Historical Homicides

Nitecap True Crime is back.

For our Season 2 premiere, we’re digging into Historical Homicides — three brutal crimes pulled from different corners of history that prove humanity has always had a dark side.

Suzi examines the terrifying legacy of Elizabeth Báthory, the infamous Hungarian countess whose cruelty toward young women became the stuff of legend.

Gavin takes us into wartime Paris to unravel the horrifying crimes of Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot, a doctor who promised desperate people escape from the Nazis… and delivered something far more sinister.

And Lindsay closes the episode with the disturbing modern-ish case of Katherine Knight, whose shocking crime would become one of the most infamous murders in Australian history.

Three killers.
 Three different eras.
 And three stories that prove the past can be just as chilling as the present.

Pour yourself a drink and join Gavin, Suzi, and Lindsay as they reopen the case files.

Transcript

SPEAKER_10 0:07

911, what's an emergency? I think I'm just on the phone. I don't know what to do. I'm going to need you to stay on the line.

SPEAKER_11 0:18

It's not available. Please call back.

SPEAKER_05 0:35

You are listening to Nightcap, a true crime podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

If the dark corners of human nature intrigue you, or you find crime quite a curiosity, then you're in the right place.

SPEAKER_07 0:48

Be warned, this podcast does contain explicit content and graphic descriptions of real-life accounts and cases. Listener discretion is definitely advised. Uh we're fucking back, baby. Hell yeah. Four long fucking years. Sorry about you guys' luck. But life happens. I have a four-year-old now if that goes to show over why gap might be a thing, but it wasn't just me. But we're happy to be back. Whoops.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

It doesn't seem like it's been that long.

SPEAKER_05 1:24

Oops. It doesn't. Well, I recorded an episode by myself. Which might really well. And people liked it. But then um, I have this little thing called ADHD. And then I forgot that I did that thing.

SPEAKER_09 1:40

Literally, you're like a on a one-night tangent.

SPEAKER_07 1:42

Like, you know what? Then it's like do this.

SPEAKER_05 1:46

And then I did a do-it-again. So dead. We are locked in. Locked in. So locked in. You're gonna find out here in just a little bit. But we would like to thank all of our new listeners and our old listeners. We missed you guys. We've missed you, and you guys are in for a wild ride. So we would like to address one little thing. Our co-host Britney is not joining us on this reboot, unfortunately. She's out there being a boss, babe. She opened up her own waxing salon called Dahlia Wax Collective in Portland, Oregon. So if you live in the Portland area, go show her and your hoo-ha some love. Brittany and I have been chatting, and she's excited to pop on here and there. We love you and miss you, Brittany.

SPEAKER_07 2:35

We love you. But just so you guys are aware, we are not reviving Nightcap Alone because Gavin and I wanted to continue the threesome vibe going on. You know what I'm saying? So we have a new co-host coming along with us on this wild thrill ride adventure. And you guys are gonna love her. She's fucking awesome. But, anyways, to get it going, who are we and who is she? I'm Susie. I'm Gavin. And I'm Lindsay.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Whoop whoop! Hey! Hey! So what's up, guys? I'm Lindsay, and I agreed to do this voluntarily. Uh, mostly because I don't want to be a topic for this very podcast in the near future. I'm so happy to be trapped. I mean, be here. Um, I can't wait. I love you both. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_05 3:23

Blink twice if you need help. They can't see me blink. Tap tap on your desk twice. Well, since you're here, Lindsay, you might as well tell us what our theme is for this episode.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

All right, guys. This episode is historical homicides. We're gonna be doing this episode to support Gavin and Susie's new podcast, The Oddities Department, where they talk about all the weird ass shit that's happened throughout history and science. Some of the topics are just out of this world. You need to go check it out. I've been entertained, I've been traumatized, I've just been riveted. It's definitely worth a listen.

SPEAKER_07 4:10

Yeah, we uh jumped on the new podcast train, and that one is just me and Gavin's love child together because we are odd motherfuckers and it's a blast.

SPEAKER_05 4:19

We are really excited to take our nightcap listeners on an adventure back in time. But before we get into tonight's cases, we need to introduce tonight's nightcap. So we're changing this segment of our podcast just a little bit instead of us going over what we're drinking, because we realized that um I'm an idiot and I will literally read you the back of a can for eight minutes.

SPEAKER_09 4:47

We did a lot of reviewing. We're like, holy shit, we're eight minutes in still talking about what we're drinking. How annoying.

SPEAKER_05 4:53

Even though it might have been funny, I just felt like we were wasting time. So we thought we might introduce something a little different and maybe a little more fun, and it gives you a little bit of homework if you're willing to try. So we're going to introduce tonight's nightcap for this episode because it's historical homicides, and we're going with the black velvet, a drink with a surprisingly dark origin story. It was created in London, 1861, the day Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, died. According to the story, a bartender at Brooks Club decided the champagne being served needed to go into mourning. So he mixed it with stout, turning the bright champagne into this deep, dark drink that looked like a mourning cloth.

SPEAKER_07 5:40

The drink became known as the black velvet, and honestly, the symbolism tracks. Queen Victoria was devastated by Albert's death and stayed in mourning for the rest of her life, which ended up being about forty fucking years. Damn. So a drink that literally turns champagne dark as a symbol of mourning feels pretty appropriate, and it's also one of the simplest cocktails ever created. I personally said it sounds like a mimosa, but if you hate life, when I found out about it, then I wasn't too far off.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

So if you want to make it yourself, it's super easy. You take a champagne flute, fill it halfway with chilled stout, usually Guinness, and then slowly top it off with champagne so it layers together. Two ingredients, very dramatic origin story, and honestly, a pretty perfect drink for tonight's episode. Because tonight we're diving into historical homicides. If you are brave enough to try the black velvet, please go find our Facebook group page, Nightcap True Crime Community, and let us know what you think. I'm not doing please.

SPEAKER_05 6:48

Please let us know what you think. Because I don't know if I'm brave enough to try.

SPEAKER_07 6:51

I'm not fucking doing it. I'm sorry. I'm not. I I can't do that. No.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

That hangover has to be just horrible.

SPEAKER_09 6:59

Absolutely. Keep your hate life, mimosa, the far away from fucking me.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

I am too old to drink that for science. I will leave it up to our listeners. Please, please.

SPEAKER_05 7:13

Do you want to die? Because this is how you die.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

You could be featured in one of our episodes.

SPEAKER_05 7:21

Right. Goodness. Well gracious. Are you guys ready to open up the history books? Crack open some cold cases? Jump in time machine. Pierce. Cracking open some beers while I do it. Susie. You're first.

SPEAKER_07 7:43

Man, I'm so fucking stoked to be back, you guys. I love this. Alright. I'm gonna kick it off with Elizabeth Bathory, also known as the Blood Countess. Which is extremely metal, if you ask me. Metal sounding. Alright, Elizabeth Bathory was born on August 7th, 1560, into one of Hungary's. Way back. Way back into one of Hungary's families that were the biggest of deals. Like seriously, we're talking about the kind of power that made problems just vanished. The Bathory name carried massive weight all over Eastern Europe. Her family members were seriously important. We're talking princes, top military brass, high-ranking church guys, and even kings. So, like one of Elizabeth's Elizabeth's Beth's? Jesus. One of Elizabeth's Nothing has changed you. Yeah. Literally. One of Elizabeth's relatives even became the king of Poland. If you were a bathory in the 1500s, you were totally at the fucking top of the social ladder. Right? Elizabeth herself grew up totally stacked with wealth and perks. She was highly educated, which was a big deal for women back then, because we weren't allowed to be smart. Even if we were, you know what I mean? She could speak a bunch of languages, including Latin, German, Hungarian, obviously, and got private lessons and stuff like politics and law. For the time, she was considered smart, articulate, and super capable. But the Bathory family also had this dark side that everyone came to know about. Historical accounts say a bunch of them had crazy tempers, unstable personalities, and were obsessed with being cruel. There are even rumors about relatives who were into dark rituals and torture. People still argue about whether those stories are exaggerated, but most historians agree the Bathory household wasn't exactly a place known for being nice.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Does not sound very nice.

SPEAKER_07 9:57

No. Some historians also think Elizabeth might have had epilepsy as a child, which was something several family members dealt with. The treatments for epilepsy back then were really rough and often involved bizarre things like rubbing a healthy person's blood on the lips of the person having a seizure. Ew. Yeah. Weird.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

How did they come up with that? Let's just try this. See if it works.

