really sad. So at the age of 12, Thierry's uprooted again to go and live with his father. He enroll in school, but again, the environment was difficult for him. He struggled significantly at school. He struggled to make friends. Thierry was mixed race, and mainland France was predominantly white, so he stood out.

His lack of social skills and his inability to fit in left him feeling isolated. He performed poorly at school, he failed his exams, and then he dropped out. But interestingly, he chose to join the military. So in 1980, at the age of 17, Thierry joined the French military's airborne forces, leaving his life and school behind. But Thierry's time in the military was sadly, it was just met with conflict and discrimination. Thierry, by this point, he was openly gay and he faced hostility from fellow soldiers due to his race and his sexuality.

So he's just not fitting in anywhere, is he? He's been rejected both in school and now in the military, and he was abandoned by his parents. So Thierry was described by those around him as intensely angry, unstable, and could be violent. And I'm not trying to make excuses for what he goes on to do at all, but you can see why he'd be angry and unstable, can't you? He's had no real stability in his life. He's just been moved around all over the place. Now, on the 14th of November 1982, Thierry is still serving in the military.

This is when he commits his first crime. So he actually goes into a grocery store with a knife and he threatens the elderly lady behind the till, demanding money. But he's a regular customer in the grocery shop. So the lady, she knows him and so she calls the police, and he's arrested soon after. And in June 1983, Thierry was convicted of robbery and given two years suspended sentence. And this ended his military career. So in 1984, at the age of 20, Thierry leaves the army. He's discovered that his mother has now moved her and her family to Paris, so he actually went to stay with them for a short time.

He got a job as a waiter in the Paradise Latin, a famous cabaret venue in the Latin quarter. Now the relationship with his mother remains very volatile and hostile, and before long he'd moved out of the family home, and now he's living independently, but he's actually living the majority of the time in cheap hotels. Now, working at the cabaret gave Thierry an entry point into Paris nightlife, and he was drawn to the drag scene. He fully immersed himself in the Parisian club scene, and the Paradise Latin where he worked was famous for its drag and artistic shows.

This provided an environment where Thierry could fully express himself. It's like finally he's found a place where he fits in and he's accepted. Working here allowed him to build a social circle. He wasn't being rejected and he even started performing. Thierry would perform as a drag artist under the name Paul de Saint-Ayugn, and he loved the attention. Thierry was being invited to glamorous parties, and he even found himself a love interest. So in the spring of 1984, Thierry meets Jean-Thierry Mataran, and the pair became an item.

So he loves his job, he has a social life now, a place of acceptance, and a boyfriend. So things appear to be looking up. But the Paris nightlife provided easy access to cocaine, and Thierry's new boyfriend was already addicted to drugs. And it wasn't long before Thierry was using cocaine regularly. Now he loved being the centre of attention, he regularly attended elite nightclubs and cabarese venues. He loved expensive designer clothes, and every night Thierry would go to high-end clubs, VIP tables, wearing expensive clothes, having champagne, and taking drugs.

Thierry and his partner, Jean Thierry, presented themselves as successful and glamorous. But the reality was they couldn't keep up this expensive lifestyle. They became low-level drug dealers to help fund their lifestyle. And you can see things are starting to spiral, can't you? Now we know that Thierry has a temper, likely formed from his abandonment issues and how he was treated as a child, but his constant drug use fueled his explosive temper. Heavy cocaine use and the intense nightlife worsened his emotional instability, making his mood swings unpredictable and dangerous.

He could joyfully be sipping on champagne and laughing with friends and then suddenly becoming aggressive and confrontational. He was often seen aggressively arguing with his partner, and then one night, late in 1984, Thierry was having a drug-fueled, loud and violent argument with his partner inside the Paralys Latin nightclub where he worked, and it was so bad that Thierry was actually fired from his job, the job he loved. And with this, he lost his income. So how would he fund his cocaine habit and support his lifestyle?

Well, within a few days of being fired, Thierry and his partner turned to home invasions to get cash. Now, on the 5th of October 1984, Germaine Petito, a 91-year-old lady, was in her apartment in Paris when Thierry and Jean Thierry broke in with the plan to rob her. But once inside, they physically assaulted and severely beat her in an attempt to force her to hand over cash. She's 91. They searched the apartment for money and valuables before fleeing. Now, Germaine, she suffered terrible injuries, but thankfully she survived the assault.

