Albert Millet
Albert Millet, born July 2, 1929, was a french serial killer, nicknamed "The Boar of the Moors".[1][2][3] He is infamous for killing two women (1954, 1979) and a man (2007) in his hometown of Hyères.
Albert Millet | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 2, 1929 |
| Died | November 19, 2007 (aged 78) Hyères, France |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Other names | "The Boar of the Moors" |
| Details | |
| Victims | 3 |
Span of crimes | 1954–2007 |
| Country | France |
Millet committed suicide after being chased down by the police for his third crime on November 19, 2007.
Biography
The only child of an abusive household, Millet was neglected by his mother and beaten by his alcoholic father.[4] He dropped out of school at the age of 14.[5] It is assumed that he was well acquainted with the area surrounding Hyères, such as the ruined castle overlooking the city and the close by maquis, as he attempted to hide there after committing murder. While serving in Tataouine, Tunisia, he became a marksman and developed an interest in firearms.
Prior to the murders he committed several other crimes:
- in 1947, he committed theft twice and was sentenced to one month in prison for both cases;
- in 1948, he committed two more thefts and was sentenced again;
- in 1950, he was again involved in theft; however, he was also sentenced for committing violence against a gendarme and the possession of a firearm.
On June 5, 1951, he attempted to shoot an Algerian man and was arrested by the police in the maquis where he was hiding with a rifle.
First murder
Timeline
1954 — Millet met 15-year-old Paulette Dogliotti in a ballroom in Hyères and fell in love with her. Paulette was a servant being raised by her aunt, Élisa Maggiorana.
Paulette took the trash out in a metal bin every night for collection, so Millet started meeting with the girl by waiting for her in front of her employer's house. Élisa (Paulette's aunt) did not approve of their nightly meetings, because of Millet's reputation; in particular, she objected to his passion for firearms and his multiple convictions. She also considered Paulette too young for the relationship. Élisa forbade them from meeting again, and Paulette complied with her aunt's decision.
March 1954 — Élisa was drinking in a bar in Hyères with her fiancé, when Millet entered the bar and approached her to start a conversation. The conversation escalated, and Élisa slapped Millet in front of a crowd of patrons. Her fiancé threw Millet out of the bar. While being thrown out, Millet issued death threats against Élisa and Paulette.
March 28, 1954 — Paulette took out the trash as usual. Millet, who was waiting for her, approached her, pulled out a gun and shot at her. She miraculously came out of the incident unscathed, as she used the metal bin she was carrying like a shield. Millet ran away and hid in the scrub. Élisa proceeded to file a complaint against him.
April 3, 1954 — at around 17:00, Élisa Maggiorana was sitting at the bus stop in front of the Aux Dames de France store. Millet crossed the street, walked up to her and shot her in the head. She died instantly. He ran away and hid in the scrubland again, gaining his nickname "The Boar of the Moors" (the scrub was a common habitat for boars in the region).
The police recognized him the next day at the station where he shot Élisa. He was shot three times in the head, but he survived and fell into a coma.
Trial, conviction and incarceration
The trial of Albert Millet began at the cour d'assises in the VAR department, in Draguignan on September 30, 1955. Millet's defense was provided by Master Aymé Perrimond. Millet admitted to killing Élisa but denied premeditation. He claimed to have shot at the bin intentionally to scare Paulette. He argued that, as a former army marksman, if his target was Paulette, he would not have missed. Regarding Élisa, he claimed that he approached her to request that she go to the police station to withdraw her complaint, but he got scared when she started screaming as soon as she saw him. He proceeded to shoot her.
Millet was sentenced to death. He was incarcerated at the Baumettes Prison in Marseille. He appealed, and the Court of Cassation canceled his death sentence due to a vice de forme .
In 1956, another trial was held at the cour d'assises of the Alpes-Maritimes department, in Nice. Albert Millet's sentence was changed to penal labor for life.
He was incarcerated in the Fresnes prison, moved once to the Château-Thierry Prison, and again to the Clairvaux Prison. All prisons were known for their harsh conditions. During his detention he behaved like a model prisoner.
On July 12, 1968, his sentence was changed again to 20 years of imprisonment.
While incarcerated he corresponded with the wife of one of his friends, Fernande "Nande" Valentin. She was a caregiver at San Salvadour Hospital, and she visited him in the prison parlor several times. They began a relationship after Fernande divorced her husband.
Freedom and second murder
Timeline
July 10, 1973 — Albert Millet received parole.
