Jacques Plumain

Jacques Plumain (born 14 August 1973), known as The Ghost of Kehl (French: Fantôme de Kehl), is a French suspected serial killer who was convicted of killing two women in Germany and France from 1999 to 2001, but is considered a suspect in three others, being acquitted for one and never brought to trial for the other two.

In 2005, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 30-year security period, which was later reduced to 20 years on appeal. He has been eligible for parole since January 2021.

Early life Jacques Plumain was born on 14 August 1973, in Guadeloupe, an overseas department administered by France. The fourth of six children, all half-siblings fathered by different men, with Plumain's own father, a Jehovah's Witness, refusing to take part in raising him. A mediocre student during his youth, he was physically abused on a regular basis by his overbearing mother, whom he claimed beat him with a variety of appliances such as her belt, telephone cord, an electric cable or a broomstick. Later on, Plumain would also claim that he was sexually assaulted by a cousin at age 13. During that year, he started frequenting various nightclubs, where had numerous sexual liaisons with various women. In 1994, Plumain, a master corporal serving in the 1st Engineering Regiment of Illkirch, was stationed in Sarajevo and later Kosovo, where he disabled landmines. He was awarded a medal for his actions but later quit to become a security guard. Plumain later claimed that he had seen a friend of his get shot through the eyes by an enemy sniper, but this story has not been substantiated. As he was a soldier stationed near the area at the time, Plumain was proposed as a suspect, but was not arrested due to a lack of evidence against him. Later that month, he completed his service and returned to Strasbourg, where he worked as a sprinter at the FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and later as a security guard.

On 3 June 2005, Plumain was convicted of two counts of murder and attempted murder, for which he was given a life term with a 30-year security sentence. As he was acquitted of Celik's murder, the prosecution demanded a new trial. On 27 March 2006, the appeal trial began in the cour d'assises in Colmar, where he was again found guilty, but his security sentence was reduced to 20 years. In March 2008, the charges in the Hironimous murder was dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Plumain has been eligible for release ("libérable") since January 2021, which means he could potentially be released if granted parole. At trial proceedings, he claimed that he willingly attended psychiatric examinations in order to better understand why he had committed the murders and that he had embraced Catholicism, claiming that he was a reformed man. His potential release is criticized by his attorney, who stated that his former client could still pose a danger to society.

TV documentaries "Jacques Plumain, the Ghost of Kehl" (September 2008; January 2010) on Faites entrer l'accusé, presented by Christophe Hondelatte on France 2. "The border killer (first report) ...in Alsace-Lorraine" (21 September, 28 September and 6 October 2015) on Crimes on NRJ 12.