| “ | I am... an artiste. I took flesh and bone and made them, uh... transcendent. But none of this would be possible without you. You are my muse, Amy. Because of you, I am transcendent. | ” |
— Mossier to Amy Wallace
| ||
Paul Mossier, a.k.a. "The Butcher of Paris", was a delusional spree killer, one-time enucleator, and one-time abductor who appeared in the Season One episode of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, "The Lonely Heart".
Background[]
Mossier was born on March 13, 1973 in a lesser-known branch of the Boulangers, a French family that owned a once-renowned wood-craftsman company outside of Marseilles from 1880 to 1987. He was often abused by his father, who had high expectations of him joining the family business. He once burned Mossier's hand with a cigarette while trying unsuccessfully to teach him how to carve wood. Developing severe mental illness as an adult, Mossier was disowned by his family as a result. Afterwards, he racked up a record for assaulting women. In February 2015, he attempted to assault a police officer, but was apprehended and institutionalized at l'Institut du Pinel. He became close to Amy Wallace, an American-born woman who volunteered at the institution and used art therapy. He eventually developed romantic feelings towards her. About a month prior to the episode, Wallace moved out of France to be engaged. In an effort to reunite with her, Mossier managed to get himself discharged from l'Institut du Pinel despite the staff's concerns about his past violent tendencies. He then began killing women in order to send his message of love to Wallace.
The Lonely Heart[]
Mossier is first seen stalking Samantha Wade from his car. When Wade breaks her slipper, Mossier drives up beside her and offers her a ride, which she accepts. When they arrive at her home, he kills her and stabs her in the eyes post-mortem. Hours later, Mossier goes after his next target, Bianca Lewis. Once she enters her apartment, he follows her inside, knocks on the door, and tells her that she left something behind. When Lewis opens the door, Mossier forces his way inside, kills her, and decapitates her post-mortem. The following night, Mossier drives up beside Katherine Barker as she is leaving a café and offers her a ride. During the ride, he asks her about her boyfriend and the friend she is staying with. She becomes suspicious and tries to get out, but Mossier refuses. Then, Barker uses her smartphone to take pictures of Mossier and threatens that she will send it to the French police if he doesn't let her out. In response, he starts to drive recklessly. When Barker opens the door and jumps out, he runs her over with his vehicle and kills her by removing her heart.
At his hideout, Mossier watches his TV set and sees a news report of Commissaire Pierre Clement giving out a profile for "The Butcher of Paris". Enraged, he abandons his taxi and uses a tow truck to lure in Alexandra Lafayette when she is stranded on the road. He asks her if she speaks English and if she is American. After finding out she is a native Frenchwoman, Mossier is about to drive away when Lafayette stops him and asks if he is not helping her. Knowing that the police are closing in on him and he no longer has enough time to carry out his full fantasy, Mossier abducts her, takes her to her house, kills her, cuts open her stomach, and stuffs dead butterflies in it. Afterwards, he goes to Wallace's apartment and abducts her. At his hideout, he plays a phonograph, just as Wallace regains consciousness. She finds Lewis's head, which horrifies her. Mossier shows her his "art" and asks her if she likes it, but she is further horrified and insults him, calling him sick and disgusting. Enraged, Mossier takes out a knife, cuts his palm, smears his blood on Wallace's face, and punches her. He then retrieves an axe, apologizes, and tries to kill her. Suddenly, Garrett and Seger arrive; Garrett shoots Mossier in the shoulder while Wallace flees. Garrett orders Mossier to put the axe down, but he rushes him, forcing Garrett to shoot Mossier three times in the chest, killing him.
Modus Operandi[]
Mossier targeted Caucasian American women who lived in or were visiting Paris. He would offer them a ride in his car (which had a symbol of a hackney horse so they would know it was a gypsy cab) and ask them questions, such as where they use to live and if they lived alone. Once his first two victims opened the door to their apartments, he would force his way in, manually strangle them to death, and pose their bodies in a sitting position. When he killed his third victim, Katherine Barker, he ran her over with her car after she tried to escape, crushing her legs in the process, fatally removed her heart, and posed her body into a sitting position in an alley. When he killed his fourth victim, Alexandra Lafayette (who was a French citizen and not an American), he offered her a ride in his tow-truck, killed her again by manual strangulation, took her body to his property, and then later to her home. He tried to pose her body, but was interrupted her husband entering the house.
His signature was mutilating his victims in various ways to express his messages of love for Amy. He stabbed his first victim's eyes post-mortem with timber scribes to say that he was "blinded by love". His second victim had her head cut off post-mortem with a saw and taken afterwards, as a way of saying that he "lost his head". As previously stated, he removed his third victim's heart, which he then put in her hands in order to say that he "has his heart in his hands". His fourth victim had grass demon butterflies stuffed in her stomach after it was cut open, to say that he "has butterflies in his stomach". When he tried to kill Amy Wallace and Jack Garrett, he attempted to kill them with a broad hatchet.
Profile[]
The unsub is a male aged in his 40s who is criminally sophisticated, strong, and patient. Because he spends his time finding potential victims, it is likely that he does not have a job. He might use the gypsy cab service to make money and only strikes when he manages to find the right victim. Based on the staging of his third victim, it appears all of his victims are surrogates for the unsub's true target and their murders are means for him to develop the courage and confidence to commit his final crime.
Real-Life Comparison[]
Mossier appears similar to Edmund Kemper - Both were spree killers who were abused by a parent, were institutionalized prior to their sprees, left their facilities early against their doctors' wishes, both had a woman who was the catalyst for their homicidal rampages (Kemper's mother and one of Mossier's art therapists, respectively), targeted young women who were surrogates for their women, picked them up in their cars, strangled them to death (though this was just one of Kemper's methods), dismembered them post-mortem, both altered their vehicles as a countermeasure (Mossier switched to a different one, while Kemper added a University sticker to his), and were given nicknames for their crimes.
Known Victims[]
- February 1986: Unnamed woman (assaulted)
- November 1990: Unnamed woman (assaulted)
- July 1995: Unnamed victim (assaulted)
- August 2009: Unnamed woman (assaulted)
- 2015:
- February: Unnamed police officer (attempted to assault)
- October 22: Samantha Wade (stabbed in the eyes post-mortem)
- October 24: Bianca Lewis (decapitated post-mortem)
- October 24-25: Katherine Barker (run over and fatally removed her heart instead of manually strangling her)
- October 26:
- Alexandra Lafayette (cut open her stomach post-mortem and stuffed dead butterflies in it)
- Amy Wallace (his supervisor; abducted, assaulted, and attempted to kill with a broad hatchet; was rescued)
- Jack Garrett (attempted to kill with a broad hatchet)