Nadir Sedrati

This article is a rough translation from another language. It may have been generated by a computer or by a translator without dual proficiency. Please help to . If you have just labeled this article as needing attention, please add {{subst:Needtrans|pg=Nadir Sedrati |language=unknown |comments= }} ~~~~ to the bottom of the WP:PNTCU section on Wikipedia:Pages needing translation into English.

This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Nadir Sedrati, born 26 March 1938 in Gavet,^[1] nicknamed "The Cutter of the Canal", is a French serial killer born to Algerian parents. He was sentenced for the murders of three people, perpetrated between May and July 1999^[2]. The various pieces of two bodies (the third body was never found) were thrown into the Marne-Rhine Canal near Nancy.

In his judicial career, he was involved in five disappearances, perpetrated between 1982 and 1999, but convicted of three murders.

Biography[]

Youth[]

Nadir Sedrati was born on 26 March 1938 in Gavet. He is of Algerian origin. Nadir Sedrati is the youngest of two siblings. His brother, Milhoud Sedrati, was born on 5 October 1935. Nadir Sedrati's childhood takes place during World War II. His father died there on 12 September 1941, when Nadir was only 3 years old and his brother was not yet 6 years old.^[1]

In September 1945, Nadir (aged 7) and Milhoud (aged 10) were placed in the orphanage, due to the incapacity encountered by their mother, following the death of their father. Shortly after, Milhoud was dismissed for violence. Nadir, however, is a wise and withdrawn child, seeking to forget a childhood marked by war.^[1]

On 2 October 1946, aged 8 and a half, Nadir Sedrati was baptized at the Church of Douvaine. He manages, indirectly, to forget his first name (Nadir) and ends up calling himself Dominique Sedrati. Nadir then grows up being convinced that his name is Dominique. He was also nicknamed "Bambino" between 1949 and 1951.^[1]

In January 1952, barely 14 years old, Nadir Sedrati discovers, through identity papers, that his name is not Dominique, but Nadir Sedrati. He also discovers that his father (whom he did not know) died during World War II, when he was only 3 years old at the time of the tragedy. This discovery will never break to mark him, so much so that he chained petty theft between 1952 and 1956.^[1]

First scams[]

In 1957, aged 19, Nadir Sédrati joined the army in Algeria. He then decides to develop a scam, but ends up being unmasked. Sedrati was then dismissed from the army, but avoided prison, due to the fact that he was a minor (the majority being set at 21 at the time). Nadir Sedrati reached his majority on 26 March 1959.^[1]

In 1962, 24-year-old Nadir Sedrati was arrested for having committed several scams. He is imprisoned for the first time in his life. In prison, Sedrati receives several psychiatric examinations but is, however, declared responsible for his actions, although some opinions are mixed and others will be more so later.^[3]

In 1963, Nadir Sedrati was convicted, for the first time in his life, by the Cour d'assises, for scams. He is 25 years old. After his first release from prison, Sedrati will subsequently be sentenced fifteen times to prison for the same acts repeatedly, until, sometimes, staying in a psychiatric hospital in order to avoid being sentenced to various criminal sanctions.^[4]

In 1969, Nadir Sedrati returned to Algeria, where he would like to marry. However, his future in-laws refuse this "presumed Algerian" named Dominique, who is uncircumcised and does not speak a word of Arabic. Sedrati does not support the prejudices of his future in-laws, because they claim that he is not from the country, because he does not know the Algerian language. Nadir Sedrati then feels rejected.^[5]

Between the 1970s and the early 1980s, Nadir Sedrati alternated between prison and psychiatric hospital. One of his "mental anomalies" can be summed up as being, according to Sedrati: "a protection from extraterrestrial attacks, by sprinkling himself with honey". During one of his internships, Nadir Sedrati met André Gachy, whom he frequented.^[1]

At the beginning of 1982, Nadir Sedrati was released from the psychiatric hospital. He was then 44 years old. Following his release, he returned to see André Gachy, 42, then decided to live in a shared apartment, moving in with him at La Verrière.^[3][6]

