Antoine Léger

Antoine Léger ( – 30 November 1824) was a French cannibal and murderer, convicted for the rape and killing of 12-year-old Aimée Constance Debully, whom he later partially devoured. For this crime, he was later guillotined.

Biography Childhood and adolescence Antoine Léger testified that, from an early age, he avoided socializing with his peers due to his tendency to prefer to be alone.

From the age of 15, he was a barn drummer and played the bassoon in the woods; in 1815, he served in the Soissons garrison.

Escape In 1824, on St. John's Day, he left his parents' house to become a hermit, after having made them believe that he was going to work as a domestic servant in Dourdan.

Crime

Murder of Aimée Constance Debully On 10 August 1824, Léger saw Debully walking by. He then slipped behind her, strangled her with his handkerchief, then carried the corpse into the middle of the woods and committed acts of necrophilia before devouring certain parts of Aimée, notably eating her heart. He then took the corpse to his cave, where he buried it in the sand. Finally, on 15 August, the entrance to Léger's cave was found, and the smell of the corpse's decomposition led the investigators to the makeshift grave.

Antoine Léger was guillotined on 30 November 1824, in Versailles. Following an autopsy, doctors discovered abnormalities in his brain. However, these findings have no scientific value by modern standards and reflect the level of knowledge of that era rather than the real biological causes of his behavior.