Further reading for The murder of Peggy Hettrick/ Marcel Petoit

Drawn to Injustice: The Wrongful Conviction of Timothy Masters

Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris

Fort Collins, Colorado 1987, a man riding a bicycle sees what he believes to be a mannequin, upon closer investigation he finds that it is actually the dead body of 37 year old Peggy Hettrick. According to the autopsy performed by the coroner, Peggy had died from a single stab wound in the upper left area of her back, very likely early that morning. Her body had been sexually mutilated, nipped and areola had been removed with surgical precision and a female circumcision appeared to have been performed, both appearing to have been done with quality surgical instruments.

Before the cyclist came across the body, there was also a boy on his way to school who saw her and told police that he as well thought it was a mannequin and a joke. This boy was 15 year old Timothy Masters, and since he did not report seeing the body to police and since they did not have any other suspects, he became their number one. However, no physical evidence was ever found to link him to the crimes, they searched his home, finding violent writing aand artwork (but, he was a 15 year old boy…) the police also spent hours questioning Masters (with no adult present) repeatedly telling the boy they knew he committed the crime, trying to make him break, but Timothy maintained his innocence.

In 1992, the police interviewed some of Masters former classmates, they told the police that Timothy had told them details about the sexual mutilations. Investigators were under the assumption that this information had never been made public and only the killer would know the details, however whey they again interviewed Masters he told police that it had been a friend in his art class that told him about the mutilations, this friend had been a part of a scouts group who helped police search the crime scene.

1997, a forensic psychologist looked over Masters drawings that had been taken from his room, Dr Meloy, told police that these drawings could be interpreted as Masters reliving the murder and one drawing in particular he interpreted as as knife cutting into a vagina and another as a body being dragged. It was his drawings and writing that the jury used against Masters and he received a life sentence for murder.

Appeals were made and other potential suspects were found, in 2008 a Colorado judge vacated Master’s conviction and had him immediately released.

From there, the story of the second suspect is edge or your seat material……

The other murder in this episode was an oldie from France,

Marcel Petiot, born 1897 was a French doctor convicted of multiple murders after the remains of 23 people were found in the basement of his home. It was believed he killed many more then that but there was no way to prove this. In the end he was beheaded by guillotine.

Episode 98

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