First suspicious disappearances[]

On 19 May 1982, Nadir Sedrati and André Gachy stayed in Thonon-les-Bains, in order to take a vacation. They stop at the station in the same city and then leave it. At that moment, André Gachy mysteriously disappears, without anyone finding the trace of his passage. Sédrati does not report Gachy's disappearance and returns to the various residences of the deceased, at La Verrière and Saintes, where his identity papers and checkbook are used. No investigation is open, due to the fact that André Gachy is 42 years old, that he is an isolated person and that he has no attendance except a few visits to Sedrati.^[7][8]

In the summer of 1982, an employee of the prefecture of La Rochelle managed to unmask Sedrati, because of the income spent on behalf of André Gachy. After all the findings of the investigators, they discover that the modus operandi of the expenditure of Mr Gachy's income is similar to the known scams of the modus operandi of Nadir Sedrati.^[2]

In August 1982, Nadir Sedrati was arrested and placed in preventive detention. Although he denies any involvement in André Gachy's disappearance, Sedrati is indicted and imprisoned for murder and identity theft, although André Gachy's corpse will never be found. Nadir Sedrati spends three years and three months in prison, awaiting trial, before the Nancy Assize Court.^[2][7]

On 26 November 1985, the trial of Nadir Sedrati began before the Nancy Assize Court, for the murder of André Gachy. Sedrati is, however, on trial with a lack of evidence and evidence, which could link it to the alleged murder (in part on the fact that André Gachy's body was not found). Nadir Sedrati's trial lasts four days. During the indictment, the Advocate General requests a sentence of life imprisonment against Sedrati. However, at the end of his trial, Nadir Sedrati is acquitted of the alleged murder of André Gachy. Following his acquittal, Sedrati is released from prison on the evening in 29 November 1985.^[1][2]

On 6 September 1988, Nadir Sedrati was again interned in a psychiatric hospital for "behavioral disorders". He was then 50 years old. It is internal, but only for a period of a few months. In psychiatry, Sedrati received various treatments during his internment. He spent, however, only five and a half months in a psychiatric hospital, before being released on 19 February 1989.^[1]

In 1993, Nadir Sedrati usurps the identity of a certain Joël Royer, without Royer noticing this scam. Sedrati is not worried, although he routinely usurps Royer. Nadir Sedrati subsequently steals another identity card, belonging to Vosger's name, without the latter also noticing. Sedrati usurps Royer Vosger's identities in a discreet manner (so that his misdeeds will not be discovered until his arrest for murder in July 1999). Although he usurps his victims, Nadir Sedrati does so, however, to a lesser extent, so as not to be worried about his misdeeds. He then escapes justice for two years.^[1]

In October 1994, Léon Krauss, 63, disappeared in his turn from his apartment in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. His disappearance goes, at first, unnoticed and Nadir Sedrati settles in the retirement home. Following his arrival with the pensioner, Sedrati began to use Leon Krauss' papers and bank accounts. The caretaker of Léon Krauss's building receives a letter, signed on behalf of the retiree, explaining that he is renting his apartment Nadir Sédrati. Another letter is sent to one of Léon Krauss's cousins, telling him that he left the region in order to start a new life with a woman named Colette.^{[1][9][10][11]}

On 24 December 1994, Nadir Sedrati went, by himself, to the Strasbourg police station. He goes there pretending to be Léon Krauss and affirms that he would like his family to stop alerting them, by declaring to have remade his life with a woman. Following his statements, Sedrati left the Strasbourg police station and returned to Léon Krauss, continuing to usurp his identity and use his banking income.^[10][11]

In February 1995, when Léon Krauss has not given any sign of life for four months, Sedrati's attitude begins to alert the family of the disappeared. In addition, letters to relatives are of no credibility, as the handwriting does not match that of the retiree. This testimony allows an investigation to be opened. The investigation begins at the Strasbourg police station, informing of the arrival of Léon Krauss on Christmas Eve. However, those close to Léon Krauss insist on describing him in order to formally identify him and differentiate him from Nadir Sedrati, whose suspicions only grow stronger. After, the testimony of relatives of Krauss, the Judicial Police of Strasbourg noticed that the description given by the relatives of Léon Krauss does not correspond with that of the man who came two months earlier, but formally recognized the image of Sedrati, at using a recent snapshot when they disappeared.^[9][10][11]

