Pierre Lagrée

Pierre-Marie Lagrée (20 November 1896 – 21 August 1916) was a French soldier and serial killer who was court-martialed and later executed for four murders committed in the span of two months between 1915 and 1916. Due to the severity of his crimes, he was compared to infamous spree killer Jean-Baptiste Troppmann. Early life Pierre-Marie Lagrée was born on 20 November 1896 in Quessoy, the elder of two sons of a local baker. His early life seemed turbulent, as his father apparently frequently beat him for the smallest offences, causing him to frequently lie and refuse to share his possessions with anyone. Lagrée started stealing at age 7, but this habit of his was only discovered five years later when he was caught trying to steal an eyeglass while working as a shepherd in Lancieux. Incapable of handling his father's aggressive behaviour, he eventually ran away from home at age 15, going to Saint-Malo, where he enlisted as a crewmate on a ship bound for Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Despite this, Lagrée was dissatisfied with army life and his meagre 35 franc salary, causing him to resort to asking his mother for more money. After she refused, he decided to resort back to stealing, and if need be, kill anyone who stood in his way.

Murders

Near the end of 1914, Lagrée was stationed in Tot-de-Bas, a small village near the seaside commune of Fermanville, where he became the bunkmate of 21-year-old private Édouard Bitel. A clockmaker by profession, Bitel always carried a small bag full of francs around his neck, which attracted Lagrée's attention. He then stole the bag and went back to the garrison. Bitel's body was soon found by locals, and an autopsy determined that the soldier had been killed by a blunt instrument, likely by a fellow conscript. Authorities determined that before he had used the club, the killer had also hit him with a bottle, which likely made cuts on the perpetrator's hand. As a result, all soldiers from the nearby garrison were examined and questioned, but by then, Lagrée was on leave and unable to be examined.

In order to avoid possible capture, Lagrée returned to Quessoy, ostensibly to notify Bitel's family of his unfortunate death. Pretending to be his friend, he offered them a picture of their son and to be a pallbearer at the funeral; at the said funeral, Lagrée behaved oddly, doing elaborate gestures and proclaiming loudly that he would "deal with" Édouard's killers if he ever saw them again. When the crime scene was discovered on the next day, they immediately notified Inspector Le Gall, claiming that they had last seen the 19-year-old Lagrée, a notorious thief with a bad reputation, exiting the household on the night of the crime. Upon the Inspector's orders, Lagrée was arrested and interrogated; during the interrogation, authorities noticed what appeared to be washed bloodstains on his clothes and scratches on his face. In April 1916, it was decided that he would be tried in a military court, after which Lagrée was transported to the military prison in Rennes. His trial was scheduled for 25 July.

While he was incarcerated at the Rennes Military Prison, Lagrée attempted to escape on 16 July by overpowering the two guards watching over him, Redon and Le Bourdonnec, stabbing the latter with his own bayonet in the stomach. However, Le Bourdonnec's cries of pain alerted other guards, who came in and immediately subdued the convict. Both soldiers later recovered from the attempted attack, and two counts of attempted murder were added to Lagrée's future trial.

On 21 August 1916, Pierre Lagrée was executed by firing squad at the Rennes Military Prison, with more than a hundred people attending the event. When asked by the rapporteur, Capt. Dauvillier, whether he wanted to make a final statement, Lagrée confessed to committing two additional murders while residing in New York, before begging for forgiveness from the French people, God, and his regiment. He also requested that he not be blindfolded during the execution, but this request was not granted.