Serial Killer Jean-Claude Romand
The murders
Jean-Claude Romand, born in 1954 in France, lived a happy life together with his wife and two children. Romand studied medicine at university and worked at the World Health Organization (WHO) since his graduation. It seemed to be everything anyone could have wished for, except for one small detail; everything in Romand’s life was a lie. He was married and he had two children, but he was also romantically involved with another woman whom he traveled to see often in Paris. He was also, in fact, not a doctor. Romand never got his medical degree since he spent most of his schooldays inside his dorm room. He did not work at WHO; he simply took the car every day and parked it somewhere and waited for eight hours until he could go back home. He lived off of his wife’s salary and money was given to him by friends and relatives who thought that Romand helped them invest the money.
Jean-Claude Romand was determined to do anything to keep up with his lie. He had “invested” money given to him by his father-in-law and in 1988, his father-in-law demanded some of the money back. Sadly, he never got his money; he fell down a staircase and died. Jean-Claude was the only one witnessing his death, and it is safe to say that it seems quite suspicious that his father-in-law “accidentally” fell down the stairs when he had started pressuring Romand about his money.
In 1993, the pressure from Romand’s family about the money he had helped them invest became too much. His solution was to murder every person who could expose his lies, starting with his wife. On the night of January 9th, 1993, he beat his wife to death with a rolling pin while she was sleeping in their bed. He left the body and acted as if everything was normal the day after. He cared for his two children on 10th January, watching cartoons and feeding them. However, he shot them both on the night of 10th January with a rifle. The next day, Romand went to visit his parents. He shot his father and then his mother, and then fled the scene.
Jean-Claude had made up a lie about going to dinner with Bernard Kouchner, the health minister at the time. He asked his mistress if she wanted to accompany him, and she gladly agreed. After driving aimlessly for about an hour, Romand exited the car and told his mistress to do the same. He then sprayed tear gas into her eyes and tried to strangle her. She fought back, screaming that she did not want to die. Romand took pity on his mistress and let her live. He made her promise not to tell anyone about what had happened and dropped her off at her apartment. Romand then returned home and took an overdose of sleeping pills and set the house on fire. He passed out but was saved from the fire by firefighters. What at first glance seemed to be a terrible accident was soon revealed to be murders; the police found bullets still lodged inside of Romand’s children and it was clear that the house had been set on fire by purpose. The bodies of Jean-Claude Romand’s parents were soon found, and Romand was charged with the five murders.
Trial and aftermath
Jean-Claude Romand was found guilty of the five murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 22 years. Romand was released from prison in 2019.























