All language subtitles for The Women And The Murderer (2021)-1

["The Time of Love"
by Françoise Hardy playing]

A NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY

♪ It's the time of love
The time of friends ♪

♪ And adventures
When time comes and goes ♪

♪ Your mind simply flows
Despite your sorrows ♪

♪ For the time of love
Is both long and short ♪

♪ It never ends
When we remember ♪

♪ You think when you're twenty
The world is your oyster ♪

♪ Forever and ever ♪

♪ The fairest of skies
Will fill up your eyes ♪

♪ For the time of love
Is both long and short ♪

♪ It never ends ♪

♪ We remember when ♪

[siren blaring]

♪ We remember when ♪

♪ We remember when ♪

♪ We remember when ♪

[music slows]

♪ We remember when ♪

[music distorts]

♪ We remember when ♪

[eerie music playing]

BLOOD

BATHROOM

BLOOD

ACT 1
THE MANHUNT

So on the night of July 8, 95,
I slept very, very badly

and I woke up at around
5:30 a.m. feeling very anxious,

like, with a knot in my stomach.

I don't know how to express it physically,

but it was very, very powerful,
very violent.

I kept looking at my clock while I waited,

and I waited until 8:30 a.m.
then I called Hélène.

And then something
completely unexpected happened.

A man's voice answered
and that wasn't normal.

I thought I must have made a mistake.
I hung up.

I tried again
and it was still a man's voice.

I said to myself, "What is this?"
And, well, he was a fireman.

So then I said, at least I think I said,

"Put my daughter on. What's going on?
Put my daughter on."

Then the man said,
and I can still hear his voice,

"No, madam, I can't put her on."

I said, "Is she gone?"

"Yes, she's gone."

[somber music playing]

On our way to Paris,
we stopped at all the stops.

All the motorway rest stops to call again,
but there was no answer.

We traveled all that way without knowing,
without any information.

All we knew was that this man said,
"Yes, madam, she's gone." Period.

We followed the police car and we arrived
at the courtyard of police headquarters.

I kept asking myself,
"What happened?" You know?

[music intensifies]

1ST FLOOR LANDING
FACING THE VICTIM'S FRONT DOOR

It was like a knife
plunged into my stomach, into my gut.

It was right here, right here.

THE KNIFE

BLOOD - TABLE - KNIFE

ENTRANCE - BEDROOM

PILLOW - EXHIBIT N°1 - BED

27 YEARS OLD
PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT

JULY 8, 1995

I DON'T WANT TO LIE TO YOU,

I DIDN'T SLEEP EITHER
THE NIGHT OF JULY 7-8.

PARIS CRIMINAL POLICE HEADQUARTERS

NATIONAL POLICE
THE POLICE, A MAN'S JOB

THE POLICE
A MAN'S JOB

[somber music playing]

[Martine Monteil] I'm the granddaughter
and daughter of police officers.

And I have to say that I was and still am
very drawn to active lines of work.

OFFICER IN SKIRT CATCHES THE STRANGLER

You see, I didn't dress like a man.

"WOMAN-COP"

It was the first time that a woman
was appointed to the Serious Crimes Unit.

Which is an elite unit, you know?

It's the best
criminal investigation unit in France.

THE LADY AT POLICE HEADQUARTERS

I arrived on February 2nd, 1996.

SERIOUS CRIMES UNIT

The unit immediately told me about
these murders of young women.

They just dumped
a shitload of files on my desk

and that was basically it.

Right off the bat, two cases stood out.

Agnès Nijkamp.

[sinister music playing]

[gate squeaks]

BEDROOM
BODY OF AGNÈS NIJKAMP

32 YEARS OLD
INTERIOR DESIGNER

[Martine] And the Hélène Frinking case.

Her murder had similar circumstances
to those of the Nijkamp case.

That is, Hélène had more or less
the same kind of wounds on her body

as Agnes did.

We had to catch the scumbag who did this.

We couldn't allow
someone like that to run free.

I'll be honest, we wanted to avenge them.

It's motivation, you know?

And that goes for everyone, not just me.

We make it personal.

That is, either we win or he wins here.

And we have to win.
We have to catch this guy.

VICTIM: HÉLÈNE FRINKING
BORN 12/02/67 IN HOLLAND

[Anne] Hélène was the fourth
of six children.

The sun was always
a big inspiration for me, you know?

So that's why I chose Hélène,

which comes from Helios,
which means the sun.

She was almost 27 years old in '95.

She wanted to go to Paris
to study psychology.

TWO WHITE MARKS

In the case of Hélène Frinking,

we were lucky to find DNA,
just like with Agnès Nijkamp,

where we found sperm on her body.

SERIOUS CRIMES UNIT

And then someone puts
a witness statement on my desk.

Elisabeth, a victim
who managed to escape her attacker.

BUTCHER'S KNIFE
NECK

[sinister music continues]

[gate squeaks]

[Martine] He gags her, he ties her up,

and when he goes to turn off the light
upstairs in the small duplex,

she escapes through the bedroom
on the ground floor.

She manages to untie herself
and gets away.

So we have an extremely important witness
in the investigation.

23 YEARS OLD
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST

We also found some DNA
from a cigarette he smoked.

We found a Winston cigarette butt,

which linked all three cases
because of the DNA match.

AGNÈS NIJKAMP
DNA 15-16 7-9.8 21-31 4-5 1-8

HÉLÈNE FRINKING
DNA 15-16 7-9.8 21-31 4-5 1-8

ELISABETH
DNA 15-16 7-9.8 21-31 4-5 1-8

MALE DNA
15-16 7-9.8 21-31 4-5 1-8

[Martine] We called the DNA "SK",
for Serial Killer,

since we had three crime scenes
that were linked.

Unfortunately, although they'd had
a database in the UK for a long time

we didn't have one in France.

If we'd had a database,

maybe we could have
identified him and arrested him.

But sadly, we didn't have one.

UNKNOWN MALE DNA

[birds chirping]

Later I found out
that there was a survivor.

Young Elisabeth, who had, before Hélène,
before Hélène's murder,

she had managed
to escape the same assailant,

since the DNA found
in both crime scenes matched.

It was absolutely wonderful
to have found her.

Her statement helped a lot,

since she was able
to provide a facial composite.

[printer whirring]

And she described an Arabic man.

[Martine] So Elizabeth was
really confident of this facial composite.

This is how she saw him. She felt certain.

He had a shaved head.
So he could have been in the military.

We checked prisons, the foreign legion,
firefighters, the police.

He was athletic.

You know, that type of guy
a little muscular, etc.

We also realized

that the women were attacked
in the evening or late at night.

So we figured he might work night shifts,

and we went and checked
all the night taxis.

