‘Black Widow of Riviera’ faces life term
Print Edition
A French woman dubbed the “Black Widow of the Riviera” for allegedly seducing and poisoning wealthy elderly men, leading to the deaths of two of them, faces a life sentence as her trial got under way yesterday.
Patricia Dagorn, 57, is already serving a five-year prison term for theft, fraud and sequestration involving an octogenarian in the French Alps in 2012 after he agreed to let her live with him in exchange for sexual relations.
The 87-year-old man, Robert Mazereau, was later assaulted.
Police also suspected Dagorn after the body of Michel Kneffel, a man in his 60s with whom she had been living at a residential hotel in Nice, was discovered in July 2011.
No charges were filed in that case, but the investigation was reopened after her conviction the following year, when police found vials of Valium and personal documents belonging to about a dozen different men, including IDs, bank account details and health insurance cards.
That led investigators to another suspected murder case, that of Francesco Filippone, 85, whose body was found in his bathtub in an advanced state of decomposition in Mouans-Sartoux, outside Cannes, in February 2011.
Dagorn had earlier cashed a cheque from Filippone for 21,000 euros (US$25,600), money which she said was a gift to help her open a jewellery shop.
“She denies the charges against her in their entirety, including the thefts,” said one of her lawyers, Georges Rimondi.
Police now think Dagorn may have met at least 20 men after arriving on the French Riviera in 2011, mainly via a matchmaking agency.
In 2013, her youngest son told a local newspaper that he was not surprised by the accusations against his mother.
“She has always been obsessed with quick and easy money,” the son, identified as Guilhem, told Nice-Matin.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
