Nordahl Lelandais, Patrice Alègre… Why famous serial killers are back in the news

They hit the headlines because of the atrocity of their actions. Patrice Alègre, Nordahl Lelandais and Willy Van Coppernolle are infamous for their murders, rapes and sexual assaults. Sentenced to life imprisonment, these three men will be the subject of new investigations, according to the revelations of the Parisian. Indeed, the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office has “opened three new judicial inquiries targeting these three criminals”. The objective is to “retrace their journey, looking for other victims”. Specialized services “from the police and the gendarmerie, to the central office for the repression of violence against persons (OCRVP) and the division of unsolved cases (Diane)” will have the difficult task of these three investigations.

The hope for some families of victims to perhaps have their questions answered. Indeed, the investigators will study “bank statements, invoices, telephone analyses, testimonials, new analyzes of seals… even vacation photos”. These three murderers will therefore be talked about again. Patrice Alègre, 54, was sentenced to life in 2002 for the murders and rapes of five women. Valérie Tariote, his first victim was only a schoolgirl. She was found on February 27, 1989 near the Toulouse train station “gagged, wrists bound and torn underwear”. The murders then followed one another until his arrest.

Hope for many families of victims

Nordahl Lelandais was tried in May 2021 for the murder of Corporal Noyer and in February 2022 for that of Maëlys de Araujo. But for the investigators, it could well be at the origin of other murders. Indeed, the association Assistance and search for missing persons, received in February 2022 an anonymous letter, written by “a buddy” by Nordahl Lelandais. In these writings, tragic facts, which would have happened in 2012, when the individual would have released his animals on a man. Inside this mail details that allowed investigators to find an investigation into the disappearance of a 43-year-old autistic man, whose body was found on October 13, 2012 in the forest. Thus, with this letter, the Grenoble prosecutor’s office opened an investigation.

heavy sentences

In this letter, the famous friend of Nordahl Lelandais describes : “a weird guy is in the middle of the road, on a bend towards a home for the handicapped”. Nono stopped, got out of the car insulting him. The guy ran off into the forest and Nono released the 3 dogs who left after the guy and came back a while later, and we didn’t see the guy again” says the author in his letter. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since I saw the articles in the newspaper. Nordahl wasn’t a bad guy even though he gets angry. I haven’t seen him since 2017.” Willy Van Coppernolle was sentenced to life in 1995. In 1983, he was arrested for the first time for indecent assault on a minor. It is ten years later that he commits the murder of Abdel, this 11-year-old boy.