Anyway, anything that might
relate to our findings

and this young woman's statement.

And Elizabeth was incredibly brave,

because she went around Paris
with the unit, you know,

throughout the 11th arrondissement, etc.

to see if we could find this guy.

[inquisitive music playing]

FOOTPRINT IN BLOOD

I learned early on that he left
a bloody footprint near the bed.

We discovered that the culprit's
second toe is longer than the big toe.

This is quite common.

There are many people
who have this distinguishing feature,

which is called an Egyptian foot.

All the suspects
who came in for questioning,

we made them take off their shoes.

We wanted to check
if they had an Egyptian foot.

We were really looking
for very tiny details.

Since we didn't have, I admit,
a lot to go on in these cases.

[suspenseful music playing]

And I would see him everywhere, this man.

I saw him as a driver, a bus driver.

I saw him...
I pretty much saw him everywhere.

That's my daughter's apartment.
Just above the door.

[somber music playing]

Here it is.

So my daughter was here
and the young man was there.

The concierge could see him here.

I had to find him.

I mean, I really had to find him,
I just had to find him.

So I went to Hélène's street

and asked all the shopkeepers
and other people around

"Did you hear anything on that night?"

People hadn't heard anything.

Hélène's street, Hélène's neighborhood
hadn't been visited by the police.

It was a shock, you know?

She was very, very involved.
She was suffering.

She wanted to be an investigator
alongside the investigators.

And it was difficult to brush her off.

That's not...
It's not something I could do.

All of this,
this is all related to the case, see.

I was a pain in the neck,
but I don't regret it.

I wanted to be in a joint investigation.
A joint investigation is a good thing.

"Did you do that?
What about that and that?"

"Did you do that? And that? Have you..."

Well, obviously,
that wears them out a little.

And so, yeah... Yeah, I was on their backs.

From the beginning, I was on their backs.

The thing is she needed to understand

that we weren't just
twiddling our thumbs, you know?

We slept with those case files,
we lived with those case files,

we ate with those case files,
they were constantly on our minds.

It was a massive undertaking.

But we couldn't find him.
Yeah, that's the truth.

[somber music playing]

A woman, a mother,
she crumbles, she suffers,

then she gets back up and she fights.

That's how it is. It's that simple.

WITNESS STATEMENT
ELISABETH O.

"JUST CALL ME FLO"

She found out from Elisabeth, probably,

that he mentioned the name
Flo or Florian at some point.

Flo was the name of trucks...

- [interviewer] Yes.
- ...a trucking company.

ON THE BACK OF MANY TRUCKS?

So, I don't even know
how many trucks I passed

just to check the driver's face.

Or I would stop at motorway rest areas
to check a driver's face.

Later, I found out that Flo
was also the name of a restaurant chain.

So I thought, well it could be
someone who worked in a Flo restaurant.

This was a well-known restaurant in Paris,

and there was one on Boulevard Sébastopol

where she'd walked that night
on her way home.

They must've been there, absolutely.

And then I asked them
if they checked the lists of employees

from that restaurant.

[laughs] I put them
under a little pressure.

So Anne was the one

who suggested to the judge that maybe
we should dig deeper into that lead.

I don't even know how many employees
from that restaurant chain

we ended up interviewing.

But nothing came of it.
Nothing at all came of it.

AUGUST 31, 1997

[indistinct chattering]

[reporter] Last night,
the Princess of Wales was killed

in a car accident in Paris
under the Alma Bridge.

She was with her friend Dodi Al-Fayed
who was also killed.

The Serious Crimes Unit
of the judicial police,

headed by a woman, Martine Monteil,

is in charge of the investigation and was
on site as soon as the tragedy occurred.

I have to admit,
it was very hard, a big weight,

because the Serious Crimes Unit
had a heavy work load

and we really could have done without
a traffic accident.

Except that the accident
of the Princess of Wales

couldn't be ignored.

Impossible. The pressure from her being
the highest level of royalty...

Let me put it this way,

we had to move heaven and earth,
you know? And that's what we did.

[somber music playing]

I told the guys, there's no point.

Either way, we have to take it.
There's no point arguing.

So in the heat of the moment,
I put together a team,

but then, very slowly,
they went back to their cases

because, well, the car accident

also involved the death
of a woman and a man,

but, I mean, the circumstances
weren't exactly as troubling.

Whereas this case involved several
dead girls and a guy who was on the run.

We hadn't found he who was yet. So...

[sinister music playing]

HALLWAY
FRONT DOOR

On September 23rd, 1997,
we got a call from a young man

who had found his fiancée dead
at her home in the 19th arrondissement.

So we went there. We went immediately.

BLOOD MARKS
DINING ROOM

CURTAIN - BLOOD
BEDROOM

FILE CABINET
TELEPHONE

When I walked in, I froze. I froze.

I said to myself, "No way, it's...
he's done it again."

19 YEARS OLD
STUDENT

They came to tell me

that the parents of Magali Sirotti
were outside the building.

That was absolutely terrible.

[Chantal] When you wake up at night
and you see her face in the coffin...

all you can say is,
"She must have suffered so much."

- There's nothing else to say.
- [interviewer] Yes.

- "She must have suffered so much."
- [interviewer] Yes.

[Anne] Magali was a terrible blow.

I knew right away it was him.

It was really obvious to me.
Obvious. Obvious.

It couldn't be avoided
when it happened to my daughter,

but just to think it could happen
to other girls... No, no, no.

[somber music playing]

My close friends said,
"Hold on, you're not a police officer,

you're not a lawyer,
you're not this, you're not that."

"You're a mother so, well listen,
go and see the mother."

"Yes, that's it.
I'll go and see the mother."

So I went and it was
an absolutely extraordinary meeting.

The young girl
who had been murdered, Magali,

was engaged
and she was going to get married.

When we arrived
at Magali Sirotti's crime scene,

it was a real slap in the face,
a double slap in the face.

If she was dead,
it was because we hadn't arrested him yet.

God damn it,
we're going all out in this investigation,

what are we missing here, hmm?

Because we were working like crazy.

We were missing something,
we had to find out what it was.

Why this girl had died?

So that meant he was at it again.

We had to move,
we had to be extra vigilant,

because if he was on the loose,

that meant he could do it again soon.
Period.

[inquisitive music playing]

[Tourancheau] I'm a journalist. I deal
with cops, the police, criminals, crooks.

At the time, there weren't any women
journalists who dealt with the police.

I was the first.

The cops in the 36th district saw me
as this little journalist girl,

nosy, a bit of a snoop.

Plus, I have a certain look.

I always wear miniskirts,
leather jackets, heels and all that.

And so, at first the cops in
the 36th district couldn't figure me out.

At first, I acted naive.