But given her advanced age and the sudden violent nature of the assault, she was left so traumatised that she was unable to give police any real descriptions of her attackers. Later that same day, the pair followed 83-year-old Anna Barbara Ponthus to her apartment. When she reached the front door and unlocked it, they immediately overpowered Anna and forced her inside. They beat her repeatedly, demanding to know where she kept her money. Thierry Pauline then suffocated poor Anna to death with a pillow.

They ransacked her apartment, fleeing with just over 300 French francs, which is about 38 pounds. So Anna was beaten and murdered for 38 pounds. And the money they stole from Germain Petito wasn't much either. These poor women, they didn't stand a chance against these much younger and stronger men. So after Anna died, Thierry and his partner simply closed the door and left the scene. Now Anna's body was discovered later that afternoon. Neighbours raised the alarm after Anna fell to answer the door.

The police were called. When the officers arrived, they entered Anna's apartment and they found her grocery bag that contained fresh groceries just sitting by the front door. She was just going about her normal day. Now, because Anna had been suffocated with a pillow, there was little forensic evidence, but they did find fingerprints. But in 1984, the fingerprint identification system was in its early stages. There were no fingerprints to match with. But the prints found at the scene were preserved and stored in evidence archives.

So that night, with the money they'd stolen, Thierry and his partner went out to hire nightclubs in Paris. They bought expensive alcohol and drugs and partied until the early hours of the morning. Four days after the first attack, so on the 9th of October, Thierry and Jean Thierry were out of cash again. The pair had quite a serious drug habit, and with the desire to fund their expensive partying lifestyle, which they cannot afford anyway, they then target Suzanne Focult. Suzanne is 89. They're picking the most vulnerable victims.

They're aware they can fully overpower them. It's horrible. So much like what they did to Anna, they followed Suzanne home. Once again they forced their way inside. Suzanne was gagged, bound, and beaten, and then strangled to death. Again they ransacked her apartment, and this time they found about 800 French francs, which is around£100. They stole some of Suzanne's jewellery, and that night they used Suzanne's money to buy cocaine and heroin to fuel their habit and spent the rest partying the night away again to the early hours of the morning.

So they are spending everything they stole all in one night. So the next day they are immediately out of cash again. So they plan their next attack straight away. So back at Suzanne's apartment, neighbours actually call the fire brigade because they notice smoke coming from inside. Thierry, after he killed Suzanne, he had attempted to set fire to the apartment to cover up the crime. But luckily the neighbours noticed smoke before the fire could take hold. The firefighters enter the apartment quickly and extinguished the flames, but then of course they discover Suzanne's body and they alert the police.

And frustratingly, the lack of evidence again, but this time the police do realize that the murders match, like this isn't just a coincidence, this is a pattern, and they realise they're dealing with a serial killer. So on the 4th of November, Thierry and his partner target their fourth victim. They follow, oh, I'm sorry, I don't know how to say this. They follow 71-year-old Leona Siccasio. Sicar Esco? Oh Sicari Esco to her apartment, beat her and suffocate her, steal her money, and then go out partying all night and taking drugs.

And this just continues. So the very next day, out of cash, the pair targets 77-year-old Paula Victor as she's bound, beaten, and suffocated with a plastic bag being placed over her head. They murdered 84-year-old Alice Parchouch on the 7th of November. They murdered 80-year-old Marie Choi on the 8th of November. And on the 9th of November, they murder Jeanne Laurent. That's three days in a row. How are they getting away with this? It's unbelievable. It's murder after murder. The elderly ladies living in Paris at this time must have been absolutely petrified.

So on the 12th of November, Marie Mamon, aged 84, was attacked, robbed and killed in her apartment in the same style as the previous seven. But after eight murders in just over five weeks, the attacks seemingly stop. Police have no leads or no evidence to who's committing these awful crimes, but it appears that the killing spree is over. It wasn't until a year later, on the 20th of December 1985, that 91-year-old Estelle Donjoux was followed back to her apartment in Paris, ambushed, beaten, bound, suffocated, and robbed.