At this stage of the investigation, the Strasbourg police decided to inform the Villeneuve police station, which identified the visitor as Nadir Sedrati, aged 57, partly because he was known to the services. police for various scams. In addition, the investigators discover Sedrati may wish to hide the murder of Léon Krauss, since he has already been prosecuted, in the past, for alleged murder on André Gachy, whose body has never been found.^[9][10][11]

In the spring of 1995, Nadir Sedrati was arrested and placed in preventive detention in Saint-Mihiel prison. He is charged with the murder of Léon Krauss (whose body will never be found) and the usurpation of his identity. He was subsequently prosecuted only for having conned Léon Krauss, because his alleged murder did not contain any element of incrimination against Nadir Sedrati.^[1][9]

In 1998, Nadir Sedrati was tried for the identity theft of Léon Krauss and sentenced to 5 years in prison.^[4] While in detention at theSaint-Mihiel Detention Center, Sedrati worked as a hairdresser. During this same period, he met other fellow prisoners, including Hans Gassen, Hans Müller, Gérard Steil, Jean-Claude Martini and Norbert Ronfort, with whom he exchanged various discussions and confidences.^[1]

During Sedrati's detention, Hans Gassen was released on 27 August 1998 and Gérard Steil was released a few weeks later, in October 1998. Nadir Sedrati, on the other hand, remained in prison before being released on parole in early 1999.^[1]

Release and dating with Gassen and Steil[]

On 16 March 1999, Nadir Sedrati was released from prison, after having served four years in detention. He was then 61 years old. Upon his release, Nadir Sedrati resumed his usurpation under the identity of Joël Royer; an identity that he continues to use, in order to obtain cyanide. Sedrati moved to the Jean Stoffer home in Nancy, where he also used a fictitious identity; this by Philippe Grossiord.^[1]

In April 1999, Nadir Sedrati made contact with Hans Gassen, who was released from the Saint-Mihiel detention center during the months preceding Sedrati's release. Gassen lives and works in Nancy, not far from Nadir Sedrati's residence. Gérard Steil, also released a few months earlier, is a delivery driver and lives in a hostel in Strasbourg.^[1]

In May 1999, Sedrati filed, by correspondence, an employment contract under the name of Philippe Grossiord intended for Gérard Steil, who was looking for a job. During the following days, his contract coming to an end soon, Steil was contacted by Philippe Grossiard (without knowing that it was Nadir Sedrati) in order to have a job within his company Inter Europe Diffusion.^[1]

The "Cutter of the Canal"[]

On 14 May 1999, Gérard Steil boarded the train from Strasbourg to Nancy. He goes to his job interview, fixed with Grossiord (Sedrati), and warns his relatives that he must be back in Strasbourg on the morning of Monday 17 May 1999. Gérard Steil arrives at the company Inter Europe Diffusion, which s turns out to be a fictitious company invented by Nadir Sedrati. Steil immediately recognizes Sedrati. To celebrate their reunion, Sedrati offers his former fellow inmate to spend the evening at his home and sleep there. Arrived at Sedrati, Steil spends, according to the observations, the whole evening with him until the next morning. Sedrati prepares a cup of Coffee for Steil and pours Potassium Cyanide into it. After drinking Sedrati's poisoned cup of coffee, Steil falls to the ground and dies almost instantly. According to all observations, he would have died on the morning of 15 May 1999.^[12]

After having killed Gérard Steil, Sedrati cuts up his body for several hours, then loads the pieces of Steil's body into his vehicle and then throws them into the Canal of Nancy. He then cleans his entire apartment, in order to erase all traces of Gérard Steil's passage. Nadir Sedrati subsequently calls the home in which Steil lives and affirms that Gérard Steil will not return, because he has started his work within his company.^[1]

