The ‘Mataviejitas’ in Mexico was not the first granny killer in the world; before her, there was one in France. It was Thierry Paulin, better known as the ‘Monster of Montmartre.’ This man ended the lives of 18 elderly women, at least those that could be verified; experts believe that there were many more.
Thierry Paulin did not work alone. During the 1980s, he and his accomplice, Jean-Thierry Mathurin, were in charge of instilling terror in this country.
Who Was Thierry Paulin?
Before becoming the ‘Monster of Montmartre,’ Thierry Paulin, born on November 28, 1963, was a child who grew up with many problems. His father abandoned them when he was just a baby, and as his mother was very young; he was sent to live with his paternal grandmother, in Martinique.
However, as his grandmother owned a restaurant, she did not pay enough attention to him, and at the age of 10, he moved back in with his mother, who had already remarried. Paulin, no matter how hard he tried, did not adapt to his half-siblings and began to act out. His father took him to live with him to stop paying alimony.
He was never an outstanding young man at school, on the contrary, he had few friends, and his performance was not the brightest. At the age of 17, Thierry entered military service and joined the Paratroopers. Unfortunately, he suffered discrimination because of his origin and sexuality.
Before his 20th birthday, in 1982, Paulin committed his first robbery. He entered an elderly woman’s store and threatened her with a knife. The owner recognized him, and he was arrested. In 1983, he was sentenced to 2 years in prison, but the sentence was suspended and he was released. After serving in prison, in 1984, he returned home to his mother, who now lived in Nanterre. Their relationship was never the best.
He went to work as a waiter at the nightclub ‘Paradis Latin,’ where he began a career giving shows as a Drag. One day he invited his mother to see him perform and dance to her favorite song, dressed as the actress Eartha Kitt, but not even a minute passed when she, out of embarrassment, left the place.
The Day Thierry Paulin Became the ‘Monster of Montmartre’
In that club where Paulin worked, he met Jean-Thierry Mathurin, a 19-year-old from French Guiana. Both were addicted to many substances, fell in love, and soon began a relationship, not only as lovers but also as accomplices in heinous crimes.
Their ambition and a terrible past mired in substances led this pair to become murderers. They would trick elderly women and steal their belongings; to erase the evidence and avoid getting caught, they murdered them, although it seemed to be something they already enjoyed.
In October 1984, the French media commented on the strangulation of Germaine Gellé, an 82-year-old woman, in her apartment in Paris. Other names on Paulin’s murder list include Eugénie Djendi (82 years old), Marie-Thérèse Marchadier (79 years old), Marie-Louise Eyea (74 years old), Odette Vidal (92 years old), Marguerite Philippe (84 years old), and Georgette Magne (83 years old).
The violence of their crimes was terrible; some of the victims had plastic bags over their heads, others were beaten to death, and one was even forced to drink detergent.
The Arrest and Death of Thierry Paulin
It was not until November 26, 1987, that after several robberies and murders, Thierry Paulin and his accomplice Jean-Thierry Mathurin were finally arrested. The investigation led authorities to Paulin and Mathurin’s apartment in Paris, where evidence linking them to the crimes was found.
After his arrest, Thierry Paulin confessed to the murders to the police. However, during the trial, he retracted his confessions and claimed that he had been forced by the police to admit to the crimes. In 1990, the ‘Monster of Montmartre’, along with his accomplice, was convicted of the murders and other crimes. They were sentenced to life imprisonment for their horrendous actions.
On April 16, 1995, at the age of 31, Thierry Paulin died in prison due to an overdose of drugs used to treat his HIV. His death marked the end of one of the most feared serial killers in French history… and they already got the original serial killer in history, Gilles de Rais!
This story was written in Spanish by Nayeli Párraga in Cultura Colectiva
