Rémy Roy

Rémy Roy had a good childhood. He was a pampered child who studied at the brothers of Saint Vincent de Paul.[2] His schooling was mediocre, but he still attended to the end. He loved the sea and went to a sailing school, where he became a skipper. He met Florence Arthaud and Philippe Poupon while sailing on the old trimaran of Olivier de Kersauson. He also worked for the closest collaborator of Nicolas Hulot. He met Françoise, an owner of a bookstore where she gave lectures. They got married, lived in Villejuif, had a daughter, then a son.[3] Françoise described him as a very good father, a teddy, very generous, very good, who wanted to be loved and only worked by the love of others.[4] He was an occasional freelancer on a boating magazine. He very actively helped his wife in his bookstore, full-time without being paid. In 1988, Françoise hired a friend. He found himself without activity and decided to open a promotional video creation company based in his home. But his company never reached the breakeven point. Unwanted, he sunk into depression, spending his time in bed, nibbling and gaining up to 120 kg. He began to use the Minitel, devoted more and more time, several hours each day.

On October 11, 1990 in the afternoon, in an undergrowth at Draveil on the banks of the Seine, Rémy Roy had an appointment with Paul Bernard, a 46-year-old insurance agent. He lived in Issy-les-Moulineaux, with his retired mother, a widow of 25 years. His family called him "Saint Paul". He used the intensely pink homosexual minitel under the pseudonyms "hpoilu75", "hpoilu75asoumettre" or "hpoilu75aexhiber", and thus has many contacts. He had masochistic tendencies. Roy gagged him with a scarf, tied his hands to his back and the testicles with string and fractured his skull with a big stone. On October 12, 1990, around 10 am, a fisherman found Paul Bernard naked, lying on his stomach, his head covered with trousers. His car was found in the parking lot of the marina about a kilometer away. Paul Bernard died of asphyxiation, probably strangled, as he has traces of links around the neck.

On the night of 19 to 20 October 1990, Rémy Roy went to Champigny-sur-Marne in the pavilion of Gilbert Duquesnoy, an astrologer "mage Nathaniel", 48-years-old. Gilbert Duquesnoy used the pink homosexual minitel intensively under the pseudonyms "Daisy" or "Coralie".[5] He also had masochistic tendencies. He had a consultancy in Paris on the 9th. They talked while drinking a glass of port wine. Roy covered his head with a leather hood, tied his ankles and hands to his back, and smashed the right side of his skull with at least seven very violent hammer blows. Roy left with the hammer, the glass in which he drank, the diary and the address books of Gilbert. Gilbert's dachshund followed him for a moment on the street. Roy threw the hammer into the river Marne. At the Nogent-sur-Marne Station, he went the RER where he threw Gilbert's diary and address books. On October 22, 1990, Alain, Gilbert's husband, worried about having no news, asked his neighbors to check on him in the pavilion. They found him lying naked on his stomach on his bed in the room on the first floor. His house was in great disorder. Next to the bed, there was an open briefcase containing objects for sexual use.

On November 17, 1990, around 11 AM, Rémy Roy went to Paris in the 16th to Hugues Moreau, head of a wall covering company for 41 years. Roy smashed his skull several times with a big metal faucet. He stole checkbooks, bank cards and a fax machine. Hugues was discovered around 13 hours later by his wife in the back shop, lying naked on his belly, hands tied to his back, with chains around his waist. Beside him there was a bag containing a whole range of sadomasochistic objects. A few days later, at the Fnac in Paris, Rémy Roy bought an underwater camcorder, which he paid for with one of the stolen checks.

On October 8, 1991, Rémy Roy went to Villeneuve-Saint-Georges to Bruno Giraudon, a 32-year-old public servant. He used the pink homosexual minitel under the pseudonym "other thing" to find complicity, tenderness and if, possible love. They drank and discussed various subjects. Roy said he is a photographer in newspapers specialized in the world of sailing. Then he told Bruno that he practised sadomasochistic practices. He took out of his bag the material he had brought. He offered Bruno to try it, but he refused. Roy hit him on the head with a stone lamp foot, and he fainted. Roy stole a bag containing a checkbook and all his identity papers, he leaft Bruno for dead and put the accessories on the ground. Bruno's friends discovered him, lying naked on his stomach, bathed in his blood. He was taken into a coma at the hospital and was only able to make statements to the police after three days of care.

A month later, at a video hardware store, Roy bought a flatbed editor and a video recorder. He told the seller that he had a camcorder to make underwater shots, and he wanted a compatible flatbed editor to go with it. He paid with one of the stolen checks from Bruno Giraudon. The price being 14 900 french francs, the seller asked for an ID. Roy presented Bruno Giraudon's driver's license, on which he had placed his photo. The seller photocopied it. A few hours later, he made another purchase in another video store, which he also paid with a stolen check from Bruno. The store was equipped with CCTV cameras.

The investigators thus obtained images of Rémy Roy. They presented them to the editors of a dozen newspapers specialized in the world of sailing. Alain Coroller, editor-in-chief of Neptune Yachting, identified Rémy Roy.

