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It's one pm on April twelfth, twenty twenty five. I traveled halfway across Belgium and then made a beeline south to make it to where I am today, in an abandoned field next to a highway, looking for proof that could be critical to this case. The woman I'm with has information that could alter the trajectory of our investigation, but I need to make sure she's telling the truth. This isn't a lead that I can verify online or ask a journalist to confirm, because her story has never
been made public. We're looking for a concrete slab somewhere in this mess of wasteland near Moss. If I can find it, it will prove that what she's telling me is true, that she really did live here back in nineteen ninety six. A bunch of shit here. We've got an old couch and a bunch of old cans and
toy and junk that must be left over. She told me that her DNA was found in one of the trash bags full of body parts of victims of the butcher of mass Police contacted her in twenty twenty three to take her DNA sample to confirm, but she never heard back about the results. She says she lived here in nineteen ninety six with a community of traveling people, and that her caravan sat on top of a concrete slab that we should still be able to find. Ah
Jeitrveadalal Betton. She was telling me to look for a piece of concrete foundation. So now I'm standing on this concrete foundation. It's kind of remnants of a place where traveling people or gypsies I guess they were called at the time, had lived. Wondering if ever, whoever the killer was have been based here because the hair was found.
I can't be mysterious.
They disappearance of a woman from Mont Jacqueline.
The condition of the victims was sickening, and the question remains, where is the killer?
From Tenderfoot TV and iHeart podcasts, I'm Your Host Matt Graves and This is La manstre Season two, The Butcher of Moss, The improbable circumstances that led me to be searching for a concrete slab and a forgotten meadow near Moss are still playing out. It started with a vague rumor on Facebook that a woman had been contacted by police to test her DNA in relation to the Butcher of Mals case. Other journalists and armchair sleuths on various forums that speculated about it, but no one was able
to validate the story. It seemed to be just another unsubstantiated rumor to add to a long list. The sheer number of rabbit holes in this case is astounding, and one of the primary challenges for a cold case team is sifting through it all to separate valuable leads from distracting noise. The investigative journalist Frederic lou pounded the pavement to try to find a person behind this story. He was able to make a connection that led him to another connection and then led him to a woman will
call Giselle Hope. I've just made a long drive to the east of Belgium to pick her up and drive down to Moss where she lived in nineteen ninety six. Giselle doesn't have a driver's license. She lives in social housing and as you hear, her life hasn't been easy.
I have two older sons, the bod drug addicts. My forty one year old son is also a drug dealer, and he got busted by the NACO units. It was bound to happen, and he was detained, and I suppose that at that time they took a DNA sample from him.
Her son, who was arrested, had also been involved in a shooting, which most likely triggered the retention of his DNA, which was entered into the national database, and in twenty twenty three, his DNA triggered a potential familial match, and.
From my son's DNA they concluded that there was a partial female.
Investigators contacted Giselle because they believed an unknown DNA profile identified from the contents of one of the trash bags full of body parts could be hers. She told us that in nineteen ninety six she was living near Moss with a group of traveling people often referred to as gypsies, in an encampment just outside of the city. At this point, I mostly believe Gizette, but I feel it's necessary to actually see the place where she says she was living
at the time. If it does turn out that her DNA was indeed in one of the trash bags, it could mean that she had been in contact with a killer or one of the victims around the time of the murders. Gizette isn't a traveling person herself, but through a long, complicated story, she found herself living with a group of travelers just outside of Moss. Apparently the encampment is long since gone, but she agreed to show me where it was.
Located advance, and they had made an extension on a concrete slab for a kitchen and bathroom. That's how I'm sure I can still find it.
Frederic joined us near Mass and after a lot of searching, we found the field and located this concrete slab. So now I'm standing on this concrete foundation and this is where Joe was living. I'm gonna ask her to try to explain. Don't you see well, the three of us stand in the middle of this abandoned encampment next to the highway. Jessel explains it.
Was in ninety six. The godfather of my son was a traveler.
A gypsy.
At the time, I was living alone in a run down house with my four children, and when he saw our condition, he said it was untenable and that he'd get me a caravan and I could come live with them. Here on the left side is where the family with whom I was staying lived, and here on the other side there were other travelers, but they didn't get along. There were often fights and even gunshots. The two clans didn't get along.