SPEAKER_05 10:26

Back in like the 1500s, people did some weird shit with blood for health benefits.

SPEAKER_07 10:32

Yeah. That was that's what I'm saying. It's like that person's healthy, you're not absolutely give them yep, give them their blood.

SPEAKER_05 10:38

Bloodletting and all that shit. They would drink each other's blood. Where do you think vampires came from?

SPEAKER_07 10:42

I was gonna she's literally called, what did I say? The count of fu what is she what her countess of something?

SPEAKER_05 10:48

The blood countess.

SPEAKER_07 10:50

There we go. Vampire. For sure. It's my case. I already forgot it. 80s. By the way, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

That really needs to be a band name. Is there a band called Blood Countess because that's the same thing? Because I said, missed opportunity.

SPEAKER_07 11:03

There should be. Sounds fucking metal. So we can't know for sure how much this shaped her later life, but it certainly suggests her childhood wasn't as picture perfect as it might have looked. At 15, Elizabeth married Frank Nadasty. That sounds about right. I like it. I'm just gonna go ahead and apologize. I do this on the oddities all the time, but I if I I'm just I do my best with the words. Okay. Sometimes I don't know how to pronounce them. If I'm doing it wrong, just like tell me I would love an email. And I'll be like, I'm so sorry, but I tried my best. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

You just wait and pull in a total Susie tonight.

SPEAKER_07 11:41

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

I love it. At least I'm not the only one. Yeah, every single one of my mess ups are going to be intentional as well. I'm one of you.

SPEAKER_11 11:53

I do it on purpose.

SPEAKER_07 11:56

One of the gang. Oh, that was funny. So Ferenc Nadasty. Another Hungarian noble. Oh, Nadast.

SPEAKER_05 12:09

That's happening. Yeah, Nadasty.

SPEAKER_07 12:10

Yeah, okay. I feel like I'm fucking around.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Maybe you say with a little attitude like you nasty, but Nadasty.

SPEAKER_05 12:17

I just let's just ask our little friend Google.

SPEAKER_06 12:20

Excuse me, Google.

SPEAKER_05 12:23

How do you pronounce that little weird A?

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Please tell me that you actually typed that.

SPEAKER_05 12:34

That is not what I expected. Is it a is it Q? Is it silent? No. It's actually pronounced now Dasty. That little basically what she said. That little doohickey. Now. Now dasty. Now dasty.

unknown 12:51

Now.

SPEAKER_05 12:52

So instead of AU.

SPEAKER_07 12:54

Now dosty. Now dosty. Now. Now dosty. Frank Nodesty. I don't know. I still like Nadash.

SPEAKER_05 13:01

You are welcome for this French lesson.

SPEAKER_08 13:04

It's not French, it's Hungarian.

SPEAKER_05 13:07

Hungarian lesson.

SPEAKER_08 13:08

We're so used to being in France. God damn it. This is always a cluster fun. Good God. Do you want me to start the sentence over? We might just be orderly in this whole fucking bit in. Perfect. We don't edit at all ever. Just leave it all in.

SPEAKER_07 13:26

Fuck it. I'm just out here with my pants off in front of the crowd. It's fine. Whoa. Just like this one guy.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Was that also in France? No, thankfully.

SPEAKER_05 13:41

It was in Greece.

SPEAKER_07 13:42

If you want to know what we're talking about, if you want to get in on the inside jokes, check us out at the Oddities Department wherever you get your podcast.

SPEAKER_04 13:52

Susie! Your commercial voice was on point. Oh, it is. I'm a professional.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

And way to recognize the plug.

unknown 14:02

God.

SPEAKER_07 14:04

Okay, anyways, back to my story. Good God. Can I can I tell you about the killing now?

SPEAKER_05 14:10

Okay, yeah, sorry. Thank you.

SPEAKER_07 14:12

Thank you. At 15, Elizabeth married Frank. Nodesty.

unknown 14:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 14:21

Now dusty. It's now. Now dysty. I already forgot because you guys fucked me. This is a fucking trade risk. This is how. Ow. Nodesty. Frank Nodesty, another Hungarian noble. Now Desty was a military leader who became famous for battling the Ottoman Empire. He was so brutal in battle that he earned the nickname the Black Knight of Hungary, like some some medieval Batman type shit.

SPEAKER_11 14:53

Yeah, that's bougie. That's bougie.

SPEAKER_07 14:56

He was known for ap using absolutely ruthless strategies against his enemies. Some accounts even claim he liked watching prisoners get tortured and executed. And because he was constantly away leading campaigns, Frank spent a lot of time on the road, and when he was gone, Elizabeth was left in charge of running the family's properties, and these were fucking huge. The couple owned multiple castles, tons of villages, and massive stretches of farmland. Thousands of peasants lived on the land controlled by the Bathany and Nowdy families. Elizabeth was basically the boss of the servants, the finances, and the day-to-day operations across all the estates. And for a woman in the late 1500s, having that much power was highly unusual. One of their key properties was the Chalkitse castle. The castle sat high up on a steep hill in what is now Slovakia. Its thick stone walls and towers loomed over the surrounding area. To the villagers below, the castle must have looked super imposing and completely out of reach. But for many poor families nearby, the castle also seemed like a chance for a better life. Peasant families were often struggling just to make it through the winter. Food was scarce and a lot of families had more kids than they could feed, because fucking was probably more fun than eating when there's no food. So when the castle needed help. Am I wrong? You gonna tell me that I'm wrong? I did not say you were food.

SPEAKER_05 16:30

I'm real hungry, you won't fuck.

SPEAKER_07 16:38

Pick one. Same girl. Same. So when the castle needed help, young girls from the villages were often sent there to work as servants. Their families probably saw it as a good deal. You know, their daughters would have a roof over their heads, food, maybe even a little bit of money. But years later, rumors started going around that some of those girls never made it home. Oh no. Mm-hmm. In 1604, Frank died, making Elizabeth a widow. She inherited a ton of wealth and even more authority over the estates. After he passed, the story about what was happening at the Chalkitze castle started getting seriously fucking dark. Servant girls were indeed vanishing. And initially, people didn't push too hard. Nobles were notorious for being harsh with discipline, and peasants who dared to accuse a countess could easily found like find themselves in trouble. But eventually, former servants started spilling the beans. They described violent punishments that were way over the line for normal discipline. Girls were beaten with sticks until their skin was shredded. Others were burned with hot metal tools. Some had needles shoved under their fucking fingernails. Oh fuck. I'm out. No. I'm out. Uh-huh. No, thank you. Right. One servant claimed Elizabeth would stab girls with sewing needles whenever they annoyed her. That's a perfect thing to do. A bitch.

SPEAKER_04 18:19

To save the beast. Like that's the kindest word you could have chosen. That was the nicest that other words did come to mind.

SPEAKER_08 18:29

Oh no.

SPEAKER_07 18:30

That bitch. But it gets worse. Another witness later described victims being forced to stand outside in freezing winter weather while water was poured over them, essentially leaving them to freeze to death. Reportedly, some girls were starved, others were locked in the in dark rooms for days. A lot of victims were really young, though. Like we're talking somewhere like 10 or 11 years old. That's so crazy. It's sad. According to testimony collected later, Elizabeth wasn't acting alone because several servants were accused of helping her. Mm-hmm. Four names keep popping up in the historical documents, and I'm gonna do my best on these ones. Ayana Joe. Don't you dare. Like that annoys up me. Ayana Joe, Gerodia, Centes, also called Dorca, Katarina Benica, and a young male servant named Yanos. You very but he went by the nickname Fico. Okay, that's the best I got. I don't know if I did it right, but that's that's the best I could do. Good job. I think I could have done better.

SPEAKER_04 19:46

You A5 have no corrections.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

I would like to officially request that we bring the name Dorka back, though. Where did that come from? Absolutely. Dorka and Fico.

SPEAKER_07 19:58

I'm gonna get two cats and I'm gonna name them that. Except where they were assholes. Cats are fucking assholes. Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna name my two dogs that. Maybe two cats that. Come on, stay stay with me here. Stay with me. These like these accomplices allegedly helped tie up victims, carry out the brutal punishments, and get rid of the bodies.

SPEAKER_05 20:22

Do you want to name your cats after these motherfuckers?

SPEAKER_02 20:26

It sounds pretty accurate. Do you not have many cats?