The murders had started up again. But this time Thierry Pauline was acting alone. So in late November 1984, so the year before the murders started up again, Thierry and Jean Thierry decided to go and stay with Thierry's biological father. He is now living in Toulouse in the southwest of France. Because of the crimes they had committed, there was a huge police presence, and the couple decided to leave town for a while to escape the pressure. However, Thierry's father was not accepting that his son was in a same-sex relationship, and the house became very hostile with frequent fights and arguments.

Things got so bad that Jean Thierry actually ended the relationship for good and he left Toulouse and went back to Paris. Now Thierry stayed with his father. They still had a very troubled relationship. Thierry put all his focus into trying to build a career in the local nightlife and performing as a drag performer, much like he had done in Paris. But he didn't fit in as well in Toulouse. It wasn't the same, and the financial problems mounted. The relationship with his father deteriorated even further, and in autumn 1985, Thierry decided to leave his father's house.

He abandoned their relationship and returned to Paris. So he returns to Paris and he's completely penniless. He needed money quickly and a place to stay. Thierry never had a fixed address. He couchsurfed and stayed in cheap hotel rooms and returned to spending his nights in nightclubs. But how could he fund this? Thierry reverted back to the only way he knew how to get fast money: home invasions and murder. And that brings us back to the murder of 91 Estelle Don Jox. Estelle was murdered in exactly the same way as the previous killings the year before, but police initially thought it was an isolated incident rather than the serial killer.

So it was only when several elderly women were murdered and robbed that they realized the serial killer was back in Paris. In January 1986, Thierry carried out a rapid number of attacks. On January the 4th, he killed 77-year-old Andri Ladame. Five days later, on the 9th, he killed 83-year-old Yvonne Coron. On the same day, he killed 83-year-old Fran Vendom. Then on the 12th of January, he killed 81-year-old Marjam Joubland. On the 15th, he killed Yvonne Schabel. And then we get to the 31st of January 1986.

Thierry murdered and robbed 76-year-old Virginie LeBret. That's six brutal murders in a single month. And police still have no leave. After Virginia died, the killing spree seemed to stop once more. And this is because during the second wave of murders, Thierry had actually managed to accumulate enough cash to fund his drug habit and his party lifestyle for a good few months. Thierry had a huge circle of friends who he'd met in the nightlife scene, and although he was known to have a temper, those who knew him described him as being charming and funny, and they said he was extremely generous and he was always buying expensive gifts and champagne.

When asked by friends what he did for work, Thierry would say that he was a businessman and then he'd lie about doing private business deals. Nobody had any idea how he actually made his money, and why would they? So Thierry parted his way through the weeks and months, and then by June 1986, he started to run out of money again. So he simply finds a new victim, and this time he targets 85-year-old Lemilia Liberman. True to form, Thierry fought his way into her apartment, strangled her to death, and stole her money and valuables.

Now, after the attack, Thierry was arrested, but not on suspicion of his crimes. Thierry had violently assaulted one of his drug dealers with a baseball bat, and the drug dealer actually called the police. Thierry was arrested and charged with assault, and he was sentenced to 16 months in prison. So the elderly women of Paris unknowingly were safe once more. Thierry was being held at the Franz prison in Paris, and while he was undergoing routine medical testing, he actually discovered that he's HIV positive.

So in the 1980s, HIV was literally a death sentence. It's not like that today, someone living with HIV can relatively live a long and normal life. But in the 80s, there were no effective treatments and the virus rapidly progressed into AIDS, and AIDS was fatal. Now, knowing his life would be cut short, upon his release in 1987, he immediately accelerated his crimes. He went straight back to reckless spending, lavish parties, and a new spree of murders to fund it all. And so on the 25th of November 1987, Thierry attacked two women on the same day.

79-year-old Rachel Cohen was beaten, bound, robbed, and then killed. And then he targeted 87-year-old Bertha Fenaltri. He performed his usual vicious and brutal attack, but this time Bertha. Survived the attack. Thierry had stole her money and valuables and he'd left her for dead, but she was alive. Her son found her later that day. He was concerned when he couldn't reach her, so he came to his mum's apartment. He found her unconscious lying on the floor. Bertha was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition.