You know, they don't woo You don't hundred mm.
I asked her how it played out when police called her twenty seven years later about her Dnamtelu.
The police called me and said that they wanted to do a DNA test.
And didn't ask also.
Because a hair containing my DNA would have been found in one of the trash bags, and that the DNA led them to me after having analyzed my son's DNA, who was in prison at the time, but that it was a feminine profile.
Frederic asked her if she knew any of the victims.
No.
The investigators showed me their pictures and I looked at them very closely, but didn't recognize any of them.
So police must have detected an unknown DNA profile from a strand of hair found in one of the gruesome trash bags, which triggered a partial match on her son, but given the profile, it led them to believe that it would have come from his mother, Giesel. It's still unclear why police never contacted Gisel about the outcome of her DNA test. We're actively following up to get the results. The practical consequences of a DNA match could mean one
of many things. It could have been a random coincidence. She could have been in contact with a victim, or she could have been in contact with a killer, or, in a more troubling scenario, possibly even involved with the crimes.
It was the evening of July twentieth. Martin was my last client of the day. She came in between six fifty and seven. I remember that she was very well dressed that evening.
In nineteen ninety six, edoard Campus was a hairdresser in the Center of Moss, just up the road from the train station. One of his regular customers was a woman named Martin Bone.
Martin Bone was one of my most loyal customers. She was a beautiful woman who dressed well, not too centric or to Volga, but she was definitely a handful. Her character was after a while. You had to take her as she came on that evening, she had made an appointment.
On the evening of July twentieth, Martin took the last appointment of the day to have her hair done by Edoar, her hairdresser and confidant. She always looked forward to spending time at the salon, catching up on gossip and sharing the latest updates about her eventful life, all while being pampered by Edoar.
She told me that she was invited to a friend's dinner party that evening. She was in good spirits and happy to be invited. She had dressed up for the party, and her mood was very relaxed. I didn't notice anything off at all. She didn't seem bothered about anything. Not at any moment did she mention to me that she was afraid of anything or anyone who might hurt her. Not that evening or anytime.
Ever, that was the last time Edoard ever saw his friend and client Martin Bone. On the next day, she went missing from the center of mass and was never seen alive again. July twenty first is Belgian Independence Day, day of national celebration full of festivity, parties, concerts and fireworks. This was the day Martin Bone vanished. As Edward explained, she seemed to be in good spirits one day earlier, but that hadn't always been the case with Martin.
I think she arrived in months when she was much younger. If my memory served me correctly, she was very pretty. If you walked by her on the street, you wouldn't have thought for a minute that she was involved with a prostitution. The sad thing is that she had a very bad accident that changed her a lot. After the accident, she wasn't the same person, neither physically nor mentally. She had highs and she had lulls, and her laws could be really low.
Martin was originally from France, but ended up living in Mons as a young woman, working in bars and eventually becoming a sex worker. Her life was completely changed by a car accident that left both mental and physical scars. A financial settlement following the accident gave her some financial relief, but she kept some private clients on the side. At the time of her disappearance, she was staying in a hotel called the Liedo, about a fifteen minute walk from
the train station. On the evening of July twenty first, nineteen ninety six, she was last seen exiting the hotel Lido by foot. Still to this day, we don't know if she had a rendezvous with a client that night or if she was just heading out on her own. It was a warm evening with no rain. She would have walked into Archer Street, surely heading south towards the center. Bars and cafes would have had their windows open and tables outside full of revelers and joining the summer weather.
One thing we know for sure is that at some point that evening she came face to face with her killer. Four days later, on July twenty fifth, nineteen ninety six, the beautiful weather had turned and the more familiar low cloud cover and drizzle had taken over the skies of southern Belgium. A light mist formed around the banks of the River of Hate that winds through Mons eastward towards the border of France. A local was walking his dog along the river bank when he noticed something floating in
the water. It was a human torso. Had the water levels been higher, it would have certainly float further down the river, perhaps into neighboring France, but it was stuck in a shallow eddie. It was a female torso. The head and limbs had been amputated with a sharp instrument, and the breasts had been removed. The torso would later be identified as belonging to Martin Boone. It's believed that she was murdered at some point between July twenty first
and twenty second, nineteen ninety six. This was before the disappearances of Jacqueline Leclaire and Natalie go Dard and the subsequent gruesome discoveries of human remains and trash bags. Sadly, Martin's disappearance wasn't investigated as rigorously as the other murders because she was a known sex worker at the time.