On the evening of 20 May 1999, Hans Gassen invites Nadir Sedrati to join him, along with Hans and Rosemarie Müller, to celebrate his 55th birthday in their apartment in Germany. Gassen is very close to Hans Müller and rub shoulders on a daily basis. They are also roommates. During the evening, Rosemarie Müller gives Hans Gassen a yellow shirt as a birthday present. During the night, Sedrati returns home, to his residence in Nancy.^[1]

On 21 May 1999, around 3 a.m., Hans Gassen left his residence to go on a date, fixed by Nadir Sedrati, in the context of a case. Worried, Hans Müller contacts Gassen by mobile phone, who tries to reassure him, but Müller is not really happy with Gassen's response and imagines that he is, potentially, in danger. A few hours later, Gassen arrives at Sedrati, in Nancy. Gassen calls Müller back to tell him that he has arrived at Sedrati. Gassen promises Müller to call him back afterwards, but does not call him back. Meanwhile, Nadir Sedrati brews a cup of coffee for Gassen and also pours potassium cyanide into it. Gassen drinks the poisoned cup of coffee, then collapses and dies, within seconds. In the meantime, Müller, who is more worried about Gassen, calls Sedrati by his mobile phone number, expressing his great concern that Gassen is unreachable. Sedrati picks up the phone and confirms Gassen's arrival. Müller then insists on talking to him, but Sedrati confesses that he is resting. Knowing Gassen, Müller advises Sedrati to give him a cup of coffee. Following Sedrati's response, Müller is relieved to learn that he has already given her coffee. He doesn't realize, however, that Gassen is already dead. After killing Gassen, Sedrati also dismisses his corpse, then throws the remains of the remains in the Canal de Nancy.^[1]

On 22 May 1999, Hans Müller, who still has not heard from Gassen, decides to report his disappearance to the police. However, since Gassen is an adult and has only been missing for 24 hours, the complaint is not privileged and is closed. At the same time, Nadir Sedrati cleans his apartment again, in Nancy, in order to remove, this time, the DNA traces of Hans Gassen.^[1]

The start of the affair[]

Discovery of the first body[]

On 30 May 1999, a fisherman discovered a human right foot in the Nancy canal. He immediately warns the River Police who arrive on the scene. At first, the police believe that the foot was severed by a boat propeller. The next day, a completely rotten and unrecognizable human head was recovered 500 meters from where the right foot was discovered.^[1][2]

On 1 June 1999, bones, a breastbone, ribs and three kneecaps (showing that there were at least two victims) were recovered from the vicinity of the canal. The next day, a hand is discovered near the Nancy canal. large parts of corpses were found in the Canal de Nancy until 7 June 1999, when the left foot of one of the corpses was recovered by the River Police.^[1]

On 10 June 1999, the forensic doctor, responsible for collecting the various pieces of the human body, noted that the limbs had been surgically severed and excluded the hypothesis of an accident: it was therefore a case of homicide. The police were unable to take a fingerprint from the found hand, due to its state of decomposition so advanced that they could not perform this type of analysis. The police officers of the River Brigade send their hand to Paris for analysis, where there is the only research section capable of solving this type of problem.^[1]

Identification of Hans Gassen and alleged murder of Norbert Ronfort[]

In July 1999, the laboratory succeeded in putting a name to the hand found in the Nancy canal: Hans Gassen, 55 (born May 20, 1944, in Germany, released from the Saint-Mihiel detention center on 27 August 1998). Following the identification of Gassen's body, the police learned that Gassen was living with Hans Muller, another German who was also an ex-prisoner. Further, the police discover that Muller reported Gassen's disappearance on May 22, 1999; that is, eight days before the discovery of the latter's dismembered body in the canal. When questioned Müller says that he reported Gassen's disappearance 24 hours after not hearing from him any more because the two called each other several times a day and Gassen had to give him news. However, Müller never received them.^[1][2]

