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Joseph Vacher

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“ Look, I wanted to have a quickie, they wouldn't let me! ”
— Vacher during his arrest

Joseph Vacher a.k.a. The French Ripper and more recently The Killer of Shepherds was a French pedophilic serial killer/rapist and necrophiliac guilty of dozens of murders across rural Southeast France in the 1890s. He's been commonly referred to as France's Jack the Ripper, due to the violence of his crimes and the time period in which he committed them.

Background[]

Vacher is the 15th of 16 children of his father Pierre, as well as the 11th of 12 children of his mother Marie Rose Ravit. Vacher's twin Eugène died as a baby from choking on a loaf of bread. Vacher is believed to have been raped when he was six by his home commune's garde champêtre. Vacher's first known offense was shooting at a group of boys for bullying him with his father's rifle. Vacher also tried to choke his little brother Louis when Vacher felt he was slacking on farm duties. When Vacher's sister couldn't care for him, he was sent to a Marist Brothers Catholic institute. Vacher was expelled after two months for animal cruelty and masturbation. Vacher lived with his sister and bother-in-law in Marcollin and worked at a restaurant, when he needed a testicle removed due to contracting syphilis. Vacher's brother-in-law evicted him, as his Vacher's brother Auguste after living with him in Geneva due to Vacher communicating a series of violent crimes he was guilty of. Vacher went to Lyon and was committed to an asylum for persecutory delusions. Vacher joined the army to escape poverty and rose to sergeant, but he attempted to kill himself due to believing he wasn't being promoted fast enough.

Crimes, Trial, and Execution[]

"No, no, I respect myself more than you do. I don't want the ones you talk about [prostitutes]. I need young girls, shepherdesses or cowgirls".
- Vacher to Charlon

Vacher's first suspected murder and rape is of a boy named Joseph Amieux in an neighboring town in 1884, which was previously blamed on transients. In 1888, Vacher attempted to rape Marcelin Bourdon in Beaufort, but Marcelin punched Vacher off and ran to other farm workers. Vacher fled charges of pederasty, and the police didn't know where he lived, so they didn't find him.

In 1893, Vacher obsessed over Louise Barrand, a maidservant, proposing to her after inviting her over for dinner. When she refused, he threatened her life and stalked her for weeks. When Louise agreed to a dance, Vacher attacked another man, and she fled. Vacher sent her letters when she moved in with her mother, becoming deluded over the fear she was involved with his comrade, Louis Loyonnet. When Louise insulted Vacher's harassment of her, he shot her three times in her home on June 23, hen shot himself twice in his head in a suicide attempt. Louise lived, and Vacher retained paralysis on half his face, which he argued left society ostracizing him, and a bullet lodged behind his ear, which is believed to have damaged his brain and exacerbated his mental problems.

The army discharged him after the shooting, and Vacher was committed to Saint-Ylle Psychiatric Hospital. He attacked staff, destroyed property, and alleged abuse in letters to the government. Vacher had two brief escapes, then a third suicide attempt by slamming his head into the wall. He was transferred to the Saint-Robert Hospital after he was found insane in the shooting. Vacher became an outpatient in three months and was treated for a total of ten months, but this is when he started his killing spree in 1894. Vacher drifted to evade authorities, panhanding and working in day labor to survive. He was otherwise treated as horrifying and filthy, and he would quit labor early and demand higher payment than he earned. Vacher was arrested twice for vagrancy and released, also making pilgrimages to Lourdes for prayer and believing God's grace prevented his capture.

Vacher was sighted across the region he traveled, even when never suspected of the murders. He accumulated a record including, assaulting ferryman Abel Sandrin, attempting to rape a Mrs. Gouttebel, and molesting Virginie Bousquet's daughter Germaine at knifepoint. While in Lagarrigue, Vacher was found to be wielding a swordstick that was confirmed to be his during his arrest for shooting Louise Barrand. Vacher was kicked out of Alboussière after he killed his dog Loulette and bird by slamming their heads into the ground over Loulette not eating on command. Vacher once told a gendearme he was an NCO for the Zouaves, which resulted in his escape from arrest that time.

Vacher left innocent men to take the fall for some of his crimes. Louis François was arrested briefly after finding Eugénie Delhomme murdered. Eugène Grenier was accused by Le Bourguignon Salé and Le Bien Public of the murder of Augustine Mortureux, one of Grenier's employees and one of the men who found her dead. Locals rioted outside the jailhouse and wanted Grenier lynched; even after he was released and Vacher confessed to the murder, Grenier and his family became pariahs. Sopowner Thalmann was arrested for the murder of Adrienne Reuillard, then chased out of town. A Monsieur Munier was accused by a Monsieur Montchablon of the murder of Jeanne Henrion due to scratches on his face, and he did indeed attempt to rape a Swiss girl who "fell ill and died" later. Munier, however, was released and the charges dropped from a judicial error, in spite of being ostracized along with his family afterward.