In November 1991, Rémy Roy was arrested at his home in Villejuif. In his parka, investigators found Bruno Giraudon's checkbook and his driver's license with Roy's photo. His criminal record was blank. He was incarcerated in Fresnes prison. During interrogations in police custody, he stated that:

• He is not homosexual and he hated them.
• It was to break his loneliness and boredom, and that he used the pink messengers on minitel just to talk. Sadomasochistic homosexuals then approached him, harassing him on these messengers, which was unbearable for him.
• Paul Bernard made contact with him on the pink minitel. He agreed to meet him, just to chat. He made an appointment with Paul Bernard at the Draveil marina, where he often went for bike rides. On the spot, they talked a little, then the discussion drifted towards sex and Paul Bernard tells him that he is an exhibitionist and offered to meet again. A week later, while riding a bicycle, he accidentally met Bernard in the parking lot of the marina. They talked a little, then Bernard invited Roy to follow him in the undergrowth, where he offered to show him something. Roy warned him that he agrees to look at him, but not to touch him. Bernard undressed, asked Roy to gag him, knot a string around his testicles and asked him to tie his hand to a tree. Bernard then rubbed against him and took his hand for him to masturbate. Angry, Roy hit him. Bernard then fell and bumped his head on a stone. He was certain that Bernard was still alive when he escaped.
• He met Gilbert Duquesnoy at a show of clairvoyance while he was looking for his promotional film production company. The mage Nathaniel, with whom he had long discussed, asked him to make a quote for a video advertisement and meet him a few weeks later at his home in Champigny-sur-Marne. At the beginning of the evening at Gilbert Duquesnoy's, after having talked about the film's business and direction, the conversation abruptly changed, advancing towards Roy by putting his hand on his leg and starting a videotape of a homosexual pornographic film. Roy wanted to leave. Gilbert restrained him and said that he wanted to give him a copy of his book, inviting Roy to follow him to his room on the first floor. There, Gilbert took out of a bag a blonde wig and a dress with fringes, to dress himself as a prostitute and asking Roy to slap him, to which he refused. Gilbert then went into the bathroom and came out quickly naked, wearing only a leather hood. Disgusted, Roy knocked down Gilbert by hitting and kicking him, making him fall on the bed. He grabbed the first object that came to hand: a hammer, and struck Gilbert on the head. He attached his ankles to him with wide scotch tape, from which he brought a roll, but changed his mind and tied it to him with a rope found in a crate. Having calmed down, he checked Gilbert's pulse, making sure he was not dead, and fled.
• He met Hugues Moreau at the decoration salon as part of his work. He went to Hugues' house to present him with a quote for a video film. Hugues greeted him wearing a Burberry raincoat. As soon as he entered, Hugues opened his raincoat, under which he wore only chains around his genitals. Outraged and furious, Roy pushed him into the back room and hit him. Hugues fell to the ground unconscious, while Roy continued to hit him on the head. Hugues was still alive when he left.
• He contacted through the minitel a masochistic woman and went to her home with his equipment. It was Bruno Giraudon, naked, who welcomed him. Angry at having been deceived, Roy beat him violently. Bruno banged his head on a coffee table as he fell. Roy then fled, convinced that Bruno was still alive.
• He did not assault or kill anyone else.

The investigators did not find another victim in their files.

Jean Martel, expert psychiatrist and Caroline Legendre, expert psychologist, noted that Roy said he suffered a lot of his father's absences, who traveled a lot. His mother often whipped him with a leather thong. At school his classmates belittled him. He was tied by the arm to a branch and undressed. When he was 13 years old, while in a cinema, a man sitting next to him forced him to masturbate and ejaculated him. When he was 17 years old in terminal school, he had a band of friends to do some services (repairing audio devices, electronics) for a little money. His friends found that his services cost them too much money, demanding that he repaid them, which he could not. They offered him as an alternative, to show off naked in a gym for an elderly man. He refused and ran away. They all then collectively raped him in an apartment. That's why he hated homosexuals.

The police investigated these facts and established that they never occurred. Investigators understood that it's not his memories he described, but his fantasies. For psychiatrists, these stories revealed his sadomasochistic tendencies, which he repressed when he was active. They freed themselves when he found himself idle and depressed in front of the Minitel. Not supporting this image that it sends back of itself, he killed.

Roy was charged with murdering Paul Bernard and Gilbert Duquesnoy, the assassination attempt on Bruno Giraudon and for murdering Hugues Moreau. The premeditation on Hugues Moreau was not retained because Rémy Roy came to his house without equipment and used the one that Hugues Moreau had at his place.

On June 26, 1996, the trial of Rémy Roy began at the cour d'assises of Val-de-Marne in Creteil.

Rémy Roy's defense was provided by lawyers Gérard Serfaty and Bernard Prévost. Christian Mour was the lawyer Gilbert Duquesnoy's parents and his husband Alain. Philippe Petillault was the lawyer of the civil parties. Camille Tardo-Dino was the General Counsel.

On June 28, 1996, Rémy Roy was sentenced to life imprisonment with an 18-year lock-in period.[6]

• List of serial killers by country

• "Rémy Roy, The assassin of the Minitel" March 18, 2012 and June 2, 2013 in Get the accused presented by Frédérique Lantieri on France 2.

• "In the psyche of serial killers" April 21, 2016 in Jacques Pradel's L'Heure du crime on RTL.

• Article by Brigitte Vital-Durand June 29, 1996 in Libération on a site devoted to serial killers.