David Lefèvre (serial killer)

David Lefèvre (born May 17, 1980), known as The Swamp Killer (French: Le Tueur des Marais), is a French serial killer. First imprisoned for the 1999 murder of a homeless man during a robbery, he was later released, and went on to murder two more men in 2011.^[1]

Arrested and convicted for the latter crimes, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with 22 years preventative detention.^[2]

Biography[]

Early life[]

David Lefèvre was born on May 17, 1980 in Reims, one of six children. He grew up in an unhappy home with unloving parents, whom he later described as "social cases" who inflicted both physical and sexual abuse on him.^[1]

In 1988, aged 8, Lefèvre and his siblings were placed in foster care, which he categorically refused to talk about, but passionately talked about a swing he had built for his younger siblings, in order to comfort them.^[1]

On his 18th birthday, having reached the age of majority, Lefèvre was released from the institution, and quickly began indulging himself in criminal behavior with the help of a minor accomplice. A year later, the pair bought a gun, which they subsequently used in several thefts.

Armed robbery and first murder[]

On August 5, 1999, the 19-year-old Lefèvre and his accomplice commit their first successful theft, shoplifting from a store in Laon. Believing that they could reoffend with complete impunity, the pair planned to continue their illicit practice.

On August 8, 1999, Lefèvre and the accomplice were preparing for another theft when they came across a homeless man. Deciding that they would rob him instead, the pair attacked him, but during the struggle, Lefèvre shot and killed the man and his pet rat with a pistol.^[1] Shortly afterwards, they both fled, but not until a few passers-by saw them and later denounced their identities to the police.

Thinking that they had successfully evaded capture, Lefèvre and his accomplice began planning their next hit. In the meantime, authorities searched in vain for the two youths with no previous convictions. The break came a few days later, when new testimony brought the police officers to the thieves' residences.^[1]

Arrest and imprisonment[]

On August 14, 1999, Lefèvre and his accomplice were arrested for the two thefts and the murder in Laon. While awaiting trial for the crimes, the police ordered that the duo be examined and to possibly figure out a motive for their misdeeds, because of their young ages. In September, the suspects were examined by psychiatrists, with their lawyers claiming that the murder was committed in a "state of insanity" because, while Lefèvre used a pistol, it was argued that it was used solely during the commission of a crime. Neither of them was found to suffer from mental illness, and were declared fit to stand trial.

In 2001, after the investigation was completed, Lefèvre and his accomplice were referred to the Criminal Court in Douai, where they would tried separately, each facing a sentence of 10 years imprisonment.^[3]

Detention, release and new crimes[]

On November 1, 2002, Lefèvre was finally brought to trial for his crimes. Aged 22, he admitted his guilt, but could provide no motive for the murder, claiming that the victim had been "in the wrong place and at the wrong time." Both he and his accomplice were subsequently convicted and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, but with time served. As a result of this decision, he was released on August 21, 2003.

Although he initially wanted to give up on his life of crime, Lefèvre would be arrested for car theft in 2005 and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.^[1] After his release, he met 20-year-old Julien Guérin, a recovering alcoholic who was in a rehabilitation program. The two formed a friendship, and began attending parties together. A year later, the pair got acquainted with a woman named Sylvie, who started accompanying them on their various escapades. In 2010, Lefèvre grew increasingly agitated at his friend, who had recently disclosed to him that he planned to start a family with his girlfriend, Aline.^[1]

New murders[]

Julien Guérin[]

On January 13, 2011, after a long party, Lefèvre took Guérin in his car, ostensibly to drive to Belgium to buy cigarettes.^[1] However, he instead drove to the swamp near Camon, where he got him out and hit him with a baseball bat.^[2] This caused Julien to fall into the swamp, and drown less than a minute later. Lefèvre quickly left the scene and returned home, thinking at the time that his friend was still alive. In order not to arouse suspicion, he disposed of the bat.^[4] A day later, he went to Guérin's girlfriend and told her that he had dropped him off in Amiens.^[1] A complaint was filed for Guérin's disappearance the next day, but Lefèvre, knowing how interrogators operated, managed to convince the investigators that he had simply acted a messenger for Julien. Lacking evidence to detain him, he was released without charge.^[1]