August 1973 — He married Fernande and moved to 5th de la Croix Street in Hyères. He called Fernande "a saint". He only touched guns when he went hunting. The newly-weds seemed happy together. Fernande took good care of their household. Millet did not have a job, but did undeclared gardening work. Every month, respecting his obligations, he went to the police station to sign his residence permit.
In the evening, after her work at the hospital, Fernande took on housekeeping jobs to keep the couple afloat. Over the years, Millet became possessive, suspicious, spied on Fernande and suspected her of having an affair. She complained about his sexual needs, saying that they were excessive, preventing her from getting proper sleep.
June 12, 1979 — Fernande told Millet that she wants him to sleep on the couch. An argument broke out between the couple; it escalated until Fernande finally told her husband that she does not want to take care of a man who does nothing anymore and announced that she wanted a divorce. As she did not want him to be destitute after the separation, she signed him a check for 20,000 francs. Millet was humiliated.
June 13, 1979 — at approximately 05:00 Millet stabbed Fernande with a dagger several times. He hit her heart twice. He then barricaded himself inside the house and became drunk. A little after 9:00, he started firing a gun through the window of his room. The house was quickly surrounded by police. He threw objects out the window and confessed his crime to the police, shouting "I killed a saint" and claiming that he wanted to commit suicide. After about four hours of negotiations with friends and a priest, Millet finally surrendered to the police.
In custody, Millet declared that after killing his wife, he decided to commit suicide in the maquis , so he took his doberman on a walk. On the way, he changed his mind and hit the dog, who ran away. He also asked to speak to the Commissioner, whose office was on the second floor, before attempting suicide by jumping from the landing into the police station's stairwell. The police caught him in flight on the first floor.
As part of the investigation, the police requested that Fernande's locker at the hospital be opened. There, they found drafts of a letter addressed to a lover, suggesting that Millet might have suspected his wife of cheating on him.
The corpse of a Doberman was discovered by a shepherd in a well with a stone around its neck. The shepherd hid his discovery for a few days, despite recognizing the dog, fearing Millet's wrath.
Trial, conviction and incarceration
On May 11, 1981, Albert Millet's trial began at the cour d'assises of Var in Draguignan. Fernande's family claimed that it was not logical for the dog to run away - they stated that the dog would have taken refuge at home and would have defended Fernande if she had seen Millet hurt her. They were convinced that the defendant killed the dog before Fernande; therefore, he had premeditated the murder of Fernande and the crime was an assassination.
Millet, who pled guilty to the crime of passion, was sentenced to life imprisonment. The jury did not retain the premeditation. He was a model inmate, and his sentence was commuted to 22 years of imprisonment. He did not benefit from any psychological support. He worked during his detention, saving around 300 000 francs. He was granted several exit permits, during which he stayed in a room of a small hotel in Nice.
In June 2001, during his fourth leave, he met a woman named Gisèle on the terrace of a café. He confessed his criminal past to her. She told him that she only had a disability pension as income, that she spent it at the casino and that she was in debt. She invited him to spend the night, at 3rd avenue du Patrimoine, in the small two-room apartment that she owned.
Release
In December 2001, Albert Millet was released on parole. He then left to live in Gisèle's apartment. According to her, he had an insatiable libido, which she appreciated at first. He did the housework, gave her many gifts (jewelry, clothes, etc.), and bequeathed large sums of money to her.
Millet's probation officer worried about the speed with which his savings were disappearing and feared he was being scammed. Millet replied that he was fully aware of his draining assets but quite willing to give them away. Millet contacted Master Thierry Perrimond, the son of his first lawyer, Aymé Perrimond, who died during his detention. Millet entrusted his personal fortune (louis d'or, watches, jewels, etc.) to his lawyer, who placed it in the vault of a bank in Toulon. After a small break-in scare because of a bad locker, Master Thierry Perrimond restored his property.
Their relationship quickly declined, as Gisèle found Millet possessive and she felt watched by him. She told in a letter that he must leave her apartment, and that their relationship would end on February 15, 2002. Millet tried to coax her into staying with him, saying that he had hidden a treasure in the scrubland near Hyères, including (among other things) twelve gold bars. He offered to give her most of it, in exchange for staying with him. She asked to see this treasure before giving an answer.
On February 12, 2002, they went by train to Hyères. Millet had bought an ice ax. A taxi dropped them at the Fenouillet road, in a deserted place that Millet said was the one where he hid his treasure. He began to scratch the ground behind the rocks with his ice ax. Gisèle realized that he could easily kill her discretely here and panicked, returning to the road and stopping the first car she came upon. The driver took Albert and Gisèle to the station where they left for Nice, upon their arrival in Nice, she abandoned Millet.
