A French man who murdered four members of his family and dismembered their bodies because he thought they were hoarding gold hidden from the Nazis has been jailed for 30 years, reports The Guardian.
Hubert Caouissin had admitted killing his brother-in-law, Pascal Troadec, 49, Troadec’s wife, Brigitte, 49, and the couple’s two children, Sébastien, 21, and Charlotte, 18, in February 2017.
Caouissin, 50, was convinced that the family was sitting on a rumoured inheritance of gold bars and coins and cheating his wife Lydie – Troadec’s sister – out of what he believed was her fair share. The court heard him described as an “ordinary” man who had become obsessed over treasure there is no evidence ever existed.
He had been spying on the family at their home in Orvault, near Nantes in western France, and had tried to listen to their conversations using a stethoscope against a window. When he was disturbed, he beat Pascal Troadec to death, then killed the other three family members. Sébastien and Charlotte were killed in their sleep.
Caouissin then removed the bodies, which he dismembered, then either burned or buried them. Police later found 379 body parts around Caouissin’s farm, located in a remote part of Brittany.
Lydie Caouissin, 52, was sentenced to three years, one suspended, for helping her husband dispose of the corpses.