But it wasn't long until they figured out
that I'm not actually that naive.

So, at the end of September 1997,

I met a police officer
from the Serious Crimes Unit.

The policeman said, "We just got a case."

"On September 23rd,
a young woman named Magali Sirotti."

"He tied her up and raped her.
It's just awful."

"Oh, and this crime may be linked
to other crimes against young women."

So, I say, "Oh yeah?
How can you be sure it's the same guy?"

He said, "Well,
we're not sure about Magali."

"It's the same MO, but we don't have
the DNA results back yet."

"But we do have the DNA

for two other women
who had their throats cut

and also for a survivor,
so we're sure it's the same guy."

UNKNOWN MALE DNA (SK)

(SK) BLOOD TYPE B

BLEND OF MALE DNA
AND VICTIM'S DNA

UNKNOWN MALE DNA

And I said to him,
"No, I have to write about it."

"I really want to write about it."

And he said to me,
"Just don't do that right now."

"You could ruin our investigation."

"This guy is extremely dangerous."

"If you look at the crime scenes,

I hope you never see anything like that."

"So, please, this guy is on the loose,
I beg you not to write about it just yet."

And I agreed to this because,
although I'm a journalist,

above all I'm a citizen,

and I don't want a rapist and murderer
to evade arrest

and then be roaming the streets
because of something that I wrote.

[sinister music playing]

[Martine] That's it. That's it,
he's back on the prowl. He strikes again.

So we need move quickly.

This is a race against time.
A race against time.

FORENSIC POLICE LABORATORY

[Patricia] At that time,
the forensic department was archaic.

Seriously archaic.

Crime scene analysis, which is in charge
of taking samples from crime scenes,

was an assortment of drunks and losers
who'd been put out to pasture.

It was supposed to be
a cutting edge unit, but it wasn't.

MOLECULAR GENETICS LABORATORY

So, to make up for these shortcomings,

the Serious Crimes Unit
relied on Doctor Pascal,

who is a pioneer in all things
related to DNA in France.

PASCAL O.
HOSPITAL PRACTITIONER

[gentle music playing]

The entire Serious Crimes Unit,
Martine Monteil,

completely relied on Doctor Pascal.

He carried out forensic analysis
on a case-by-case basis.

That is, crime scene analysis samples,
traces of sperm, blood and hair.

Dr. Pascal compared them to
the unknown DNA that he had named "SK",

DNA MALE (SK)

because it's the first time in France
that we had DNA for a serial killer.

Like everyone in the department,

he campaigned for the creation
of a DNA database.

There was a lot of push-back in France,

because this kind of database
scares people.

- [woman] That's for sure.
- [man] No!

The DNA database, I would like to say,

it is a dangerous precedent to establish
a DNA database of the population.

- [woman] It's already done.
- It's your history...

- I agree with you.
- [man] ...your personality.

I don't want this database.

[sinister music playing]

OUTSIDE 12 RUE DE LA FORGE ROYALE
PARIS 11TH ARRONDISSEMENT

VERBAL STATEMENT

On November 16th, 1997,

another victim is found
at rue de la Forge Royale.

25 YEARS OLD
SECRETARY

Look how beautiful this young woman was.

Same as the others. They were all pretty.

My God, it really is a life cut short.

And in such a way.

It's terrible.

Her name is Estelle Magd

and this time around it's her own parents,
who had a copy of the key,

and when she didn't answer,
they went to her home

and found their daughter, naked, bloody,

and with the same neck and stab wounds
as the other victims.

[sinister music continues]

And we found the same pattern,
the clothes cut in the same way.

So, it was kind of like a signature.

At least to me it was. Very clearly.

DISCOVERY OF A BAG
CONTAINING A GRAY T-SHIRT

We found a sweatshirt, a large T-shirt,
which was also blood-stained.

So we'd definitely find DNA as well,
because there was DNA on the T-shirt,

there was blood, there was sweat.

Anyway, we would easily be able
to link it to the other cases,

since the other cases had DNA.

I wasn't allowed to say anything.

And I fully understand that the police
have an absolute duty to maintain secrecy.

I totally respected that, 100%,

but from then on,
after two other girls were killed

in the same way as my own daughter,

that's when I thought to myself,
and I said,

"The media."

I can say that since the end of July '95,

the authorities have known that
they're dealing with a serial killer,

an extremely dangerous man,

and that, logically, since it is
a serial killer we're dealing with,

we could expect him to strike again.

[reporter]
There's a serial killer in Paris.

- ...a serial killer.
- ...serial killer...

A serial killer in east Paris.

[reporter 2] This is a facial composite,
from a description by another young woman

after she escaped a similar attack.

[reporter 3] This time,
Anne Gautier goes to see the judge

with her husband and daughter.

They want to know if the police
will finally get their hands

on the serial killer who murdered Hélène.

Will we catch him now?

I hope so. We live in that hope.

You can't fully grieve
until justice is done.

Anne Gautier is really angry.

And she says, "These last two deaths,

Magali Sirotti and Estelle Magd,
shouldn't have happened."

"It's a public threat

and I'm now going to speak up to warn
young women in Paris to protect themselves

so they don't fall victim
to this predator."

A serial killer doesn't stop.

He won't stop until he's arrested,
he can't help himself.

FEAR IN THE CITY

[reporter 3] People are talking.
They're scared.

Everyone's buying the newspaper
so they can see the composite

and see what he looks like.

They want to do something
to move things forward,

so that the police find him.

That's when Paris
went into a state of panic.

The revelation of the existence
of a killer in eastern Paris

and the involvement of Anne Gautier,
who talks to the press about it,

all adds up to a state of fear
among young women in Paris.

Yes, they're scared.

[woman] So yes, I'm always nervous.

Every time I go into my building,
I make sure to close the door behind me.

Suddenly I start seeing
on the electronic billboards,

"Young women, be careful,
don't go home alone at night."

"Get someone to drive you or take a taxi."

A crime cop told me,
"Patricia, be careful."

"If a door takes 15 seconds to close,

that's more than enough time
for someone to slip in behind you."

FEAR IN BASTILLE
THE RAPIST MURDERER

I have to admit that I wasn't happy
that things got out then.

It's hysteria.
Too much hysteria, that's it.

That's what it led to.

France isn't a country
that often has serial killers.

Let's be honest,
this isn't the United States.

So, obviously, it snowballs.

People ate it up and it took off.

[reporter]
The police have a facial composite

of a 30 year-old dark-skinned man.

Many details link the past
and current cases.

But the police are being cautious.

Up until now, violent sex attacks
followed by murder

were a rare kind of criminal event
in the city of Paris.

At that time, even the term
"serial killer" was taboo in the unit.

Doctor Pascal coined the term "DNA SK",

but the homicide cops didn't use it.