SPEAKER_07 20:30

Don't you think if cats were in human bodies, they would do the same? Have you seen them play with like living mice? Come on.

SPEAKER_04 20:36

Come on. Yes, I have.

SPEAKER_07 20:38

Stay with me here.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Critical thinking skills, Gavin.

SPEAKER_07 20:44

Come on. Come on. Come on. Okay, some testimonies described victims being restrained while Elizabeth beat them with whips or sticks. Others said girls were cut with knives or bred with hot metal objects, like I said, just straight torture. One witness claimed that when a servant girl collapsed from her injuries, Elizabeth just told another servant to just drag the body away. Get it out of my face. At some point, things inside the castle got so disturbing that even some local noble families started hearing the rumors. And that was a problem. Because while harming peasant service might have been overlooked back then, when stories began circulating that daughters of lower-ranking noble families had also been sent to the castle for etiquette and household training, people really started paying attention. And eventually, those rumors made it all the way to King Matthews II of Hungary. And in 1610, the king ordered an official investigation. The guy put in charge of the investigation was Georgi Thurzo. Round of applause. Essentially made him the king's top representative in the country. Thurzo began collecting statements from villagers, priests, and people who used to work at the castle. Over 300 witnesses eventually gave testimony. That's a lot of fucking Right. Some described hearing screams coming from the castle at night. Others claimed they had seen bodies secretly buried. Several said they knew girls who went to work at the castle and were never seen again. The stories were so disturbing that Thurzo decided he had to act. In December of 1610, he and several armed men went to the castle. What they reportedly found there turned Elizabeth Bathory into one of the most notorious figures in European history. According to the reports, investigators discovered multiple victims inside the castle. One girl was found barely alive from severe injuries. Another girl was already dead. Several other girls were discovered locked up in rooms within the castle, some so badly beaten they could barely move. The investigators also reported finding bodies hidden throughout the castle. Then who knows how many else were buried, God knows where around it. I don't know. So Elizabeth Bathory was immediately put under rest. However, since she was a member of the nobility, the situation got complicated. Executing a noblewoman could cause huge political upheaval. So, instead of putting Elizabeth herself on trial, the authorities focused on the servants who had allegedly helped her. What? The trials for those servants began in 1611. During the court proceedings, several of them confessed to participating in torture under Elizabeth's orders. Their testimonies described a consistent pattern of violent punishments that often ended in death.

SPEAKER_05 23:55

I bet they fucking poured their fucking souls out because they were probably more afraid of what she would do to them.

SPEAKER_09 24:04

Right.

SPEAKER_05 24:08

Cause I wouldn't fuck with that bitch.

SPEAKER_07 24:12

Or they were like, please help us, but either way, you're fucked. Either she's gonna get you or they're gonna get you. There's no uh there's no way around it. At this point, for peasants like peasant servants, you're you're fucked regardless.

SPEAKER_05 24:21

Touche.

SPEAKER_07 24:22

Their testimonies described a consistent pattern of violent punishments that often ended in death. The punishments for the accomplices were brutal. Remember those cute names I butchered earlier? Iana Joe and Doriota Siente's had their fingers ripped off with heated pimpers before being burned alive. Oh my god. Ianos was executed by beheading. Katerina got life imprisonment. But Elizabeth Bathory herself received a different sentence. Instead of execution, she was imprisoned inside her beloved castle. Fuck that. Work got home arrest. Wait, wait a minute, wait a minute. Workers sealed her inside a room, a room in one of the castle towers. They blocked the doorway with stone, leaving just a small opening to pass food through, like a little feeding glory hole. Jesus Christ, I am so sorry. My bad, my bad. Did you guys miss me yet?

SPEAKER_05 25:32

But she lived like that for four years. Honestly, so could I. Fuck off, Kevin. That's fine.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Can I have the Wi-Fi password? I am good.

SPEAKER_07 25:48

Oh goodness. So there she lived for four years, totally isolated inside the chamber. On August 21st, 1614, a guard checked on her. I just imagine him like looking through the glory hole. To the glory hole. You ready for your feeding? Yes.

SPEAKER_09 26:07

Don't you dare. It's Lindsay. Sorry. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Lindsay.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

I too would like to apologize. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_07 26:24

I fucking love this shit. He checked on her and found Elizabeth Bathley lying dead on the floor of the room. She was 54 years old. We will likely never know the exact number of victims connected to her. Some witnesses claim the number could be over 600. What? That would make her a big dog serial killer. That's a that's a big dog. Yeah. One servant even testified that Elizabeth kept a notebook listing the names of the girls she had killed. But historians have never actually confirmed if that notebook existed. Even so, many researchers think the death toll could be seriously fucking high. Over the centuries, Elizabeth Bathory's story morphed into a legend. She became known as the Blood Countess, and later stories claim she bathed in the blood of young women to stay young. Interestingly, that particular story doesn't show up in the original trial records. It was probably added decades later as the legend grew. Today, historians are still debating the real story. Some believe Elizabeth Bathory was totally responsible for her horrific acts of torture and murder. Others argue that the accusations might have been overblown or motivated by politics. After her arrest, large chunks of her land and wealth were taken and handed out, which makes some researchers wonder if powerful people stood to gain from her downfall. Oh, I'm sure. I mean, I'm I wouldn't be surprised either way, some fucked up people, and also that also makes sense. But no matter what the political backstory was, the testimonies collected during the investigation paint a picture of something truly fucking disturbing that happened inside that castle. Do we need to Google it again? It's I already sounded it out up in the thing and I just been too many minutes. It's Choctay. Oh, that's close. Choctay Castle. It came to me. There it is. Young girls went through those gates looking for a job, and sadly, a lot of them were never seen again. Truly a historical tragedy.

SPEAKER_05 28:39

That is wild. I've never heard about that. I know. It's a crazy one. We're learning stuff every day.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

The story had so many necessary facts. Blood, satanic rituals, fingers getting torn off by hot things, glory holes. That was a great story.

SPEAKER_07 29:05

I'm so glad you liked it.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Ten out of ten would listen again.

SPEAKER_07 29:09

But you know what I'm excited for, Lindsay? What? Your debut fucking case is what I'm excited about. What do you got for us? I'm like, let me have it.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

All right. Well, my very first contribution to the podcast ever is the story of Catherine Knight. We're gonna head down under to Aberdeen, New South Wales, Australia. I feel like I nailed that. Nice. You're welcome. Uh and before anybody says it, yes, this case happened in the year 2000, which sounds modern until you realize that we are very old, and that was over a quarter of a century ago. So congratulations.

SPEAKER_07 29:54

I literally said that I'm like, this is called historical homicides. I'm like, that's 2000. And I was like, oh fuck, that was like 25 years ago. Yeah. 26 shit.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

People born then are now adults and are listening to this podcast. So cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:13

We're enough to drink, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:16

And we are the people that say things like, Break in my day, the internet made beep beep noises when connecting. You couldn't use the phone when you were on the line. Yeah. Boing, boing, boing.

SPEAKER_05 30:32

You've got mail.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Oh god. So nostalgic. Uh so in this story, the town of Aberdeen is tiny. It's quiet, rural. It's the kind of place where everybody knows everybody's business. And if they don't yet, they will have all of the information by the time Gary finishes his second coffee at the diner. It's the kind of town where nothing big ever happens. I grew up in that town. Um, but that's until something very big happens. Because in February of the new millennium, that little town became the setting for one of the most disturbing domestic homicides in Australian history. But to understand how the suspense just to understand how we got there, we need to start with Miss Catherine Knight. Catherine Mary Knight was born in 1955. By most accounts, her childhood was chaotic and violent. The home environment she grew up in is described as abusive, unstable, and traumatic. That context does come up a lot when people try to explain Catherine's uh traits, we'll call them traits, later in life. But here's the important distinction. A difficult childhood can help explain patterns. A childhood rooted in trauma and abuse can be the reason for patterns, but it's never an excuse. Never never. Damn.

SPEAKER_06 32:06

It can be a reason, but not an excuse. I use that all the time in my life. I'm like, that's a reason, but not an excuse. Fuck you. I'm in your life.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Solid, Lindsay, solid. I'm gonna drop some deep shit on you every once in a while. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Hell yeah, sister. Uh, and no matter what the reason, it does not excuse terrorizing every single person that you claim to love. Because as Catherine grew up, one pattern started becoming very clear that she had a very violent temper. And when she got angry, things tended to get dangerous. As an adult, Catherine worked as an abattoir, and yes, I had to Google how to say that as well. I was gonna say, what is an abat abattoir? I kept trying to gussy it up. I was like, abattoir? Abattoir. I was like abater. I'm a master abater. Thank you very much. I can relate. It's all getting tied together. But Google told me it's abattoir. Um, and if you're like me and have no clue what that means, allow me to save you a Google. It is basically the Australian word for slaughterhouse. Oh, funny. Yeah, you only buy things after they've already been processed. I've seen your animals in jars.

