23case filesUpdated Jul 18, 2026
Casepin holds 23 solved cases in France. A solved case is one the record closes with a conviction or an equivalent legal finding; each file names who was convicted only where a court did.
SOLVEDListenNice, France (near L'Archet Hospital) · 2014
Monégasque heiress Hélène Pastor and her driver were fatally shot in a 2014 ambush in Nice, France. Her daughter's long-term partner, Wojciech Janowski, was convicted of ordering the contract killing and sentenced to life imprisonment, a verdict upheld on appeal in 2021.
Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, France (where Ilan Halimi was found) · 2000s
Ilan Halimi, a young Frenchman of Moroccan Jewish descent, was kidnapped in Paris in January 2006 by a group calling itself the "Gang of Barbarians," held captive and tortured for three weeks over a ransom demand based on the belief that Jewish people are wealthy, and died of his injuries after being found near a rail line in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois in February 2006.
SOLVEDListenMorlaix, Brittany, France · 1923
Breton wood merchant and politician Pierre Quéméneur vanished on a 1923 business trip from Brittany to Paris and was never found. His travelling companion, Guillaume Seznec, was convicted of his murder in 1924 despite the absence of a body, in a case that remains disputed a century later.
SOLVEDListenBelleville, Paris · 2017
Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old retired Jewish physician, was beaten and thrown from the window of her Paris apartment in April 2017 after her neighbor broke in; the neighbor was charged with homicide, but courts ultimately ruled he was not criminally responsible due to a cannabis-induced psychotic episode, a finding upheld by France's highest court in 2021.
SOLVEDListenParis, France · 1984
Between October 1984 and November 1987, at least 18 elderly women were robbed and killed in Paris, mostly in the 18th arrondissement, in a series of attacks French police linked by fingerprint evidence, a survivor's description, and a confession to nightclub performer Thierry Paulin. Paulin died of AIDS-related illness in April 1989 before he could stand trial; his former partner, Jean-Thierry Mathurin, was later convicted as an accomplice in the first nine attacks and was released from prison in 2009.
SOLVEDListenVilla La Chamade, Mougins, France · 1991
Wealthy French widow Ghislaine Marchal was killed at her Mougins villa in June 1991; her gardener Omar Raddad was convicted in 1994, and the disputed case was later reopened over new DNA evidence.
Credit: LewisiscrazyCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenQuatre-Chemins intersection, Avenue des Aygalades (now Avenue Ibrahim-Ali), 15th arrondissement, Marseille · 1995
A 17-year-old French teenager of Comorian descent was fatally shot in Marseille in 1995 by a far-right Front National activist, who was later convicted of murder.
SOLVEDListenGray-la-Ville, Haute-Saône, France · 2017
A French woman reported missing by her husband while out jogging in October 2017 was found beaten and strangled two days later in a nearby forest; after a three-month investigation her husband confessed and was convicted of her murder in 2020.
SOLVEDListenVert-Saint-Denis, near Paris, France (site of the mail-coach attack) · 1796
An April 1796 ambush of a Paris-to-Lyon mail coach killed its driver and guard and led to a series of convictions and executions that are remembered in France as a notable miscarriage of justice.
Credit: LiondartoisCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenLens, France · 1998
On 21 June 1998, French Gendarmerie officer Daniel Nivel was beaten by German football hooligans in Lens during the 1998 FIFA World Cup, leaving him in a six-week coma with permanent disability. Five attackers were convicted in separate trials in France and Germany.
The files run from 1796 to 2022. The 2010s hold the most, with 8 files. The oldest is Courrier de Lyon case (1796), from 1796.
By type, the largest groups are murder and homicide cases (20), kidnapping and abduction cases (7) and hate crime cases (4).
3 files of the 23 have coverage attached: 3 videos, podcasts and documentaries from 3 creators. MrBallen, Annie Elise and Bailey Sarian have covered the most of them.
Every file is written from cited sources and pinned where it happened, and every person named carries the legal status the record gives them. Families and anyone involved can request a correction from any file.
This page updates from the published files, so counts and statuses change the day a record does. Open any file for its timeline, its sources and the coverage worth your time, or play it as a narrated case file.
Jardin Ilan Halimi @ Paris (33686267115) — Credit: Guilhem Vellut from Paris, FranceCC BY 2.0Source
File:Banner Mireille Knoll in Rome.jpg — Credit: JoveCC0Source
Ibhrahim Ali — Credit: LewisiscrazyCC BY-SA 4.0Source
Bollaert vu depuis le terril du 11-19.JPG — Credit: LiondartoisCC BY-SA 4.0Source
These files are published and cited but are kept out of search listings for now, either because they fall outside Casepin’s true-crime scope or because they are still being deepened.
23. The count covers published files only and changes as new files clear review.
Courrier de Lyon case (1796), from 1796. Open the file
Murder of Hélène Pastor, with 1 video, podcast or documentary linked from its file. Open the file
MrBallen (1 case), Annie Elise (1 case) and Bailey Sarian (1 case).
It rebuilds hourly from the published files; the newest file change here is dated Jul 18, 2026. A status changes only when the record behind it does.