That, plus that, plus that,
plus that equals serial killer.

"Well, this is France, you know?"

"We are smart people,
so he's not a serial killer."

"There's no such thing.
We don't have those here."

It's because it reminds them too much
of American serial killers

who aren't at all the same,
each of whom claims many more victims.

[sinister music playing]

I don't think they fully grasped,

either in terms of psychology
or the investigation,

what a serial killer is.

So, not only do we not have
a DNA database,

we also have no idea about
the psychology of a serial killer.

In addition to that,

we don't have the tools to cross-check
serial killings in France.

Files are scattered across every city,
every court.

So it wasn't working.
It was actually a total mess.

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER - DECEMBER

[Patricia] In January '98,
the crime unit released info

about some sort of gray sweatshirt,
XXL-sized.

This sweatshirt is shown to the press,
they broadcast it everywhere.

As in, "If anyone knows a guy who wears
a sweatshirt like this one,

give us a call."

When you're down to showing a piece
of clothing that could belong to anyone,

it makes me think, "They're struggling,
they're really struggling."

Of course I was under a lot of pressure,
you know? That's expected.

I'm the head of the Serious Crimes Unit,
so I'm held accountable.

And because I was under
a lot of pressure, I kept on saying,

"I would like us to push forward
with the creation of a DNA database."

DNA MASCULINE (SK)

OFFICE OF JUDGE THIEL
FIRST EXAMINING MAGISTRATE

[Martine]
Judge Thiel and I often saw each other.

And he said to me,
"We have to take all the lab results."

"We just have to take everything we can
and run matches, you know?"

"Force them to run matches with SK's DNA."

The authorities were infuriated,
and they kept saying,

"We're not allowed to run matches.
We don't have a database, etc."

It was terrible.
So I got really, really angry.

I said, "So you'd rather have
dead girls on your conscience,

instead of figuring out an efficient,
quick way to run matches straight away?"

"Because if we figure that out,
we might be able to get the guy's name."

Yes, we circumvented the law,
and we didn't care.

We took full responsibility.

The end justifies the means.

We weren't infringing on French people's
identity, or anything like that,

so that we could do unethical things.

We were looking for a serial killer
who was killing young women,

and unfortunately there were already
too many of these cases.

At the end of the day, I'm sorry,

but we had to do
everything we could to stop him.

[tense music playing]

[Olivier Pascal]
So we got the file, opened it,

read the numbers
of the genetic code that interested us,

and compared them to the unknown DNA.

If the numbers are different,
we close the file, put it back

and then pull out a second file
and start again.

[interviewer] Is there no way
to cross-reference these files?

[Dr. Pascal] Well no, unfortunately,
there is no DNA database,

all of our files
are kept in separate folders.

We literally have to take them out
one by one in order to find a DNA match.

JANUARY 1998
FEBRUARY 1998

MARCH 1998

It's March 24th, 1998,
when Doctor Pascal calls me.

I'm shaking.
I think, "My God, he's calling me."

Well, it's not that we weren't in touch,
we would see one another,

we would run into one another
in corridors, and all that.

But he was calling me
and he was trembling,

and then he says,
"I have good news and bad news."

I say, "Okay, tell me the good news."

He says, "We've identified him."

IDENTIFICATION OF UNKNOWN MALE DNA

DNA OF GUY GEORGES

FROM THE CIGARETTE BUTT

VAGINAL SWABS

MALE DNA: GUY GEORGES

[sighs] It felt like a relief,
like a deliverance...

[exhales] It was indescribable.
It was a deliverance.

DNA OF GUY GEORGES

DOCTOR O. PASCAL
HOSPITAL OF NANTES

"And he says, the less good,
or the bad news,

well, is that
we brought the killer in, in '95."

There you have it,
that's a bit of a shock, really.

At the time,
he was mostly interviewed by units

looking at cases of girls
murdered in parking lots.

[sinister music playing]

If you dig a little,
you can find some similarities,

but it's not that obvious.

Why parking lots?
The other cases took place in apartments.

But we still have the same wounds
and the slashed clothing. They're there.

27 YEARS OLD
MARKETING ASSISTANT

We didn't find any sperm.
But he might have used a condom. Anyway...

[sinister music continues]

22 YEARS OLD
PRESS OFFICER

We're totally convinced it's him,
all the investigators are.

You know, completely convinced.

Then there's also a much older case,
from 1991,

Pascale Escarfail.

CLOTHES - WOUNDS - BLOOD

BODY OF PASCALE ESCARFAIL

19 YEARS OLD
STUDENT

I said, "Okay, listen. We'll look
into this later. We'll debrief later."

"For now, the important thing
is to track this animal down."

[printer whirring]

I distributed his photo across France.

We had to act quickly.

The thinking was that the predator
was in the city,

the animal was in the city,

and me, my obsession, was to arrest him
within the next few hours.

I requested reinforcements.
I assembled a bunch of people,

we created a list of locations and places

where we were likely to find
this Guy Georges.

[suspenseful music playing]

There was another pressing goal.

Once everything was underway,
I said to the heads of units involved,

"Come with me, we need to call
the families of the victims."

Chief Monteil called me,

"Mrs. Gautier, we know who he is."

"But you can't tell anyone,
not your children, or no one."

"I understand."

So that's it,
they're there, looking for him.

Hopefully, he won't
ever kill anyone else again.

[siren wailing]

[Martine] The case
had received so much publicity.

There was so much pressure,
the press sensed something, of course.

An energy, a hustle and bustle.

The judicial police
and the headquarters were buzzing.

Well, they sensed that
something was going on.

The chief told me,
"The press knows about it."

And so I said,
"Please, please, keep a grip on them."

"Please, don't let there be any leaks."

[reporter] Good morning, the serial killer
from eastern Paris now has a face.

A real manhunt is on. More soon.

"The serial killer in eastern Paris
has been identified."

"The Serious Crimes Unit has a name.
His name is Guy Georges."

That's just appalling.

A police reporter like me leaked
the killer's name before he was arrested.

That's not something you should do.

You can't do something like that.

Let's imagine that Guy Georges
heard the announcement.

He might see it on television,
on the radio, whatever, and then run,

in which case, the hunt would become
even more complicated.

But we thought,
"Come on, let's get on with it."

I should also mention that
the police unit is a war machine.

Evading us is no mean feat.

I had high hopes that we would find him.

[suspenseful music playing]

And we did find him.

THE SAME DAY
12:44 PM

Two officials were on a stakeout early
one morning at the Blanche metro station.

I don't remember
what they were working on,

but they were on a stakeout
for a different case.

And then, they saw a man
come out of the metro

and one of them said, "Look, look.
Doesn't he look like the photo?"