SPEAKER_05 33:30

Oh shit. I also have a whole horde of goats that live live at my house because they're alive. I can't eat them.

SPEAKER_04 33:38

They're alive.

SPEAKER_05 33:40

You could be delicious, but I'll never know. Love you. I could have free meat, but no, they just I feed them and pay for money or pay for hay, and they just get to live here forever. I get to pet them from time to time, so I'm okay with it. Me too. Love it. They are my friends, not food.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

I hope you tell them that every time, too. I hope you threaten them at times. Do you want to be food?

SPEAKER_05 34:06

I do love a good euro, and you look like a hero.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

Please name your next coat Euro. Thank you. So Catherine worked in the slaughterhouse on a regular basis, so her daily work involved, you know, giant knives, animal carcasses, skinning, butchering, and breaking down bodies into small little pieces. That detail will be important later.

SPEAKER_08 34:36

Don't you dare.

SPEAKER_05 34:38

Don't you dare lay the foreshadowing on a thick one, don't you?

SPEAKER_07 34:42

Just dropping it in.

SPEAKER_11 34:43

Drop it in.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

So people who knew Catherine described her as explosive, controlling, and intensely possessive. Her relationships were turbulent. Former partners later described violent fights, threats, jealousy, and physical assaults. There were even reports of strangling attempts, beatings, attacks with objects. The kind of rage that can turn a household argument into something genuinely terrifying? This was not someone with a mild temper. No, you think? Yeah, you can throw that in there. Thank you, Captain Obvious. I'm gonna restate that exact fact like 17 different ways. Like so when it does come to somebody like Catherine, it does make you wonder. Um, they it was a small town. Rumors spread like wildfire. How on earth did all of the partners that she had had through the years ignore the red flags? Did she have a gold-plated personality or something? Uh, because this pattern repeated itself over and over and over again. How does somebody just get away with that? Like, people talk.

SPEAKER_05 35:55

Well, I mean, crazy people, when you're in really abusive and shitty relationships, the abuser is usually pretty charming, convincing, and then uh they eventually become a person that you don't want to cross or fuck with, and then they isolate you. And you'd be surprised what you where you could end up. That is a very valid.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

Ugh. At this point in the story, this brings us to 1995, and that's the year that Catherine met a man by the name of John Price. John Price was, by most accounts, the polar opposite of Catherine. He was well liked, he was friendly, he was hardworking, a father, he was the kind of guy that people described as easygoing and dependable. He worked locally, he had strong ties in the community, and people generally enjoyed being around him. So when he started dating Catherine Knight, likely whispered gossip aside, at first it probably didn't seem unusual. It was a small town, two adults, a relationship, normal stuff.

SPEAKER_07 37:03

It's like a Hallmark movie type shit. In the beginning it always What is that? Like a true crime thing. Such a normal couple until they weren't.

SPEAKER_11 37:12

Hallmark, but down none. Hold on, I gotta change my uh floor real quick, because I was gonna say both of those things verbatim. No, just kidding.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Uh stealing my lines, you guys. No. We're quick with it, girl. Hall Hallmark movie aside, but yes, absolutely. In the beginning that's that's what it appeared to be. Uh maybe this time would be different. But very quickly, the their dynamic started shifting. John eventually moved into Catherine's house with her children. And like most new relationships that later turned toxic, things didn't explode all at once. It started gradually, with arguments, jealousy, possessiveness. Over time, the fights became way more intense, more volatile, more frightening. Because Catherine did not handle conflict calmly. Maybe she even could not handle conflict calmly. She handled conflict like someone who believed that losing control was unacceptable. Straight up known a few of those. Ugh. Friends and co-workers later described the relationship as deeply unstable, uh, with frequent arguments, jealous accusations, threats, and increasingly violent confrontations. John eventually began to realize something very uncomfortable. He wasn't just in a bad relationship, he might be in actual danger. I'm in danger, Will Robinson. You're in danger. What does that mean? You're in danger, girl. I'm in danger. No, I'm thinking of from Ghost, the movie. I'm in danger.

SPEAKER_09 39:00

I just said that like twice fucking ten seconds ago. Neither one of you caught it until Gavin said in a dumb voice. Fuck you both. I'm in danger.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

What were we saying about ADHD? The quirky voice gets me every time.

SPEAKER_08 39:15

You know what? That's fair.

SPEAKER_02 39:16

I'll take it. I'll take that. I'll try harder. SpongeBob says it. I'm like, yes. Here's the part of uh that's really honestly chilling in hindsight when it comes to John. At one point, he told his co-workers something along the lines of if he ever didn't show up to work one day, it would probably mean Catherine had killed him. Oh wow. Just just think about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:43

Maybe you should like leave her. Right? I don't know. Maybe like get away from the bitch. Yeah, but when you're in that kind of situation, it's really hard to leave.

SPEAKER_04 39:54

I know it's just a gold-plated personality as well.

SPEAKER_05 40:01

So probably. I don't know. To everyone else, she may have looked like a perfectly normal person, but she's probably hot. That always flexed.

SPEAKER_08 40:12

I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 40:13

I don't even know if we're actually looked up Catherine and I the murderer hot. Okay. Oh see? I fucking called it, didn't I? Okay.

SPEAKER_05 40:26

She was actually dropped out in the chat. Not gonna lie. Interesting. I could see it. She's I mean, that was when she was really young, though. Well, I mean, 91 should have been like late.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

Wait, are we looking at the same fucking picture here, you guys? I see a black and white image of her when she was young with glasses.

SPEAKER_07 40:50

Next to the guy holding the beer? No. That I'm assuming is him? Yeah, I'm gonna drop it in the chat. Hold on.

SPEAKER_05 40:56

I don't see that one. I think that it yeah, that is that's definitely her. Um, the picture that we're looking at though was when she was really young, and she was very pretty.

SPEAKER_07 41:05

Well, this is obviously when he was still alive, and he looks fucking awful, and she looks crazy. Second check.

SPEAKER_05 41:12

She looks fine.

SPEAKER_07 41:14

No, I mean like he looks like he's struggling. Like he's like, there's fear in his eyes. He doesn't look happy. He looks awful, like he's like doing awful in life does look a little bit inside. That's what I'm saying. Like she looks like she's like doo-doo doo, and he looks awful. Like he's like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 41:30

He looks drunk.

SPEAKER_07 41:32

I think I would be too.

SPEAKER_03 41:34

Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

Goodness gracious. So after he told his co-workers that if he didn't show up to work one day, it would probably mean Catherine had killed him. Keep in mind he did not say that she might hurt him. He didn't say she was unstable. He basically made a premonition at that point, a workplace warning. And unfortunately for him, he was not wrong. No, I know. By the late 1990s, the relationship was falling apart. John began trying to distance himself from Catherine, and at one point he even obtained a restraining order after a particularly violent incident.

SPEAKER_05 42:17

Good for him.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

Right? That's I mean, I think about it too in the 90s. For you know, he was a victim of domestic violence. For him to speak up like that, it wasn't that common back then. No, he's not a good thing.

SPEAKER_07 42:33

Well, especially as like a man. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? I'm like, I hate to play the gender role thing, but like that, even in itself like for a man to be like, I'm scared of my wife. They're like, grow up, man up, dude. Like, figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 42:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 42:45

That's just kind of that societal thing.

SPEAKER_02 42:47

That just goes to show just how scared he was. Um that step. He actually got a restraining order. Um, and but unfortunately, as we all know, that is the most dangerous moment if you're in an abusive relationship. 100%. That's true. I mean, these days, if somebody needs to escape or gets a restraining order, you have a pent plan in place. You have backup, you have a a team of people to help you, you it you know, you don't do it alone. Exactly. Um like a whole SWAT team help you out. Right. And this moment is really dangerous when you have an abusive partner because the partner feels like or they realize that they're losing control. Um, and that's when things escalate the most.