She was also the lone discovery, so there were no dots to connect with other murders fitting the killer's mo You'll recall that in nineteen ninety seven, investigators had previously identified two of the victims in a series of gruesome discoveries of trash bags filled with human body parts, but they were struggling to identify the third victim. The investigative journalist Frederick Law explains, at.
The time they already identified Jacqueline Leclair Natalie Goddard, and now they identified Martin Bone because they found a torso. A few months before, they found a torso in the river line. But this torso was not already connected to the other victims. But now it's done, so things are becoming clear about the connection between those three victims and the way they have been killed. The whole image was really dark, and now with three victims, it confirms that we have a serial killer.
As a story developed, the press created a name for the elusive serial killer who was terrorizing Moss. In French, they called him Le de pesssur, which technically means the slicer or dismember, but the most common translation is simply the butcher. Thus was born. The name still referred to today La depassur the mass the butcher of mass Le.
It is now certain that the Butcher of Mons has killed three victims. The first is Martin Bone, who disappeared in July of nineteen ninety six. Her mutilated torso was found in the River of Hate. A few weeks later, more of her body parts were found in the recent discovery of the twenty second of March. It's also certain that the trash bags recently discovered were deposited at different times. The remains of martin bone were undoubtedly there for several months already.
Upon re examining martin Bon's torso, investigators established that the instrument used to dismember her body was similar to the other victims, most likely a regular handsaw, just like Jacquelinini. Martin was known to frequent establishments near the train station, and specifically the hotel Le Metropol, which seems to be ground zero for the butcher of Mans's hunting ground. Madame Gosh, the honor of La Metropol, who you heard from in previous episodes, knew Martin well.
Martin came to Belgium and she worked in bars left and right and right and left. She was very clever, and it's for that reason that I say that the idea of Martin letting someone she didn't know take her away is impossible. And her mother would come from time to time to visit her and they would stay here in my hotel and everything was fine. But she had a bad accident and she won a settlement. So we thought that because Martin had money, that she'd been killed by someone who wanted her money.
At the time, investigators as well as Martin's friends, thought that her murder must have been related to her activities in the nightclub scene or something tied to her financial settlement. But after the discoveries of body parts, in realization that a serial killer was on the loose, her friends began to think that Martin could also be a victim of the Butcher of Moss. Madame Gange had a mutual friend with Martin and they spoke about this possibility.
One morning, this friend came to see me and said, I'm going to the police, and she said, I want to know if it's her. She went to the police and that afternoon she came back to see me and she said it's her. She said, I know Martin's body. Martin, she didn't have her arms or legs. It was only her torso and she said, I saw it was her. I saw her tattoo on her shoulder.
When Madame Gange learned that Martin had been killed. She recalled having seen her on the day of her disappearance.
Of Martin.
The last time I saw Martine she was with three men on a Sunday morning, the twenty first of July, and she came to have a drink here with these three men. Kiss could you see? And I said, Martin, what are you doing at nine in the morning, all dressed up and pretty. She was wearing a black silk robe. She had gone to the same hairdresser. We both went.
To El d Mont.
And on Sunday she was here with three men who I didn't know it was the twenty first of July because I had the habit of putting yellow flowers on the tables every Sunday morning. She sat at a table and I parted discussing with the men and ordered four beers, and I served them the beers and I said, Martin, what's going on? Why are you all dressed up on a Sunday morning? And she winked and said, it's business.
Business, business Levine. At this point I asked Monique if she thought Martin had shady dealings with these individuals or if she thought they might be responsible for her murder.
Well, listen, it's bizarre. Nevertheless, you see her with three men, and then a few days later she disappears from circulation.
If one or more of these three men were involved in Martin's murder, it would mean that Madame Ganche saw the killer or killers just hours before they took Martin. Excuse me, So we just drove up to this bridge and it's right over a river that's called the River of Hate. And I'm with Morgan, who's going to explain what happened and what was found here.