They took out the photo,
"Oh boy, it's him. Let's go."

And presto,
they forgot all about their case.

They jumped on it. They arrested him.

GROCERY STORE
WHERE GUY GEORGES WAS ARRESTED

ABDEL, SECURITY GUARD
WHO WITNESSED THE ARREST

SHOWS WHERE GUY GEORGES WAS HANDCUFFED

[Abdel] He came in this morning.
He went in.

The police were following him.
They asked him his first name.

Then they jumped on him.

They brought him here.
They put him on all fours.

And then, they arrested him.

[hopeful music playing]

[door slams]

[reporter] The DNA tests are conclusive.

They link him to the three murders
and one attempted homicide.

And yet, Guy Georges
looks nothing like the facial composite

distributed by the police
for several months.

There have been enough deaths,

enough suffering, so this is good.

Now he'll be convicted, and,

we, the families,

will really be able to begin to grieve.

[somber music playing]

I thought to myself,
"He did all these evil things."

My God. It's...
You have to take a deep breath.

I thought, "He's the monster
that killed these girls."

I kept seeing the pictures of the girls.

All the pictures.

So for me, a monster
climbed the steps of the 36th district.

He really was a monster.

It was all I could think.

[sinister music playing]

[reporter]
This is the new face of Guy Georges,

who, since yesterday, is being questioned

in relation to the murders
of three young women in eastern Paris.

This afternoon, he confessed to two more.

Police suspect his involvement
in two further murders.

We did our job. He was arrested
and couldn't hurt anyone anymore.

We felt confident about the cases
for which we had DNA evidence,

because that man left traces
behind him after all.

All that was left now
was to get a confession

for the cases where there was no DNA.

We had caught the guy.

I wondered what kind of lawyer,
however talented, could debunk this case.

So when the trial began,
we felt confident.

Absolutely confident.

ACT 2
PROSECUTION

I REALIZE I'M SPEAKING TO YOU OPENLY,

AS THOUGH YOU WERE MY FRIEND.

MARCH 19, 2001

[Frédérique Pons] A serious sex offender
is innocent until proven guilty.

The one thing that can hold me back
is personality.

I either want to defend someone,
or I don't.

It's all about chemistry, it's not
something you can put a finger on.

[upbeat music playing]

I think we've all experienced it
at social events.

We meet people we've never met before
and who make our blood run cold

and make a bad impression on us,

and we tell ourselves that there's no way

we would want to be alone in a room
with this person.

But that wasn't at all the case.

[police siren wailing]

When you meet Guy Georges,

you don't at all get the sense
that he's manipulative.

You get the impression of someone
who is an open book.

Someone without ulterior motives,

who isn't calculating,
and who isn't violent.

DAY 1 OF THE TRIAL

[court staff speaking French]

- Your sweater, sir.
- What? Yes?

Could you take off your sweater.
And look at me.

- Look at me.
- Sorry.

Yes, yes. I'll look at you, but it's...
It's hard.

- Can I sit down?
- Huh?

- I'm going to sit down, okay?
- Yes, go ahead.

[court staff continue in French]

[inaudible]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Frédérique]
Alex Ursulet was Guy Georges' lawyer,

and he trusted him completely.

A few weeks before the trial,
Alex Ursulet, who is my ex-husband,

asked me to join him on the case.

There's no doubt that having
a woman at his side

was part of Alex Ursulet's
defense strategy

or, I should say, the strategy for
most male lawyers in rape cases, really.

It's really common.

He presented the case saying,
"This man is wrongly accused. Definitely."

Evidence was found at each crime scene,

some of this evidence
wasn't a match for Guy Georges

and Guy Georges was cleared.

For instance,
his fingerprints were never found.

An Egyptian footprint
was found at one crime scene,

and he doesn't have an Egyptian foot.

A facial composite circulated for months,

but it wasn't even remotely close
to Guy Georges' facial features.

POLICE SKETCH

In principle, what I think is irrelevant.

It doesn't change anything,
it's of absolutely no consequence.

What matters to me is what's in the file.

But whether or not
I believe he's innocent,

my personal conviction...

that just doesn't matter.

[suspenseful music playing]

[uneasy music playing]

[Solange Doumic] To me,
Guy Georges isn't a monster, he's a man.

And that's the problem.

That's to say,
somewhere inside Guy Georges

we'll find the same humanity
that I have in me,

that's in you, in all of us.

And that's what's so terrifying.

If he were a monster,
that would make things so much easier.

The issue is that
we're cast from the same mold.

[uneasy music continues]

That's what makes it so painful, actually.

And that's where the mystery lies.

That's what makes it so difficult.

The fact that he isn't a monster,
but a man.

I was 30 years old

and this was the second big trial
I'd worked on as a lawyer.

But this time I wasn't the defense lawyer.
I was the victim's lawyer.

[suspenseful music continues]

He has to stop hurting people.

That's one thing that's clear,
justice must be served. That's it.

We know it's him because there is evidence
in the case that points to him.

It's not a flight of fancy,
it's not a suspicion,

we know it's him.

But we also know
that jurors are easily influenced.

So if at the hearing he suddenly said,

"Yes, I admit guilt for the cases
in which my DNA was found,

it really was me, but not for the others."

I was worried the jurors would think,

"Well, we're going to find him guilty for
all the crimes in which DNA was found

and where there's no DNA,
we'll acquit him."

That would have been unbearable
because it would have been a lie.

So, there was this tension.

It was really hard.

I sat here, in the first row,

because I wanted to have
my eyes on Guy Georges.

I wanted to see his reactions,
I wanted to write it all down.

Everything that happened,
everything, everything.

Names, behaviors...

So, yes, it was important
to try not to miss anything.

I know there will be a war
between the two sides.

Alex Ursulet swore to me in his office

just before the trial
that Guy Georges is innocent.

That it was a judicial error.

He said to me,
"Patricia, I will prove it."

"I will show it at the trial."

"I swear to God
that Guy Georges is innocent."

[suspenseful music continues]

[Anne] I think... Really, I never...
ever wanted to attend the trial, no.

It wasn't my thing.

Everything that happened
that led him to getting arrested...

Now, it's good, he'll be judged,

but it's not for me. No, it's not for me.

DAY 2

[crowd clamoring]

[reporter] The crowd outside
the courthouse gets bigger by the day.

And in the room, the tension rises.

The alleged rapist and murderer
of seven young women

Guy Georges is in the dock,
bringing anger upon the victim's families.

Since Monday, the only answer he has given
to the judge's questions is,

"I did not kill anyone."

I realized that there is no limit
to Guy George's perversion,

since he continues to hurt people
with his attitude, to cause harm.

I'm thinking of the victims,
the families of the victims who are here,

and who are extremely vulnerable
because of their pain.