A week into Guérin's sudden disappearance, his younger sister attempted to file a missing persons report, but as he was of legal age, the police refused to start an investigation. In the meantime, Lefèvre continued cooperating with them, as he was never considered a suspect in the case.^[1]

On February 14, 2011, Guérin's lifeless body was in the middle of the Avre by a municipal employee who was cleaning the riverbanks.^[1] The corpse was brought to the coroner, but as the body was determined to have been in the river for more than a month, the autopsy took considerably longer than usual. A month later, the cause of death was officially designated as accidental, with coroners rationalizing that Guérin's addiction to buprenorphine and methadone, and possibly consumption of strong vodka, resulted in his death.^[1][4]

Around this time, Lefèvre bought himself a new gun. In August of that year, he learned that his mutual friend, Sylvie, had begun a relationship with a 24-year-old man named Alexandre Michaud. Agitated and feeling 'left on the sidelines' by a friend yet again, he began to harbor resentment towards Michaud.

Alexandre Michaud[]

On the evening of September 4, 2011, following an argument with Sylvie, Alexandre hit the wall violently and injured his wrist.^[1] Having no means of transportation, Sylvie called David to come pick him up. He arrived at the couple's house, took Michaud and drove to the hospital, where he left the doctors to take care of his injured acquaintance. However, when he came back to pick him up, he drove to the Camon swamp, where he shot Michaud with his gun twice, once in the back and once in the head.^[1] The man fell into the swamp, managing to grab onto a rowboat, but succumbed to his injuries. Having killed his victim, Lefèvre drove home.

Two days later, Sylvie went to the police station to report her boyfriend's disappearance, recounting how Alexandre disappeared after he was driven by her friend David to the hospital.^[1] Following her testimony, a search and rescue operation was launched to find the young man. A few days later, Michaud was found in the marshes and identified by a distinctive jersey that he wore.^[1] Feeling that the crime might be connected to that the death of Julien Guérin, who had been found in similar circumstances and also had connections to David Lefèvre, the gendarmes considered that the two cases might be connected.^[1]

On September 14, 2011, Lefèvre was taken into custody for interrogation. While the authorities attempted to prolong his arrest after discovering the detainee's criminal past, they were eventually forced to release him for lack of evidence. However, they also began surveilling his activities by wiretapping his phone.^[5] In November, during a phone call intended for Sylvie, Lefèvre boasted that he had killed three times.^[1] The call was intercepted by investigators who, following this revelation, were convinced of his guilt, but nevertheless abstained from immediately arresting him in order to gather more evidence.

Arrest and confession[]

On December 13, 2011, David Lefèvre was again placed in police custody. After a prolonged interrogation, he still refused to answer any of the gendarmes' questions, whereupon he was taken to Camon for further questioning about the Michaud murder.^[1] Unaware that Guérin's body had deviated by the swamp currents, Lefèvre accidentally said that his previous friend had died at the exact same spot, implicating himself in his death in the process. After this, he was brought back to the prison and charged with both murders.^[6]

On March 20, 2012, after denying the accusations for some time, Lefèvre wrote a letter to the prosecutor, in which he gave a detailed confession to both murders and apologised to their families. Following the receipt of this letter, the judge ordered that he a reconstruction of the crime scenes be conducted.^[7] On September 25, 2012, Lefèvre was brought to Camon and retold how he committed the crimes, in the presence of Guérin and Michaud's family members. After explaining the murders, he was returned to prison, without providing a motive for either killing.^[1]

In 2013, he was transferred to the cour d'assises in Somme, where he was charged with the premeditated murder of Alexandre Michaud and the second-degree murder of Julien Guérin, for which he faced life imprisonment.^[7]

Trial and sentencing[]

On November 12, 2013, Lefèvre's trial began. Silent and inert for most of the proceedings, he proclaimed that he welcomed his condemnation and wished that his relatives and friends do not support him.^[1] Three days later, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with 22 years preventative detention, making him unable to apply for parole until December 2033.^[8] His crime spree preceded that of another serial killer, Yoni Palmier, by only two months.^[9]

See also[]

• Serial murders in Essonne
• List of French serial killers

References[]

External links[]

Documentary[]

• "David Lefèvre, the Swamp Killer", released on February 3, 2020 on Faites entrer l'accusé and presented by Frédérique Lantieri on France 2