We're just behind the train station of months and about five hundred meters from the hotel and Barlia Metropol.
I wanted to visit the site where Martin's torso was discovered.
And so if you turn around here you'll see the station area. You would have seen it more clearly at the time. Here it was completely deserted with empty fields. This road wasn't used much. It was very somber and dark. And it's here that in July of nineteen ninety six that they found the torso of Martin Bone. So it was summertime, the water levels were very low and it was hot. It was known that Martin has been missing for a few days, and here they find this torso.
It wasn't immediately identified as Martin Bone, but very quickly was associated with her and an investigation was opened and then well afterwards linked to the Butcher case file in March April of nineteen ninety seven, when the affair exploded and they were able to link the body parts found to the torso that was found here in July of ninety six.
This place isn't only where Martin Bone's torso was found, but we're also standing just about one hundred feet away from where another torso was dumped several months later. And then if I look turn around and look a little bit to my left, I can see where the trunk of another body was discovered. This was on the twenty fourth of March, and this was Natalie Gouda. And it's amazing to think that that was after the first show
blocking discovery of the bags full of body parts. Although I'd studied this case extensively before I started working on it, I never really grasped it before visiting all of the sites and getting my head around who was placed where and when. I can imagine it's confusing for the listener too, so let's put it into context and in chronological order. Authorities identified three victims who were murdered at three different times.
These were Martin in mid nineteen ninety six, Jacqueline at the end of nineteen ninety six, and Natali at the beginning of nineteen ninety seven. The first discovery of body parts happened six days after the last victim, Natali, was murdered. Up until that point, the community was completely unaware that a serial killer was on the loose, and Moss we can interpret more about his modus operindi by analyzing how
he deposited the victim's bodies. Martin's torso was deposited here where Morgan and I are standing, most likely by pitching her torso over this bridge and into the small river just below. He proceeded to deposit her smaller body parts and trash backs at the main dump side, where the first discoveries were made. Her head has still never been found. About six months later, he murdered Jacqueline and deposited her smaller body parts and trash bags at the main dumb
side as well. Her torso was never found, although we suspect it was also dumped here in the river. Like Martin, her head has also still never been found. Three months later, he murdered Natali and deposited several of her smaller body parts in trash bags at the main dumb side. As usual, the killer was keeping some body parts longer than others, rather than dumping them all at the same time or at the same location. This meant he was still in
possession of the third victims torso and head. When the press picked up on the murders, he could no longer operate under the radar. With the police and community on full alert, he still had to dump the remaining body parts. It's not hard to picture the scenario. Police were still scouring the main dumb sight, news reports were flooding TV and radio trying to make sense of the original discovery,
and helicopters were circling the skies all day long. He was at risk, but he decided to stick with his normal habit of dumping the torso off this bridge into the river. Certainly at night when the helicopters weren't circling. He would have discreetly drove up to this bridge under the cover of darkness. But something must have spooped him. Maybe it was the headlights of an approaching car or a random passer by. Whatever it was, it changed his plan. He didn't have time to drag the torso to the
bridge and risk being seen at the same time. Aboording the disposal was equally risky because he had a decomposing torso in his car. He made a hasty decision and quickly dumped the torso on the side of the road next to the bridge. It was high risk because the torso was sure to be found quickly, but he must have decided he didn't have a choice. Just two days later, the torso was found and police locked the area down.
He managed to evade police, but he still had a few body parts in the head of the last victim in his possession. He likely decided that his usual dumping grounds were a no go. Instead, he decided to bide his time and make final disposals elsewhere. After visiting the torso dumb site, I continued my macab tour with Morgan to the new place the killer chose to dispose of the remaining body parts. It's a small road in a municipality called Avre, about a fifteen minute drive from moss.
As we pull up to the site, Morgan explains.
So now we're at the deposit site in Havre. It's here that they found more body parts of Natalie Godach among the last trash bags that were found. So most probably these were among the last body parts he still had in his possession. He was under pressure and needed to get rid of them. Previously, he had gotten rid of the body parts of his victims quickly, but in March of ninety seven, when the affair came out, he still had some parts of his last victim, Natalie Godach.