She regained consciousness in a few days, and unbelievably, she could give the police officers a crucial and detailed description of her attacker. On the 27th of November, Thierry attacked and killed his vinyl victim, 73-year-old Genevieve Dumont. She was strangled in her apartment and he stole any money and valuables that he could find. Thierry spent the next night using the stolen money to fund drug-fueled parties and spending the early hours in nightclubs and bars. Unbeknowingly to Thierry, there was a huge manhunt being conducted, and the police were focusing particularly the club and nightlife scene.

Now on the 1st of December 1987, at around 2 pm, Thierry is walking past a metro station when he's approached by police inspector Francis Jacob. Inspector Jacob asks Thierry to accompany him to the local police station for a routine identity check. Thierry complies completely, he doesn't try to refuse or flee. At the police station, they take his fingerprints, and of course, the fingerprints match with the fingerprints found at the crime scene. Thierry, he cracks almost immediately under questioning, and he confesses pretty much straight away.

So then over the next two days, he goes on to confess to the brutal attacks, murders, and robbery of 21 elderly women in Paris. And he goes into detail of each killing. He explains that he committed the horrific crime solely to fund his drug habit and expensive lifestyle. And then he goes on to tell investigators that the initial killingsbury he wasn't working alone. And his accomplice was his former partner, Jean Thierry Mataran. Immediately after Thierry's confession, Jean Thierry was arrested.

Jean Thierry initially denied any involvement in the crimes, but during his interrogation, he confessed to being Thierry's accomplice during the first series of attacks in Paris in November 1984. But he denies murder. He tells officers that it was Thierry Pauline who was responsible for the brutal attacks and the murders. He said he never did any of those, that he was there to find the money. So Thierry Pauline, so he's charged with 18 counts of murder, multiple counts of attempted murder, multiple counts of aggravated assault, and multiple counts of armed or violent robbery.

Jean-Thierry Matarin, even though he denied murder, he was charged with eight counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and multiple counts of aggravated robbery. Now both men have been charged, but in a shocking twist, Thierry Pauline was never convicted. He never even stood trial. Whilst he was in prison, awaiting trial, his health rapidly deteriorated due to complications with AIDS, and he died. So he died on the 16th of April 1989. The charges brought against him ended without a formal verdict, and this left Jean Thierry the only person ever convicted.

The trial started on the 16th of December 1991. The prosecutor referred to Thierry Pauline as a ghost hanging over the trial. The jury was shown horrific photos of the crime scenes, and these photos were described as exceptionally graphic and disturbing, showing the extreme physical violence with pictures of strangulation marks and blunt force trauma. Jean Thierry's defence, they tried to paint Jean as a passive, reluctant follower under Thierry Pauline's control. But with the crime scene photos and there's other physical evidence to prove that Jean Thierry was an active participant.

So he was found guilty on all charges and he was sentenced to life in prison, serving a minimum of 18 years before being eligible for parole. So 18 years seems rather light, does it? For eight murders. Anyway, he served 21 years in prison and was officially released in January 2012. Following his release, he has kept a low profile and there was no public details about his whereabouts. So under French privacy law, they protect people who have served served their time. The case of Thierry Paulin is one of France's most infamous cases due to the scale and the vulnerability of the victims.

It created widespread panic throughout Paris. No one was safe, even in their own homes, and the killers went undetected for years. The brutal attacks kept happening. If Bertha hadn't survived her attack, who knows how many more victims Thierry Pauline would go on to murder before he succumbed to AIDS? Thierry's death before he faced trial left a sense of incomplete justice that still hangs over the case today. The families of the victims never got their day in court against the person who robbed them of their loved ones.

So that's the case of Thierry Pauline. Do let me know what you think of this case. In the beginning of my research into it, I started feeling really sorry for him because of his childhood and the abandonment from both his parents, the neglect from his grandmother, and his inability to fit in anywhere. Plus, he had the racist and homophobic hate. Like it's just awful. You know, he had an awful start to life, but plenty of people have the most horrific things happen to them and traumatic events happen, and they don't go on to kill.

I think his childhood and early teenage life is partly to blame for what happened, but it certainly isn't an excuse. Thanks for listening, everyone. So I'm after some reviews on my podcast platforms. If you'd like to leave me a review on wherever you listen to a podcast, I'd be very, very grateful. I am on Instagram at Unthinkable TrueCrime if you want to come and join me over there. And I will be back next week with another episode. I like to end by saying in a world where you can be anything, be kind.

Take care.

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