SPEAKER_05 43:34

And they're not gonna be able to control their narrative once you're out of the situation.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Exactly. Exactly. Um, and Catherine Knight did not accept rejection. Not at all. Shocker. Right. She seems like such a lovely gal so far. Uh so by February of 2000, the relationship was pretty much over. John had moved back to his His his own house in Aberdeen. He was trying to rebuild some normalcy in his life, but Catherine wasn't willing to let go. That tension was building s toward something that no one around them could fully anticipate or even begin to imagine. Then came the night of February 29th, 2000. Leap Day. John Price came home from work that evening, likely anticipating a peaceful night. Sometime later, Catherine shows up. Why did he open the door? He had to realize that it wasn't going to be good. I I mean it might have something to do with that gold-plated personality I mentioned before, but why? If I have a restraining order and you knock on my door in the middle of the night, I'm I'm going to call the popo.

SPEAKER_07 44:48

Well, I'm assuming she was probably really manipulative though. She's probably like, I love you.

SPEAKER_05 44:52

Maybe when things are like that fresh, it's really difficult to let go on your side of things as well. Right? It's easy to look back a couple years ahead of time at, you know, your relationship and your situation and look at it from a different perspective. But when it's fresh, fresh, you're not quite out of it yet. Yeah. You're still kind of in it. You're not looking at it from an outside perspective. Exactly. That definitely comes later. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:18

That does m make sense. I mean I've done the same. Like in hindsight, I talk to people that I should have closed that door on way before then. So yeah, no, that makes sense. I think it's a total like psychological thing.

SPEAKER_07 45:30

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 45:31

Uh so Catherine comes over. Um, and what happened next in that evening would turn that quiet home into one of the most infamous crime scenes Australia has ever seen. At some point during that night, John went to bed. And at some point after that, big surprise, Catherine attacked him. John Price was stabbed at least 37 times. Jesus. Not once. It was not a single blow in the moment of passion. 30 fucking seven. But do you even have structure to your body at that point? That's crazy. That's excessive.

SPEAKER_07 46:13

That's a little much, Catherine. Just a little. Not that I want to know, but does it explain like where she had stabbed him? Like, you know what I mean? You just said the structure of his body, like I'm like in 37, 20, 37 times in the face and the stomach.

SPEAKER_06 46:26

I you know, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. I don't want to know, but more but curiosity. That's obviously why we're all here. I'm like, where oh.

SPEAKER_05 46:35

My guess is probably most of them are gonna end up in the in the chest area, abdomen area.

SPEAKER_08 46:42

Chest, abdomen, stomach.

SPEAKER_05 46:44

Those are the meediest parts of you.

SPEAKER_02 46:49

Oh my god. Um it's it was too bad. Thirty-seven times. That's just crazy to me. Um poor guy. Seriously. And the judge later said that in the final moments of John's life, it must have been a time of quote, abject terror. While for Catherine, it appeared to have been a time of quote utter enjoyment. Ew. Oh. Yeah. That is one of the coldest phrases I've ever heard in a sentencing statement. Judges Yeah, that's gross. They just don't say things like that unless the facts leave them absolutely no other consideration. Abject terror. Utter enjoyment. That's crazy. But that wasn't even the end. Um that's that's really not even close. Because after John Price was dead, Catherine Knight did something that would make this case internationally notorious. She began mutilating the body. Investigators later determined that she skinned him.

SPEAKER_07 47:57

What? Yep. Um 37 times stabbing him was fucked up.

SPEAKER_02 48:05

She skins worse and worse. If you recall, she had had a job as an abattoir. So this Lindsay. Don't you know the abattoir. Um, so this was not a clumsy job. This was not chaos, this was not, again, not in the heat of the moment. She mutilated his his corpse with the methodical skill of someone who knew exactly how to remove skin from a body. Oh my gosh. She took her time. The skin was removed in a single piece. What in the Edgyne fucking bullshit is that? Exactly. Um, and investigators even described it later as a quote, human skin pelt.

SPEAKER_07 48:50

I don't think they I don't think they needed to do that. They didn't need to describe it like that. It'd be fine.

SPEAKER_02 48:55

Not only did they find it, when they came into the house, she had it hung up like a tailor who wanted to admire her work. It was hung up on the wall. A full skin pelt.

SPEAKER_05 49:09

She was a monster. That is crazy work.

SPEAKER_02 49:13

That is not all you guys.

SPEAKER_07 49:16

No.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

No.

SPEAKER_07 49:18

But I'm like, this is great. There's more. God, Billy May's on the fucked up shit.

SPEAKER_02 49:23

Here we go. She also decapitated him. Police later found something almost too disturbing to comprehend. Uh when they entered the kitchen, the aroma of herbaceous broth filled the air. Shut the fuck up. John Price's head had been placed in a pot and boiled on the stove. Other parts of his body had been cut up and cooked with vegetables. And one of the most, if not the most, horrifying detail of this case to me, um the food had been plated onto several plates, and then each place setting was labeled with the names of John Price's children.

SPEAKER_07 50:07

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Absolutely. What the fuck, Catherine? Were the were the kids sleeping?

SPEAKER_02 50:24

The two in the bed were not present at the time. I don't have many details as to where they gone. Um Catherine had many children. And then John had, I want to say, three or four. Um, none of them were present at this time.

SPEAKER_07 50:40

I'm I I'm not sure whether John Price's children, like she wasn't the mother of them, right? Like that's correct separately from each other. Okay. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 50:50

See, the details on that are are lacking a bit. Um, and whether she intended for them to actually eat the food or whether it was just part of some really weird, grotesque staging, we'll never know. Uh, but regardless, the cruelty of that act is almost impossible to describe. It wasn't just murder, this was psychological destruction on just about every level when it came to John.

SPEAKER_07 51:17

That is like a full-blown fucking like revenge, like what's the worst possible thing I could ever possibly do to you? Not just kill you. Yeah, then skin you. Fuck your skin, fuck your head, and I'm gonna eat you, and I'm gonna serve place to each other. I'm like, that's like levels of crazy neurotic revenge shit.

SPEAKER_05 51:32

Did she eat him?

SPEAKER_02 51:34

So in the article it said that there had been an additional plate, and they found the plate tossed out into the yard. Um, not many details, so they found all the kids' plates with their names labeled on them. An additional plate with the food on it was tossed out into the yard. Speculation on that is that she tried it and it was disgusting. Um, or it was some other kind of symbolic sign that he, you know, wasn't good enough to consume to her.

SPEAKER_07 52:06

That's just again, like when you kick out your, you know, ex-boyfriend's clothes onto the front or like front lawn and you break up on them, that type shit.

SPEAKER_02 52:13

Yeah. There's no real factual that, like I said in the article, it was speculation, but there was indeed an additional plate. Uh, they do not know if she actually consumed any of that.

SPEAKER_05 52:26

It's wild that she went through the effort to label all the kids' names.

SPEAKER_07 52:30

Um or even add vegetables to the broth. That seems like a weird actual. Right. She took her time to show it. She was like the broth.

SPEAKER_05 52:38

Like the intention of people eating it was definitely there. That's wild. That's fucking Lindsay.

SPEAKER_08 52:47

I've heard some pretty insane shit. That was pretty fucking insane.

SPEAKER_02 52:52

It's my debut. I had to go beggar go home. Fuck yeah. Glad you're here. So um after this night, obviously, John did not show up to work the next morning. But the people he worked with closely remembered what he had said. That warning. The police were eventually sent to their house, and what they discovered had been described by investigators as one of the most horrifying scenes they had ever encountered. Inside the home they found John's mutilated body, the skin hanging intact, the food prepared on the stove, and Catherine herself unconscious nearby after taking a large number of pills. But she was alive. Very much alive. Of course. Take the easy way out. I was gonna say, does she get does she take the easy way out? Uh I I wish they would have said what kind of pills. Um was it Benadryl?

SPEAKER_08 53:50

How much Benadryl? Uh a lot.

SPEAKER_02 53:59

Just in case she had an allergic reaction. You never know. Uh so the investigation quickly confirmed what had happened, not much left to the imagination there. Catherine was arrested, and in 2001 she pled guilty to the murder of John Price. The court sentenced her to life imprisonment without parole, making her the first woman in Australian history to receive that sentence. So while this story may be considered modern history, that fact makes it a historical event in every sense of the word.

SPEAKER_08 54:35

I see. I think you did.

SPEAKER_06 54:40

Oh, she brought it all the way back around.

SPEAKER_07 54:45

Hell yeah. I am here for it.