American newspapers embellished and fabricated many crimes and details. Aside from arguing Vacher was definitely tied to 38 murders and, after his execution, that Vacher alleged to be an anarchist, they alleged named never in an legal documents or surviving papers, including alleged nobleman "Marquis de Villaplaine" at the French-Spanish border.

Vacher was finally arrested after attempting to rape Marie Héraud, which alerted her family and neighbors. Her husband Séraphin Plantier pelted Vacher with stones, and the neighbors locked him in a shed at an in and guarded him for six hours until police arrived. When interrogated, Vacher professed numerous misogynistic obscenities to the inn's owner, Charlon, tried to escape, threw a glass in the man's face for spilling drops of water on his shoe, and threatened him and his family with torture-murder if he ever got out of prison. Judge Émile Fourquet, who began the inquiries in the murders, ordered Vacher's transfer to Prison Saint-Paul, where, after originally denying everything, Vacher confessed to 11 rapes and murders of women and children.

Vacher failed an insanity defense, which had explanations ranging from rabies from a dog to medical quackery to his delusions of hearing God's voice. While in prison, Vacher also broke out of his cell and injured a guard by bludgeoning him with a chair. Vacher was convicted and sentenced to death in October 1898. He wad dragged to the scaffold against his own volition and executed by guillotine on New Year's Eve that year.

Modus Operandi[]

"If you were in my place, you would do like me, but you have women and I have none."
- Vacher to police

Vacher targeted women and children in rural Southern France, most often in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, while they were working as shepherds. Vacher blitzed the victims by repeatedly stabbing them, mutilating them by disembowelment, and often raping and sodomizing them, whether they were alive or dead. Vacher would be undetected due to his drifting lifestyle, which left him room to escape and a position to find circumstances to blend in.

Known Victims[]

Confirmed

  • Unknown date:
    • Numerous unidentified boys (attempted; shot at with his father's rifle)
    • Louis Vacher (assaulted; attempted to strangle)
  • June 29, 1888, Beaufort: Marcelin Bourdon, 12 (attempted to rape)
  • June 25, 1893, Baume-les-Dames: Louise Barrand (attempted; shot three times in her face; previously stalked for several months)
  • 1894
    • May 19, Beaurepaire: Eugénie Delhomme, 21
    • November 20, La Vacquière: Louise Marcel, 13
  • 1895
    • May 12, Étaules: Augustine Mortureux, 17
    • May-June, Tassin-la-Demi-Lune: Claudius Beaupied, 12
    • August 24, Saint-Ours: Péronne Moraud, 68
    • August 31, Onglas: Victor Portalier, 16
    • September 21, Saint-Étienne-de-Boulogne: Pierre Massot-Pellet, 14
    • September 23, Truinas: Aline Alaise, 16
  • 1896
    • July 31, Précy: Abel Sandrin (assaulted)
    • September 10, Busset: Marie Lorut, 19
    • October 1, Varenne-Saint-Honorat: Rosine Rodier, 14
    • October 17, Job: Mme. Gouttebel (attempted to rape)
    • December, Brioude: Unidentified girl (raped)
  • 1897
    • February: Germaine Bousquet (molested at knifepoint)
    • June 19, Courzieu-la-Giraudière: Pierre Laurent, 14
    • August 2, Alboussière: (repeatedly bashed their heads into the floor)
      • Loulette (Vacher's dog)
      • Vacher's unidentified bird
    • August 4, Champis:
      • Marie Héraud (attempted to rape)
      • Charlon (assaulted; threw a glass of water at him)
  • January 26, 1898: Unidentified prison guard (assaulted with a chair)

Note: Vacher has been tied to multiple rapes in Drôme, Puy-de-Dôme, and Isère.