[Martine] When we realized
he was pleading innocence...

Well, I have to say,
it was completely absurd.

We thought, "What kind of advice
has his lawyer been giving him?"

"Or maybe he actually lost his mind?
I don't know what."

We couldn't understand.

On the other hand,
we were surprised but calm.

Calm because he had actually confessed
everything to us.

VICTIM: MAGALI SIROTTI

I WANT TO EASE MY CONSCIENCE

VICTIM: CATHERINE ROCHER

I AM THE ATTACKER

THE WHOLE TRUTH OF THIS CASE

Even for the cases where we had nothing,

for Escarfail, for Magali Sirotti,

he confessed everything.

STATEMENT OF GUY GEORGES

FRANCIS BECHET
POLICE CAPTAIN

Officer Francis Bechet, alias Sidney,

was the first person
to get Guy Georges to confess.

Sidney was there, on the witness stand,
and he told us everything.

But he'd already told me what he'd done
with Guy Georges beforehand.

And that, he didn't say this
on the witness stand,

that in order to get Guy Georges to talk,

since Guy had just been arrested,

he wouldn't give any impression
that he's public enemy number one.

So Sidney created an atmosphere
in his office at the headquarters.

He put on jazz,
he played music in the background

and he offered him a whiskey.

And so he started talking to Guy Georges,
but in a real casual way.

A BRETON NAME...

A YOUNG BLOND GIRL...
CAUGHT MY EYE...

Guy Georges confessed in detail,
in great detail.

He told him everything.

As though to a...
almost as though to a confidant.

He bought a number 12 Opinel knife.

He bought some duct tape.

Just as he was finishing his beer

a young girl walked by in the street,
dressed in black.

A 19-year-old blonde. Pretty as a picture.

Guy Georges told Sidney that he
immediately fell for this pretty girl.

He left immediately,
he followed the young girl,

and he climbed the steps behind her,

held her up with the Opinel

and then he spent hours with her.

[sinister music playing]

Pascale is a heroine.

She kicked him.

She was 5'3". She was 19 years old.

She was tied up, naked and she kicked him.

And well... that made Guy Georges angry.

And... when the police found her,
her mouth was clear,

that is, the gag was off.

It was a duct tape gag, there were a few
traces of duct tape around her mouth,

and her mouth was open, like that.

And Sidney,
the cop that first got him to confess,

during the seven years of investigations,
he kept asking himself,

"What was she saying?
What was Pascale saying when she died?"

And Guy Georges said,

"The duct tape had come off
and she looked at me and she said,

'What are you doing?
Are you going to kill me?'"

And Sidney was wiped out by what he heard.

These were the victim's very last words
as reported by her killer.

And Sidney said to him,
"And what did you do then, Guy Georges?"

"Well, actually, I went to wash my hands
at the kitchen sink."

"I saw there were beers under the sink.
I grabbed a couple."

"I drank one.
I took the other one and then I left."

[somber music playing]

DAY 3

Do you think he's the only innocent person
to confess while in police custody?

Do you think no one ever
confesses in police custody

and then changes their mind?

In fact,
as soon as we go into the details,

when we examine each of the cases,
you'll see that they created a culprit,

they laid everything on him
and then charged him for almost every case

that took place during a time
he might have been able to commit them,

for the plain and simple reason
that he wasn't in custody.

He repeatedly said that his arrest
in the street was really violent,

that when he was taken
to police headquarters,

as they brought him up the steps,

he was kicked at that time,
right there and then.

Then after that, while in police custody,
and let me remind you that at that time,

there was no lawyer present,
that nothing was filmed,

and he said that,
due to the pressure he felt,

he was made to confess
to things he did not do.

He was never hit.

The only injury he had to the head,
a very minor, even superficial injury,

was from when he was arrested.

There's nothing else to say.

The rest of the time it was "a game",
a psychological game.

A psychological contest
between the investigators and him

in order to obtain a confession.

That's it.

But you don't have to hit someone
to get a confession.

He's mocking us, he's mocking the court,

he's mocking everyone
and we're just watching him.

We're right in front of him,
and it's unbelievable, unbelievable.

[Patricia] The families of the victims

were expecting
Guy Georges to be convicted.

But they needed to hear him say,

to hear Guy Georges
explain certain things,

to answer some questions they still had

about the last moments
of their daughters' or sisters' lives.

I don't know, I can't even tell you...
A monster, really. With no reaction.

Even when he looks at the pictures,
nothing. It's crazy.

[Solange] I looked at the photo album
for each of the crime scenes.

It's one of the unbearable things
about trials.

Guy Georges didn't actually
leaf through the photo album.

Guy Georges studied the photos
one after the other,

looking at them attentively, calmly,

but with great concentration, detached.

One after another.

He looked at all of them.
He analyzed them all.

It's chilling. Just chilling.

We looked at them for,
I don't know, 20 seconds.

And him, on the other hand...

I timed him and I said to him,
"Guy Georges,

you looked at the photo album
for five minutes 40 seconds. I timed you."

Unless you ask a very specific question,
he doesn't answer at all,

or he denies it completely.

"No, not at all." "How do you know that?"

Anyway. So, in this case,
I say something very specific.

"You looked at the pictures
for five minutes and 40 seconds."

And he said, "Well, uh... I don't know.
That's just the way it is."

He doesn't respond that it surprises him
or that he's trying to analyze them

or that he doesn't understand,
or whatever.

He says it's not him.
But he doesn't know why he's looking.

I say that I've watched him
and that his answer doesn't satisfy me,

but I don't sit down again, and well...
He suddenly says,

"Yes, it's painful."

And I ask,
"So, how do you hide it so well?"

And then obviously he doesn't answer that.

DAY 4

CRIMINAL COURT
LAWYERS' ENTRANCE

[Anne] This is about people's humanity,

men or women, it's not about feminism,

or trying to defend
what others call indefensible.

No, there's nothing indefensible here.
Nothing.

There's just proof.

It's terrifying, it's a terrifying case,
but he's a human being.

WITHOUT REALIZING,

I CALLED YOU "MOM" TWICE

His childhood did strike me a lot,
since he was a child born out of wedlock

to a young girl and a soldier
who was just passing through, so to speak.

...CONSIDER YOUR CHILD "ABANDONED"...

DECLARATION OF ABANDONMENT

CHILD PUT UP FOR ADOPTION

WARD OF THE STATE

He was rejected. He was rejected.
He was rejected. He was rejected.

And so Guy Georges
quite soon ended up with Child Services

and he was placed with the Morin family.

This family was as loving and supportive
as anyone can be when they have,

I think it was almost 20 children.

That is, the family had
seven natural children

and around 13 children
placed with them through Child Services.