SPEAKER_02 54:48

So just a little uh end piece here. Years later, she did attempt to appeal the ruling. Um her lawyers argued that her mental health and traumatic past should have been given greater consideration. But the court said no no. They're the sentence. She had a lot of. Yeah, fuck you. Right.

SPEAKER_07 55:07

Maybe you'd maybe if you just stabbed him 37 times, maybe you could get off on a mentally ill thing. And you the rest that happened after that, you're fucked. You're obviously crazy, but you don't get to be released. You're a menace to society.

SPEAKER_05 55:21

There are so many charges, too. Like, if you think about it, this was obviously premeditated. Mm-hmm. She stabbed him, she killed him, she then desecrated his body, chopped him into chunks with the intention of cannibalism. Like, there is a laundry list.

SPEAKER_08 55:40

And you wanna know what you want to know what else?

SPEAKER_05 55:43

She broke the restraining order.

SPEAKER_04 55:45

And broke the restraining order. That too. Christ, that's another one.

SPEAKER_02 55:51

It's a lot.

SPEAKER_07 55:53

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 55:54

Wait, since she's Australian, would calling her a cunt be an insult or like a friendly greeting? God damn it, I think you're right. Like, I would use that word, but I don't feel like it would be the insult that I would want it to be in Australian journals.

SPEAKER_07 56:14

In an Australian context, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:17

We'll let the listeners decide on that one.

SPEAKER_05 56:19

Call her what you will. She's just a a wee little sesscule of a bitch.

unknown 56:27

Right.

SPEAKER_02 56:28

Bitch. But honestly, what no life in prison, no parole, what would be the alternative? Gladly, well happily, the justice system looked at this crime and decided something very simple. She does not get another chance. She does not get a chance at a redemption arc, and she doesn't get to re-enter society and ask for forgiveness from the families that d she destroyed. Catherine Knight didn't just kill John Price, she annihilated him. She desecrated his body, she weaponized his death, and then she tried to extend that cruelty to the people who loved him. Today she's still in prison, and that's exactly where she'll stay. Um last update I saw was as of 2017. It's been reported that she'd taken a leadership role amongst the other inmates at Silverwater Women's Correctional Facility. Like a true fucking narcissist. Like, but my question is, um, kind of related back to the first story, were they doing it out of are they minding their P's and Q's around her, letting her be leader because of they they know what she's capable of? I mean, it was a very highly it had so much press. Like they have to know. Uh there's no record from of violence from Catherine once she was imprisoned. And when people talk about this case, they often remember Catherine Knight. But the real story shouldn't be about her. It should be about John Price. He saw the danger coming, he tried to leave, he warned people and who still lost his life to one of the most brutal acts of domestic violence Australia has ever seen. The lesson here red flags exist for a reason. Giant ones. And if you ignore them long enough, you might just pay the ultimate price. Poor man. Damn, Lindsay. I know, that one was a hell of a ride. It just kept going. As I was reading, I was like, and then nah. Now before we move on to Gavin's case, we do want to take a quick moment to acknowledge that cases like this often involve domestic violence. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, there are people who can help. In the United States, you can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1800 799 SAFE. That's one eight hundred seven nine nine seven two three three or visit thehotline dot org. In Australia, you can reach one eight hundred respect. The National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counseling Service at one eight hundred seven three three three three three seven seven three two or online at one eight hundred respect dot org.au. You're not alone, and support is available twenty-four hours a day. That is some solid advice.

SPEAKER_05 59:32

Thank you, Linda. Also, that is a crazy ass case.

SPEAKER_07 59:38

Yeah. A plus girl. Happy to have you. Again, I already said that, but I'm happy to have you. Thank you. But she's just gonna roll. She's just gonna poll in and she's gonna be like, guess what? I got head stew, motherfuckers.

SPEAKER_02 59:52

Don't piss me off. I've been researching how to do things.

SPEAKER_05 59:56

Straight up or just roll just rolls on up to the podcast with straight up trauma. Right. Straight drama.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:03

I'm always good for that. But we love it. Thank you for the compliments. I love you guys. I feel so welcome. Uh, but uh ultimately I want to hear what Gavin has to say because he comes up with the craziest shit.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:18

You guys are not ready for what you're about to witness. Let me tell you. What are we doing? The Doctor of Death.

SPEAKER_09 1:00:35

That's almost more metal than the blood countess, you fucker.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:39

And we're going to Paris, France. Of course. Of course. Of course we are. Because if you listen to the Oddities department at all, you will learn that we also learned that according to history, nothing has happened anywhere else except for parents, Paris or France. All of the crazy shit always comes out of France, man. It's like Florida man, but I was gonna say, we thought Florida Man was bad, France.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:15

We out there. Out there.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:17

Here comes the history. France is Florida. Yeah, no shit. Alright, so back to France. We go. In 1940, Nazi Germany basically steamrolled right over France using this crazy new fast attack they called Blitzkrieg. As in Bop? I was gonna say, like the Bop. Sure.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:43

You don't know that you're gonna you know something I do not. Are you a KJ? The Blitzkrieg Bop? It's button.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:50

No one's ever no seen the Blitzkrieg Bop.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:53

The Blitzkrieg Bop.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:56

You obviously work in much different bars than I did because that one was regular in Roto. I work in a cowboy.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:03

I'm gonna blame the fucking college kids for that one. Campus around a lot of kids.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:08

I could work at a cowboy bar and a college bar. Yeah, no shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:12

Oh, I worked at an old timer dive bar that smelled like piss.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:16

I get to listen to Justin Bieber and Blake Shelton. Yeah. These are those are my. So anyhow, so they they just zipped right around the magnet line, which is a massive system of fortifications built by France along its border with Germany, which turned out to be pretty useless. The French forces could not get their act together, and it was a total bust in just a few weeks. France ended up surrendering, and that led to the Vicky regime, a puppet government, and the Germans took over the north part of the country. The occupation started right away. German soldiers were everywhere in Paris. Swastika flags replaced the French tricolor flags that were usually hung from buildings. And overnight, life in Paris changed. Because as soon as the Nazis showed up, they started making lists of Jewish people, lists of political opponents, lists of resistance fighters. People started vanishing. Some were grabbed in the middle of the night. Some were sent away. Some just straight up disappeared. No warning, no reason, just gone, straight up yeeted out of France.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:44

Yeet Yeet.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:46

In a time like that, people were desperate for a way out. Families whispered in the markets, neighbors talked quietly in apartment hallways. Rumors spread through the underground network. Stories about how to escape. About smugglers who knew routes. About people who could get you out of France before the Gestapo ever came knocking. If you had money, if you had the right kind of connections, if you were incredibly lucky, you might end up in Spain, maybe Portugal. Possibly even South America. Anywhere far from Nazi control in barbed wire. And right there in Paris, one guy claimed that he could make that happen. Claimed? He was a doctor. He seemed educated. He was very well spoken. He said he was a part of the French resistance. He also claimed he could help those desperate people escape. His name was Dr. Marcel Andre Henry Felix Petille. My fucking ass. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:59

I mean, I trust him with that. That's a long ass name. Marcel Andre Henry Felice Petois.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:05

Petillo.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:06

Petillo? Oh.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:07

Yeah, I thought I thought it was Petit too. And Hardy was like, no. And then I was like, it's gumi Google. And then Google was like, both of you are wrong. Uh-oh. Petillo. So you could call him like what is that? Petillo. But for my sanity, we are going to refer to him as Marcel. Because for his name is. Okay, or you could call him a doctor.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:31

What is that? Dr. M-A-H-F-P. Doctor Muff.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:36

Muff.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:40

Oh, that's gonna be a new vocal stem. I can already feel it. Muff. Muff. Just randomly.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:48

But here's the thing. If you put your trust in him, you probably were never seen alive again. Mark. Marcel was born on January 17, 1897. In Auxerre, France. And honestly, from a young age, people thought something was off about this kid. He was, for all intents and purposes, a fucking weird one. But not weird like we're weird. Weirder than he was just a fucking little dick. Teachers said he was smart, but seriously troubled. He lied constantly, he stole from other kids. He messed with people just for fun, just straight up fucked with them. And there were some unsettling stories about him torturing animals and scaring young children.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:40

Why is that such a cliche?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:43

Because he's like a straight-up sociopath.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:46

A cliche psychological thing. Yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:49

It is literally a fucking requirement in order to be a monster.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:54

Called the homicidal triad for a reason. You're right, sister. There's levels to that shit.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:01

We're making the right one famous here. She knows her shit.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:06

She knows her shit.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:08

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:10

Did he also wet the bed? Did it mention?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:12

Oh my god, but you know what? I wouldn't put it past him.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:17

Right.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:17

Mommy issues and daddy issues. So obviously we all agree that today that kind of behavior would get you sent to the a therapist office and uh quick like. But back then, he was just labeled as odd. Always just an odd kid. What accent was that? I have no idea.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:39

It was like a mix of like four different ones. Are we in France?