Suspected

  • July 18, 1884, Eclose: Joseph Amieux, 10
  • 1888
    • June 26, Joux: Unidentified woman, 35
    • July 1
      • Chambérat: Clémence Grangeon, 14
      • Saint-Pal-de-Chalençon: Unidentified woman (attempted)
  • June 30, 1889, Moirans: Augustine-Mélanie Perrin, 23
  • September 29, 1890, Varacieux: Olympe Buisson, 9
  • 1892
    • February 3, Rochegude: Elisabeth Laborel, 53 (also robbed)
    • October 22, La Comelle: Unidentified man
  • June 10, 1893, La Romieu: Léa-Catherine Marie Anne Gourrange, 7
  • 1894
    • February 24, Tencin:
      • Jean-Baptiste Piraud
      • Baptiste-Joseph Piraud
    • May 17, Roches: Victorine Gay, 55 (attempted to rape and murder)
    • May 18, 1894, Roches: Mme Eydan (attempted to rape and murder)
    • May 19, 1894, Roches: Mélanie Pallas (attempted to rape and murder)
    • December 6-7, 1894, Châteaudouble: (possibly committed with an accomplice)
      • Jean Honorat, 75
      • Marianne Perrimond, 71
  • 1895
    • February 17, Autun: "Jobey" Coreneau, 74 (also robbed)
    • March 31, Saint-Fons: Antoinette-Augustine Marchand (28) (attempted)
    • April 14, Lyon or Dijon: Unidentified woman, (attempted to rape and murder)
    • July 22-23, Chambuet: Mme. Reynaud, 64
    • August, Belley: Alexandre Léger, 7 (attempted)
    • September 7, Montmort: Francine Rouvray, 30s
    • September 22
      • Hauterives: Unidentified elderly woman
      • Four: Marguerite "Madeleine" Martelât, 64 (robbed and attempted to murder)
    • September 24, Die: Unidentified woman, 18-20 (Vacher confessed in court)
    • December 22, La Baronnière: Unidentified elderly woman
  • 1896
    • February 25, Nouans: Mlle de L., 38 (attempted to rape and murder)
    • March 1, Noyen: Alphonsine Derouet, 11 (attempted to rape and murder)
    • May-June, Tain: Unidentified man
    • August 22, Reims: Maria Clement, 17
    • September 6-7, Between Chambost and Sain-Bel: Antoine Bonnassieux, 58, (also robbed)
    • September 22, Allègre: Marie Monatte, 60
    • September 26, Between Chissey-en-Morvan and Moux-en-Morvan: Marguerite Charlot, 66
    • September 30, Varenne-Saint-Honorat: Alphonse Rodier, 13 (attempted)
    • October 17, Job: Mme Gouttebel (attempted)
    • October 29, Parnans: Marie Ageron, 65
    • November, Riousset: Marie Dubreuil (robbed and attempted to murder)
    • November 11-12, 1896, Brive: Louradour
    • November 23, 1896, Baume-d'Hostun: Mme Montfort
  • 1897
    • February, Couloubrac: (both attempted)
      • Blavy
      • Chalbert
    • February 17, Couloubrac: Suzanne Cabrol, 65 (attempted)
    • February 22-23, Lacaune: Célestin Gautrais, 39
    • March 18, Belfort: Adrienne Reuillard, 9
    • April 5, Between Vienne-le-Château and Binarville: Thérèse Ply, 19
    • April 11, Les Haïes: Geneviève Heymein, 68
    • April 26, Graffigny: Léonie Soyer, 18 (attempted)
    • May 1
      • Daillecourt and Vrécourt: (both attempted)
        • Blanche Humbert, 15
        • Mme Henriot
      • Between Chaumont-la-Ville and Vrécourt: Jeanne-Elise-Clémentine Henrion, 14
    • May 18, Communay: Francois Castigliano, 66
    • June 16, Raimbeaucourt: Amélie Debreuille
    • July 6, Volvent: Jean Marie Lagier, 60
    • July 18, Rochemaure: Marguerite Siratat, 61 (attempted)
    • July 21, Baix: (both attempted)
      • Marie-Eugénie Malartre, 60s
      • Marie-Eugénie Malartre's unidentified son
      • Darbres: (all attempted)
        • Marie Vantalon, 28
        • Henri Marnas, 8
        • Louis Delhomme, 14
    • July 23-24, Coux: Mélanie Victoire Laville, 61 (possibly committed with an accomplice)
    • July 25, Valettes: Maria Pradal, 18-20 (attempted)
    • August 4, Champis:
      • Fanny Issartel, 16 (attempted)
      • Marie-Eugénie Héraud, 28 (attempted)

Note: A public poster was titled "52 Crimes: Attributed to Vacher or confessed by him" cataloged 46 murders, three attempted murders, two attempted raped, and one disappearance as Vacher's full list of crimes. However, names were misspelled and dates were mislabeled.

On Beyond Borders[]

  • Season Two
    • "Obey" - While never directly mentioned in the franchise, Vacher appears to be the primary inspiration for the episode's unsub, Zion Andrews - Both are serial killers of victims of both gender, suffered bullet injuries to their brains that exacerbated their psychiatric decline, killed their victims by stabbing and disembowelment, received nicknames from the mutilations of their victims, and were each arrested in the process of an attempted murder.

Sources[]

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