[interviewer] So what happened
when he was 16?

Well, he... he attacked a girl from behind.

He tried to strangle her, that's all.

[Patricia] Jeanne Morin arrived
through the witnesses entrance.

She went in,
she went to the witness stand.

She testified about Guy Georges' childhood
and why she ended up rejecting him

when Guy Georges
assaulted his two foster sisters.

The first one when he was 14,

and the second, Christiane,

with an iron bar which he held
tightly up against her throat.

Guy Georges was around
15 and a half, 16 years old.

And so, Ms. Morin said,
"That was what triggered it."

"And so I called the social worker,

I called Child Services
and I sent Guy Georges away."

[somber music playing]

He was sent to a children's home.
He became a runaway, a delinquent.

And from then on, it just went downhill.

The crazy thing is that

we see this Guy Georges who is touched,

who is moved by this old woman
and who at one point says to her,

"Mom, I want tell you, I love you."

And Mrs. Morin,
she turns around and says to him,

"Me too, me too, I love you.
But now my heart is empty."

And there... I feel Guy Georges crumble.

He sits back down.
She no longer loves him.

She no longer loves him.

Oh no. How do I put it?

As a woman, oh no,
I'm not moved by Guy Georges.

No, no, no, no. Moved?

So, does he affect me, am I moved, does...

No. Obviously what he went through
is upsetting. I completely agree.

But he had a choice.
He was free to choose his next actions.

The things Guy Georges did
are completely crazy.

But he's not crazy. He has free will.
He could have chosen not to do that.

He knew it was wrong.
He knew he shouldn't do it.

So, no, I'm not at all affected by that.
That would be going too far.

I'm moved by the pain
of the victims that I defend.

DAY 5

[suspenseful music playing]

For my part, I wish he would have
the courage to admit what happened,

just like he did during the investigation,

because it's the only way
to better understand the appalling facts

and for him to have any hope of being able
to look at himself in the mirror.

[tense music playing]

By the fifth day,
we couldn't take it anymore.

We couldn't take the pain anymore.

And all I wanted was for Guy Georges
to contradict himself

to the extent that I could be certain
he would also be found guilty

of the murder of Pascale Escarfail,

even though there was no DNA
or anything that proved it was him.

And so, from the start of the trial,

I kept questioning him

every time I saw there was something
that might trip him up.

And then, at lunchtime,
I noticed something very unusual.

And I wanted to question Georges about it
before the end of the day's session.

So it's about 6:00 p.m.

And I decide to question him.

So I'm given the floor and I stand up.

"Guy Georges,
you heard the expert witness earlier

talk about how the clothes were cut,

and they explained that the evidence shows
that the person who cut the clothes

was most likely left-handed."

"And you... you told us that
you're right-handed. Is that right?"

Guy Georges answered, "Yes."

"Guy Georges, are you sure
you're right-handed?"

"Do you ever do things
with your left hand?"

He answered, "No."

"Guy Georges..." I kept pushing,

"Do you do everything
with your right hand?"

"Aren't you someone who uses both hands?
Aren't you ambidextrous?"

He answered, "No."

"But, Guy Georges... that surprises me."

"Because you see... I've looked closely."

"When you were handed the photos,
it's true,

you took them with your right hand."

"But when you flick through them
in front of you,

you flick through them like this,
with your left hand."

"And the microphone,
you moved it with your left hand."

"So..."

And suddenly he looked at me and said,

"No, but that's because... it's normal."

"The photos, the microphone, but..."

And he put his hand up like this,
"But ..."

[tense, sustained note playing]

"But what, Guy Georges?
When you strike, you use your right hand?"

He answered, "Yes."

"And when you stab with a knife,
is it with the right hand?"

And Guy Georges said, "Yes."

And then he began to realize
what he'd just done.

He changed completely.
He changed completely.

He wasn't smiling. He grimaced.

He was furious with himself,
furious with Solange Doumic.

He glared at her
and then he lowered his face.

And that was an incredible moment.

The room was silent.

He'd actually just confessed.
He'd acted it out.

Right there and then, we saw it.

There, we saw the real Guy Georges.

He wasn't the same Guy Georges as earlier.

You could really feel the violence.

This was the Guy Georges who kills.

[tense music playing]

"Thank you."

At that moment,
I turn to Guy Georges and I ask,

"What did you mean?
What exactly are you saying?"

And there, we all expected him to say,
"Well, in street fights..."

We all expected to see
the usual Guy Georges again,

the one we'd seen for the past five days.

He'd sat down too by then,

and he stood up to answer,
but he jumped up, like that.

And he yelled pointing at me,
still screaming,

his face gnarled with hatred, he yelled,

"It's her! She got me! She tricked me!
It's just a game to her!"

Doumic replied, "No, it's not a game."

"It's not a game, Mr. Guy Georges."

"There's too much suffering,
there's too much pain here,

so it's not a game."

"But I'll consider those 15 seconds
of you seemingly saying,

'I'm going to kill you' as a confession."

I lost it a little.

Yes, I burst into tears.
Luckily, my hair covered it.

That's it. It all fell apart. Case closed.

[somber music playing]

There was a room at the back
where I could meet with him.

He was obviously
surrounded by police officers,

but usually the police officers stood
to one side so we could speak privately.

But, at that moment,
Guy Georges could no longer speak.

He wasn't the same Guy Georges.

He wasn't the same Guy Georges

who had been here
during the first days of the trial.

It seemed to me that he was like
a twisted iron rod at that point.

And I felt like all this violence
was going to explode

and he might explode at me,
because I thought,

"He's blinded,
he can't see things properly right now."

And the police officers
must have felt it too

because, for the first time,

one of them came to sit
between Guy Georges and me.

[sinister music playing]

I felt like I was seeing the Guy Georges
that the victims saw.

[sinister music continues]

I think it finally hit me.

This whole case was falling apart.

There are all these wasted lives
in front of me.

Guy George's wasted life,

because Guy Georges' life
is definitely wasted.

There's no other way to say it.

And... There you go.

All that's left is pain and waste.

DAY 6

When the trial resumed on Monday morning,
that is, on the sixth day,

we were all convinced
that Guy Georges would speak.

We waited and nothing happened.

The accused didn't show.
The dock was empty.

That morning he had refused
to be taken from prison.

And so the judge ordered
his forced removal

so he could appear
before the court at his trial.

He was in a bad mood. He went to the dock.

At that moment, we saw Guy Georges
unshaven, unkempt, and very angry.

Then the judge tried to go back
to where we'd left off somehow,

"Guy Georges,
when we finished on Friday night,

you had things to say to the families.
Are you ready to say them now?"

Guy Georges says, "No, not now. No."

"I will speak to the families,
but not in this context,

because I piss on justice."