SPEAKER_08 1:07:43

Little bit of a side.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:44

I can't do between those. It was kind of Australian a little. Little bit of or see in there. He did great.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:54

Well then came World War I. At just 18, Marcel was drafted into the French army. He fought in the trenches just like millions of others. He was wounded a few times. He even got medals for bravery. But his military file also showed another side. Constant rule breaking, theft, fraud, and tons of psychological evaluations. Surprise, surprise. Army doctors called him unstable, manipulative, and a total emotional mess. Which rude.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:35

I was about to say, I mean, we were gonna say anything, Gavin.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:42

He was he was hospitalized for psychiatric issues multiple times. I do not have that one under my belt. Yet somehow, after the war, this guy still became a doctor. The unstable soldier with a history of theft, manipulation, and psychological problems went to medical school. And by the early 1920s, Marcel was officially a licensed physician. Which looking back is pretty fucking terrifying.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:13

Don't you have to like care about people if we want to be a doctor?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:17

Because or you need to know how to lie. He was very good at that. Because if your resume includes psychological instability, theft and fraud, most hospitals wouldn't exactly say, Great, here's your scalpel.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:32

Now I feel an urge to do a background check on my doctor.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:36

You might wanna. Like, so he set up a practice in the little town of Villeneuve-Storyon. Fucking. I think he did very well.

SPEAKER_10 1:09:49

I think he crushed it.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:51

On the surface, he looked and acted like your average doctor. He saw patients, he wrote prescriptions, he developed a solid reputation. But under the surface, he was a much darker and more sinister kind of doctor. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, Marcel was investigated for fraud. Over and over again. He got caught writing illegal prescription drugs. He ran a plethora of insurance cons. He was even secretly stealing electricity from the town grid. This guy's a menace. And then there were accusations that he was stealing money and valuables from the people he was supposed to be treating. But somehow he always got away with it. Investigations would start, then they'd fizzle out. Charges would pop up, then they would disappear. And Marcel walked away free every single time. Ugh. Well, it's kind of one of those historical moments where you think maybe we should have cut this guy off around crime number three. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:04

I want to know how he stole power from an electrical grain. You need to, man.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:07

I imagine back then it probably was not that hard. They didn't have meters like we do now.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:13

Can I steal power from a Vista for dummies so I don't have to pay for it, please? Thanks. Asking for a friend. How did he do it?

SPEAKER_05 1:11:22

I'm leaving that in there. Fuck you. Then in 1926, something truly unbelievable happened. He was elected mayor of Vellanurse Surrey on. No way. Yup. The same guy suspected of theft and fraud became the town's political leader. Sound familiar to anybody? Maybe a little bit. That alone tells you a lot about Dr. Marcel. He was smooth. He was perva pervasive. He was persuasive. Maybe both. Probably all of the above. The kind of person who could look you in the eye and make you believe whatever nonsense he was selling. It also suggests that the background check for the public office in the 1920s, France was pretty much just he seems right.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:26

I mean, on paper, doctor, was he like military who likes to do it?

SPEAKER_05 1:12:29

Yeah, he looked like he looked like a stand-up citizen, but don't they all? But the job didn't last. Accusations of corruption and stealing public money quickly surfaced. Sound familiar?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:46

Uh this whole story is just depressing on that standpoint alone.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:50

Town money started going missing. The books weren't balancing. People started asking some really tough questions. And before long, Marcel quietly quit and moved to Paris. Which, for a lot of people, turned out to be the worst news possible.

SPEAKER_09 1:13:10

I don't like where this is going. Right?

SPEAKER_05 1:13:13

Dr. Death. Yeah, no. But this is where shit starts to get juicy. So let's get back to the meat and potatoes. Germany invaded France. Paris fell, the occupation began, and for countless people in France, just surviving became the only thing that mattered. Jewish families were hunted down, resistance members were rounded up. Anyone suspected of disagreeing with the Nazis could be locked up, tortured, sent away, or killed. And in that mess, Marcel saw his chance. His moment. He started sending out messages through the underground that he could help people escape Nazi controlled France to anyone that would listen. Jewish refugees, resistance fighters, political folks on the run. Anyone terrified of what was coming next. The deal sounded pretty straightforward. Pay a huge amount of money, and Marcel would help organize your escape. He claimed to have connections to get people across to Spain and Portugal. From there, they'd get on boats headed for South America, Argentina, Brazil, somewhere safe. But there was one little thing that he required before leaving France. Everyone needed a special vaccination. Uh whal said the South American authorities required it, just a routine medical thing, and since he was a doctor, people trusted him. Which was exactly what he was banking on. When victims arrived at Marcel's house at twenty one Rue Lesuer, he gave them a warm welcome. He calmed their nerves, walked them through the escape plan, told them that everything was set and ready to go, and then he led them down to the basement. Folks So he had an excellent bedside manner. Never, ever let anyone lead you into a basement. Once there, he told them to take off their clothes. He expected That's true crime 102, he told you that it was part of a disinfection procedure before they traveled. And people obeyed. Because when you think you're about to escape Nazi occupied France, you're not going to question the doctor who's trying to save your life. Then Marcel gets the syringes ready. Behind that needle, inside the barrel, was concentrated liquid cyanide.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:07

Oh no.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:09

And cyanide works incredibly fast, especially when it's injected. It stops the body's cells from using oxygen, so victims begin gasping for air, their muscles lock up, their hearts beat wildly out of their chests. Then their heart slows down. And then their hearts completely stop. Some of his victims dropped dead in a matter of seconds. Others thrashed violently on the floor before they died. Witness accounts suggested victims likely scratched at their own throats in pure panic as their bodies failed. Because when you are literally starving for oxygen, you're gonna do some crazy shit to try to get some oxygen. Totally. It was a horrible and violent death. Not peaceful one bit. And once they were dead, Marcel got to work. He went through their belongings. What was theirs now belonged to Marcel. Suitcases, all their cash, any gold or jewellery, watches, family heirlooms, anything of value. Once he was done robbing their corpses, he then had to dispose of the bodies. And that's where things get real fucked up. As if they weren't already. Jump to March 14, 1944, firefighters were called to a townhouse at 21 Rue Lesur in Paris. Oh, here we go. After neighbors reported thick smoke pouring from the roof. At first, it didn't seem like anything unusual. Maybe a furnace malfunction, maybe a chimney fire. But when firefighters stepped inside the house, they immediately realized that something was terribly wrong. The smell hit them first. A thick, sickening odor that clung to the air. Sweet, rotting, and unmistakably the smell of death.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:29

Do you have to put the sweet in there? Is it really sweet?

SPEAKER_05 1:18:33

If you've ever smelt a decomposing human corpse, sweet is exactly how you would smell describe it? Yep.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:44

But you obviously never forget the smell.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:45

No, you don't. Yeah. Okay. So that checks out. As they moved deeper into the house, the scene became more disturbing. Rooms filled with suitcases. Dozens of them. Stacked in corners, packed in closets, shoved into spare rooms. Each suitcase belonging to someone who had come to Marcel desperate to escape France. Inside them were clothes, documents, photographs, family heirlooms, everything those people had packed for a new life. A new life that they were never going to reach. Then the investigators reached the basement. And that's when the full horror of this place begins to reveal itself. Because inside that basement, Marcel had essentially built what investigators later described as a body disposal factory. A massive furnace sat against the wall, large enough to burn human remains. And inside the furnace, they found charred bones still smoldering. But it wasn't like a crematorium, it was just a furnace that was big enough to do it. Yep. Obviously, but that's As investigators searched further, they began finding remains scattered around the room. Piles of bones, fragments of burnt skulls, buckets filled with human body parts, and large barrels containing human remains that had only partially dissolved. Fun. They discovered the lime vats. Huge containers filled with quicklime. Quicklime? If you don't know what that is, quicklime is often used to accelerate the decomposition of organic matter. And inside those vats, investigators found human remains that were halfway dissolved, bones and pieces of flesh that had not completely broken down yet. Some officers later said when they probed the vats with log metal rods, the bodies floated slowly to the surface. It was one of the most What?