And here it's striking because for the first time we're sure that he had to keep the body parts for a whole month, and his behavior must have changed at this time because his other dumb sites were locked down and he had to be under pressure. He needed to find a solution to get rid of the last body parts. He had to live a whole month with these before having finding a new place to dumb them.
There was one last place to visit on our inspection of dumb sites. It's also an Avre, very close to the site we just visited. It's always been a bit of a mystery as to why the killer chose two different sites very close to one another to get rid of the last few sacks filled with remains. One of the things I really appreciate about Morgan is the energy pores into profiling the perpetrator. He did experiments to recreate
each of the killer's known disposals. It was during one of his simulations that he came to the conclusion that the killer must have been spooked again during his final dump run.
I came back here several times, and I experienced something that enabled me to evolve my thinking about my investigation. One day, I was at the site we just visited. I stopped my car and was examining the side, and suddenly I saw car lights heading in my direction. I was almost in a panic, even though I hadn't done anything wrong, But I jumped back into my car, and at that moment I put myself in the shoes of the perpetrator. I was stressed out the car was following me.
I took the first left because the street on the right was a cul de sac, and again left towards the main road I'd come in on. And at that point I imagined I had two trash bags full of remains in my car. I arrived at the main road and thought, if I were him, where would I go? If I take the main road, I'm either heading into the center of Mons or the center of Havre. Then I noticed a small cobble stone road straight ahead, as so I took it, and it led me straight to
the street where the last dump was made. I'm sure that all of the secs should have been dumped at the first place I went, but the killer was spooked, just as I was when I did my simulation.
So what does all of this tell us about the perpetrator? His initial dumb sites were in Moss, not too far from the city center. It's probably safe to assume that he was committing these murders and disposing of the bodies within the city. It certainly wouldn't make sense to drive into a busy metropolitan area to dispose of body parts if you committed the murders elsewhere, unless, of course, he
wanted them to be found. We also know that he was able to abduct, murder, dismember, and store the remains of several victims at once for upwards of a month without being detacted. This is quite a feat within a densely populated city. He seems to be a risk taker because the dump sites he chose are not in secluded areas, but rather populated locations. You may have noticed that some
of the dump sites have intriguing names. Martin Bone's Torso was found in the River of Hate parallel to Pelvis Road, Natali go Das Torso was found on the side of a road called the Path of Worry, and the last two dump sites were on the sides of Dump Road and Saint Simphorian Street. Was the killer playing some sort of gruesome game. It certainly feels like a deliberate and sinister treasure hunt to taunt the police and terrorize the population.
Each new discovery sent fresh waves of terror throughout Moss. Whispers of a calculated pattern spread like wise fire, and with every mutilated body found, the unease grew, suffocating the city in a relentless grip of fear.
Let Mons, the serial killer of Mons, is a dangerous psychopath, a completely exceptional case in the annals of criminality.
We can consider that the profile is someone intelligent, maybe also someone provocative, who seeks to create sensation because his techniques are rather extraordinary and exceptional. Maybe also someone influenced by all that comes from America and the latest films that we've seen in movie theaters.
With experience, you know, criminals are like us.
With experience, we get better at what we do.
Until now, there have been no examples of serial killers in Western Europe who dismember their victims. The reference comes from the United States. Analysts are reduced to theoretical assumptions to determine the psychological profile of the killer.
Le Monstre is a production of Tenderfoot TV and iHeart Podcasts. Hosted, written, and executive produced by me Matt Graves, Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay are executive producers on the behalf of Tenderfoot TV with producer Makeup and Vanity set. Matt Frederick and Trevor Young are executive producers on the behalf of iHeart Podcasts. Original music by Jay Ragsdale, Sound design and master by Cooper Skinner. Cover design by Byron McCoy and Trevor Eiler.
Lea Monstre includes archival audio from SONYMA RTBF Archives. Special thanks to Aren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, the Nord Group and are Active Investigation Team. Morgen van Leerberg Frederic laure Xervi de Com and Alan Gardon, as well as the teams at iHeart Podcasts and Tenderfoot TV. Find us on social media at Monster Underscore pod. For more podcasts like Lea Monstre, search Tenderfoot TV in your podcast
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