DAY 7

In the end, he's, it was no surprise.

When you try to think of him as human,
well, he isn't one at all.

I'm not exactly sure if Guy Georges
is going to speak or not,

but I'm hoping and I'm telling myself

that I won't have to relive
the previous week, honestly.

I think at that point the only thing
Alex Ursulet and I hoped for

was that, for once,
he would really explain himself

so that no one could tell us,
"He's a monster."

And try to figure out why it happened.
He had to do that at least.

At least he had to have some dignity
in relation to his deeds,

that's what I wanted him to do.

He at least had to have the courage
to speak in front of a criminal court,

in front of the families.

To stand up.
That's what it means to be human.

A human being is able to stand up
and say, "Yes, I did all of that."

[Patricia] Tuesday afternoon,
Guy Georges had changed.

That day, he had completely
shaved his head

and wasn't wearing
his green jogging pants,

but instead wore a pristine white sweater.

Elisabeth arrived,
the victim who got away in '95,

a beautiful lady with long red hair.

They led her almost to the front
of the dock where Guy Georges was.

She waited.

Alex approached Guy Georges
and said to him,

"If you have something to say,
now is the time to say it."

"Say it for your family."

"Tell us, did you assault Elisabeth?"

And then Guy Georges said, "Yes."

He lowered his head and he said, "Yes."

We barely heard him. It was in a whisper.

Ursulet continued.
He said, "Did you kill Miss Escarfail?"

"Yes."

"Did you kill Cathy Roger?"

"Yes."

And so, like a litany, Mr Ursulet
listed all the victims' names.

"Did you kill Miss Sirotti?
Did you kill Miss Benady?"

"Did you..."

"Yes. Yes."

These yeses came from deep inside of him.

Everything happened
in an absolute, incredible silence.

Not even the noise of any flies
or anything, nothing.

Not a sound in the criminal court.

And all we heard
after Guy Georges had spoken,

was the mother of one of the victims
who said,

"Thank you".

I said, "Thank you." And he nodded.

And right now, I'm still numb by this...
conversation,

which wasn't one that would
actually lead me to saying

"thank you" to my daughter's murderer.

But it just came out
before I could think about it.

[somber music playing]

[Solange] Judging from his victims,

Guy Georges' target group was women
between 19 and 32 years of age.

So it's a very wide range.

There are no particular physical traits,

because his victims include
some brunettes, blondes, and redheads.

They're tall, small.

None of them was depressed,
unemployed or lonely, sad or...

They were all women engaged in life,
with projects, friends...

He explained that he was triggered
by their energy.

The more energetic they were,
the more he was drawn to them, almost.

That's what he said.

He said that ultimately, because
he would watch them go by in the street,

it was the energy they gave off
that attracted him.

It was the energy that he found magnetic,
and that aroused him.

DAY 13

It wasn't what we'd planned.
It didn't go the way we expected.

And we decided that we had to keep going,
we had to keep supporting him.

I also told myself
that if I didn't go all the way,

if I didn't plead for Guy Georges,

that would mean that I didn't plead
because I'd abandoned him.

And that meant a woman had,
once again, abandoned him.

And so, that was absolutely
out of the question.

And therefore, it was obvious
that I would make a plea.

[tense music playing]

Your Honor,
ladies and gentlemen of the court,

ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

This afternoon,
I am the first to stand before you

to defend Mr. Guy Georges,
and plead in defense of the indefensible.

Guy Georges,
I would now like to address you.

I would like to tell you
that if you are a psychopath,

you were not born a psychopath.

We are not born a psychopath,
we become one.

So the verdict that will be given
comes as no surprise. And...

I don't know what your future holds.
Your future will be new.

But it is up to you to create your future.

[tense music continues]

DAY 14
FINAL DAY OF THE TRIAL

[Patricia] The trial resumed at 4:42 pm.

The judge read the verdict
of the Paris Criminal Court,

"Mr. Guy Georges,

you are sentenced to life in prison,
with a minimum term of 22 years."

People hugged in the courtroom.

There was even laughter
coming from the plaintiffs.

And it was over.

I OWE YOU SO MUCH

BECAUSE I TOOK SO MUCH FROM YOU.

DON'T GRIEVE
WE ARE LISTENING TO THE BIRDS

Since I wasn't at the trial,
I heard about it later.

It was very emotional for me.
He asked the victims for forgiveness.

Since I wasn't there,
I thought it over by myself,

I thought about forgiveness and all that.

And there was something on my mind.

"No, I can't forgive him."

"He didn't hurt me. He hurt Hélène."

So I decided to write him a letter.

I did write him a letter.
And well, he wrote back.

MY DEAR ANNE,

I DON'T WANT TO LIE TO YOU,

I DIDN'T SLEEP EITHER
ON THE NIGHT OF JULY 7-8.

I REALIZE THAT I'M TALKING TO YOU OPENLY,

AS THOUGH YOU WERE MY FRIEND.

I OWE YOU SO MUCH,

BECAUSE I TOOK SO MUCH FROM YOU.

[Patricia] She gave me the letters
as a sort of legacy.

And she also asked me to,

one day, see that the letters
might be used by psychiatrists

to try and unlock
Guy Georges' mind further.

To see that ultimately
this boy isn't just a killer

but speaks with great sensitivity
about his circumstances, his life.

BUT I WON'T LOSE HOPE...

...STRAIGHT TO JAIL...

TELL ME WHAT TO DO...

I think we can learn from the excerpts
of Guy Georges' letters,

so that other Guy Georgeses,

because there are many around us,
don't act.

That's what matters now.

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN A CURE

How to recognize them?

How to help them handle their pain in ways
other than committing such atrocities?

IT'S KIND OF YOU, ANNE

It's not actually a trivial thing.

A mother writing
to her daughter's murderer.

She did it because
she believes in redemption.

Anne believes he can still be saved,
that he can be treated,

that he can undergo therapy
and work through it.

I think she truly believes that.

[delicate, hopeful music playing]

Oh. This is a walnut tree.

Look, it's been hurt too. It's been cut..

Ah. It's beautiful. Hélène.

I want to spread knowledge,
hard work, generosity,

those are the kind of things
I want to share.

But I don't want to share hatred.
No. Definitely not. It's not my thing.

There. You can take a souvenir.

There aren't many, huh?

Here, this is... this is peace.

It's peace, you take grief
and make something of it.

That's what I wanted to pass down.

[delicate music playing softly]

THANKS TO THE PERSISTENCE
OF THE VICTIMS' FAMILIES,

FRANCE FINALLY ACQUIRED
A DNA DATABASE IN 1998.

ALLOWING FOR THE RESOLUTION
OF HUNDREDS OF CASES.

[music ends]