SPEAKER_09 1:20:51

I was making the face, she made the noise.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:58

It was one of the most gruesome crime scenes many of them had ever witnessed. And you have to remember that this was during World War II. These men had seen battlefields, and even they were shaken by what they found in that basement. That's not furnace told another story. It had clearly been used over and over again. But at some point the number of bodies became too much for it to handle. So Marcel began cutting the corpses apart, chopping them into pieces, burning limbs, smashing bones, and dumping fragments into lime to dissolve whatever remained. And as investigators continued searching the basement, they then discovered something even worse. Some of the victims had never even made it to the furnace. Several bodies had simply been hidden inside of the house itself, stuffed into crawl spaces, hidden behind walls, buried beneath piles of debris in the cellar. Any little nook and cranny he could shove a body into, Marcel was shoving bodies in it.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:08

How many people and how frequently did he have to kill people to just have such an overflow of bodies?

SPEAKER_07 1:22:16

That was my do we get a body count on this fucker? Because that's a lot of fucking bodies. We will get there.

SPEAKER_08 1:22:23

But he burned most of them. How would they even know?

SPEAKER_05 1:22:26

At one point, investigators noticed a patch of the basement floor that looked like it had been recently disturbed. When they dug into it, they found human remains buried directly beneath the house. Oh my god. Marcel had literally been stacking bodies underneath the building. Authorities later discovered that Marcel had sealed several rooms in the house in an attempt to control the smell, but the stench still seeped through the walls. Neighbors describe it as thick and sweet and rotting, the smell of death. One officer later said that the house smelled like a butcher shop that had gone completely rotten. Which is probably the politest way that anyone could describe that house. By the time investigators finished searching the house, they had uncovered one of the most horrific crime scenes in European history. One officer later described it simply as a slaughterhouse for human beings. But Marcel? He was gone. He had already disappeared into the chaos of wartime Paris. While in hiding, Marcel actually joined members of the French Resistance under a false name and continued movering around Paris. He went by the alias Henry Valeri. Police had been hunting him the entire time, circulating descriptions and questioning resistance members and informants. Eventually, after months on the run, investigators spotted him on the Paris Metro system. Officers approached him, confirmed his identity, and arrested him without a fight, surprisingly. And when the authorities presented him with all of the evidence, he offered one of the strangest and stupidest excuses in criminal history.

SPEAKER_08 1:24:22

Oh my god, what?

SPEAKER_05 1:24:24

He claimed that he was a hero of the French resistance.

SPEAKER_08 1:24:28

Oh, did he now?

SPEAKER_05 1:24:31

According to Marcel, the bodies in his house weren't innocent refugees. They were Nazi collaborators. Traitors. Enemies of France. People he had executed on behalf of the resistance. Which is quite the fucking story. That sounds like a last ditch manipulative effort to save his own fucking ass. Oh, a hundred percent. Because apparently dozens of collaborators were just lining up politely in his basement to be murdered and burned. That was his defense. And the jury they weren't buying it. The trial started in March 1946 and immediately became a national spectacle. Witnesses testify about family members who went to see Marcel looking for help escaping France, and were never heard from again. Relatives identified suitcases found in his house. Jewelry matched items listed in missing persons reports, and investigators detailed the gruesome discovery inside the house. Bones, ash, and proof of dozens of bodies burned in the furnace. Authorities confirmed at least 27 victims.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:52

At least he successfully burnt.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:56

But historians suspect the true number could have been much higher. Possibly sixty or even more. Because during the war, a lot of people simply vanished, and many of them were last seen walking into a doctor's house. After three weeks of trial, the jury delivered the verdict on April 4th, 1946. After 17 days of hearings, Marcel was sentenced to death. And on May 25th, 1946, he was taken to the La Sante prison in Paris, and waiting in the courtyard was the guillotine. Witnesses noticed Marcel seemed completely calm. No panic, no sign of regret or remorse. Just a man walking towards the blade. The executioner secured him, and the blade fell. And just like that, the doctor who promised people a path of freedom lost his head.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:00

As he fucking should. Right. Weird fuck.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:04

He was a fucker.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:07

And that he was a little bit. Well the weirdest thing about it too, it's like it wasn't even like he had like an urge to kill, or was like a desire to kill. It like seemed like he was like more so like trying to get financial gain out of it.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:20

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:20

Like doink. Now I'm not taking all your shit.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:23

When you look at patterns, it when it comes to people who murder, especially serial murderers, there's always an a vulnerability. Right. In their victims. And he exploited a vulnerability.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:39

Oh, okay. You got me there.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:40

The fact that these people were going to be murdered by the Nazis and were trying to escape. And he exploited that. Took all their money and then killed them because then he didn't have to do any of the work after that.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:52

Yeah, right. I'm like, I'm not saying there was two sides to it, though. It was like financial gain in power versus like he didn't give a shit about like hurting and mutilating bodies and all that shit too. It's like a both reality. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:06

Maybe the payoff was on multiple different levels.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:09

All of the above.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:10

Exactly. If you look into like the psychology behind serial killers, they get off on different things. Like maybe he liked the part where people would panic at the very end. It was brief, but that's what he wanted. And then he got to keep all the little trophies and mementos. Yep. Maybe it was just a combination. He's just a fucked up guy. I'm glad he's gone. Susie, you have anything else to add? Fuck him.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:37

Fuck that guy.

SPEAKER_09 1:28:39

He deserves everybody we talked about tonight.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:42

Half with his head real Lindsay, you will find yourself saying that a lot of people I hate so many people in the present timeline and now I'm gonna hate historical people too. Of all the things that I have said in the in episodes prior, fuck that guy is number one.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:03

Literally. This one has like a semi happy ending though because at least that fucker got what he wants. It's only it's the worst thing when they do like they get away with it and then you're like nope.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:14

Justice was served. That's good. And we love that for him although I think it could have been worse. The guy is an easy way out.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:26

It's a little quick. What do you got 15 seconds after that fucking head falls off to you like thinking about it and then you're gone.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:32

It's not long enough. Exactly right well guys what do you think about all of this all this shit history is wild history is always wild is it bad that I feel a little guilty that I enjoyed about enjoyed hearing about it all like it sure puts life into perspective we've been fucked up forever.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:02

History has a funny way of repeating itself and overdone in its cliche rhyme right different previous stories it was definitely the same shit. Different font for sure I learned so much too much a little too much I can only imagine what I will learn on the next episode as well just you wait sister oh god what a cheerful little stroll through history yeah not so fucking much like I said I learned so much how to dispose of bodies literally every person we talk about got caught so no honestly if there's one thing we learned tonight it's that people have always been capable of some truly horrifying things throughout history.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:08

You know history teachers uh really left out a lot of the murder they really do imagine if they taught us about business I mean I might have paid attention if that was the case same same but seriously we're really excited to be back yeah hell yeah thank you all so much for joining us for the relaunch of Nightcap True Crime we know we have been so quiet for so long but if you're back with us now means the fucking world for us and we promise we're gonna come back with more shit and it's gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:48

For now you can expect new episodes of Nightcap once a month where we'll be diving into true crime cases just like this. But if you want more of our nonsense in between those episodes you can find us over on our other show the Oddities department and there's shameless plug here but plug and just in case people don't know the Oddities department drops every week and it's full of weird history, strange science, bizarre stories and things that honestly sound fake uh but then somehow aren't so if you need something to listen to for the other three weeks of the month, that's where we'll be and if you enjoyed tonight's episode one of the best ways you can help our show grow is by rating and reviewing the podcast wherever you listen.

SPEAKER_07 1:32:40

Or you can hop on over to our TikTok or Facebook page to give us some love.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:44

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SPEAKER_05 1:32:49

And if you have a case you want us to cover or a story you think we should dive into, get at us, send it our way or you can join our Facebook group page just called Nightcap True Crime Community.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:03

We're always looking for new crimes, mysteries and strange stories to dig into all right my little weirdos that's it that's all we got that's that's it for tonight thank gosh thanks for joining us oh okay bye bye oh man you know how how good it feels to say that on nightcap again I know I love that shit what do you want me what do you want me to say oh what Susie get all crazy they know I'm crazy Gavin they remember just in case you forgot love myself fuck