On February 13, 2002, Millet contacted Gisèle and offered her 10,000 francs to return to live with him. She accepted, but on February 17, 2002, she told him to leave permanently. Despite her reluctance, he still spent the night at her apartment.
In the early morning of February 18, 2002, Gisèle was in bed when Millet stabbed her with a kitchen knife. They fought and she was cut under the chin. Millet offered to bandage her wound, but she told him to leave, which he did. She called an ambulance which took her to the Saint Roch hospital. Her injury was not serious. Millet went to the hospital to check on Gisèle and then surrendered himself to his probation officer. He claimed that he had no intent to kill Gisèle.
Trial, conviction and incarceration
The trial of Albert Millet for the attempted murder on Gisele took place in the tribunal correctionnel. Millet's defense was provided by Master Mireille Damiano, as Master Sandrine Setton was Gisèle's attorney. Millet was sentenced to seven years in prison, but appealed his conviction. At the trial on appeal, his conviction was confirmed.
Release, last murder and suicide
In August 2007, Albert Millet was released.[6] He had 30,000 euros in savings. He moved to room 4 of the Hotel du Soleil in Hyères, where he met his neighbor Chantal, who lived at 1st Neuve Street. He saw her from the window of her hotel room. Chantal was depressed and financially destitute. He eventually moved to her home and paid a portion of the rent. He gave her presents and invited her to eat at a restaurant. However, Millet objected to her relationship with Christian Fernandez, 41-years-old, who came to their apartment to eat and drink nearly every day on Millet's coin. They argued about it. Millet went back to his room at the hotel and ordered Chantal to repay some of his money, several thousand euros.
On November 18, 2007, Millet spent the night at Chantal's house and insisted that they be alone. Chantal refused and invited Christian. Millet left to sleep but got up to complain about the noise, which was rebuffed several times.
On November 19, 2007, at 3:00 am, Millet got up and went down to the first floor. Christian invited him to have a drink with them. Millet, insulted, left the house, saying that he would come back armed. Christian did not take his threat seriously. A little later, Millet knocked on the door of the house and calmly asked to enter. Chantal opened the door and Millet burst in, shooting her in the thigh. Christian intervened but was shot three times and died on the spot. Millet fled and hid in the bush. But the "Boar of the Moors" had aged and could no longer evade the police. At around 4:45 pm, in the climb of Noailles, Millet saw the policemen and committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
List of known victims
| Date | Identity | Age | Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 28, 1954 | Paulette Dogliotti | 15 | Hyères |
| April 3, 1954 | Élisa Maggiorana | 27 | Hyères |
| June 13, 1979 | Fernande Valentin | in the forties | Hyères |
| February 18, 2007 | Gisèle | in the fifties | Nice |
| November 19, 2007 | Chantal | in the fifties | Hyères |
| Christian Fernandez | 41 |
See also
References
- "The murderous grandfather stabs his girlfriend" Article by François Corbara published on 24 February 2002 in Le Parisien
- "Albert Millet, The Boar of the Moors" December 11, 2011 and December 16, 2012 in Get the Accused presented by Frédérique Lantieri on France 2
- "Albert Millet, the wild boar of the Moors" November 26, 2014 in L'Heure du crime of Jacques Pradel on RTL
- Didier Fabre, The bloody trajectory of Albert Millet, the other Pierrot the madman , Presses du Midi, October 2011 ISBN 2-8127-0283-4
- "Albert Millet, murderer until his last day" Article by Timothée Boutry published November 21, 2007 in Le Parisien
- «Hyères: Albert Millet commits suicide after one last murderous madness» Article published on November 20, 2007 in Nice-Matin
Bibliography
- Didier Fabre, The bloody trajectory of Albert Millet, the other Pierrot the madman, Presses du Midi, October 2011 ISBN 2-8127-0283-4
TV documentary
- "Albert Millet, The wild boar of the Moors" on December 11, 2011 and December 16, 2012 in "Get the accused" presented by Frédérique Lantieri on France 2.
Radio shows
- "Albert Millet, the Boar of the Moors" November 26, 2014 in L'Heure du crime of Jacques Pradel on RTL
- "Albert Millet, the boar of the Moors" November 15, 2016 in Hondelatte tells presented by Christophe Hondelatte on Europe 1
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