The police learned at the same time that Hans Gassen received a lot of phone calls from two places: a hostel in Nancy and an apartment near the same city. During a search in the two places the police discovered that a certain Philippe Grossiord regularly called Gassen and that this Grossiord is only an alias used by Nadir Sedrati, in order to avoid being apprehended. Nadir Sedrati is also known to the police, due to his multiple fraud and identity theft convictions. Further, the police discover that Sedrati shared the same cell as Gassen and de Muller. Investigators also discover that Sedrati was released from prison four months earlier.^[1]

In the meantime, Nadir Sedrati discovers that the corpses of the Canal de Nancy have been discovered. Sensing that an investigation is open against him, he decides to change the way he abandons the bodies. He then resumed his false identity of Philippe Grossiord, in order to bait another of his former co-prisoners, Norbert Ronfort, by claiming to sell motor homes in his fictitious company, Inter Europe Diffusion.^[1]

On 19 July 1999, when the arrest of Nadir Sedrati and Hans Müller was planned for two days later, in their respective countries, Norbert Ronfort, a former fellow inmate from Sedrati, was released from the Saint-Mihiel detention center. At the time of his release, Norbert Ronfort was 60 years old. Ronfort wishes to reconnect with his family and decides to buy a motorhome. After receiving a phone call from the company Inter Europe Diffusion, the fictitious company boasts of selling campervans under the management of Philippe Grossiord (who is still Nadir Sedrati). At Grossiord's request, a few days earlier, Norbert Ronfort agreed to meet him in order to acquire the motorhome. However, Ronfort discovers, in turn, that Philippe Grossiord is, in reality, Nadir Sedrati. Sedrati kills Ronfort and crushes him with his vegetable chipper, then hides Ronfort's body, which will never be found.^[1]

When Norbert Ronfort disappeared, the police did not make any connection with Nadir Sedrati, because his arrest was only planned at this time in the murder of Hans Gassen. It is in a limited time (less than 48 hours) that Sedrati crushes Ronfort's body, before hiding it. He then cleans his residence in order to remove all traces of exploitable blood.^[1]

Arrest and procedure[]

Arrest and preventive detention[]

On 21 July 1999, Nadir Sedrati was arrested, while he was about to return to his residence in Nancy. His arrest, intervenes, when he was probably about to get rid of his mulcher. He is taken into custody in the case of the murder of Hans Gassen. Meanwhile, Hans Müller is arrested in Germany.^[1]

Nadir Sedrati and Hans Müller are both taken to the police station for a confrontation. When questioned in Germany, Müller states that Hans Gassen left his home at 4 am because he had an appointment on 21 May 1999. He claims that Gassen was supposed to call him back, but the latter never did. The phone calls prove that Hans Muller was at home at the time of his friend's disappearance and allow him to be informed and then released. Nadir Sedrati, however, recounts that Müller is Gassen's murderer and claims that Gassen was allegedly killed during an argument that went awry: he claims that Muller, Gassen, two Dutch and two Moroccans were at his house discussing the case.(a supposed trafficking) and that he had left the residence, so as not to be involved in this affair which did not concern him; beforehand he would have heard Gassen and Muller arguing violently and seen Muller kill Gassen.^[1][2]

The French and German police officers do not believe the statements of Nadir Sedrati and decide to search his apartment. Arrived on the scene, they discover a mulcher, a kitchen knife, a butcher's saw and several brownish stains on the floor, the sink and on the mulcher. The police think, in the first place, of blood but have no proof that it is it. In addition, as they dig deeper into the apartment, they realize that a bag is concealed in a cushion that contains a jar filled with a white powder. At first, the police think that it is about drugs (cocaine or heroin), but will learn, after expertise, that the white powder taken from Sedrati is potassium cyanide; which then suggests that Sedrati poisoned Gassen with cyanide (the police also discover that Nadir Sedrati bought the 20 kg of cyanide under the identity of Joël Royer, which he continued to swindle). The police are beginning to see the scenario that may have happened at Sedrati: Gassen had an appointment with Philippe Grossiord but it was Nadir Sedrati who received it. Sedrati must have told Gassen he had to wait for Grossiord; the latter being late in coming Sedrati would have offered Gassen a cup of coffee mixed with cyanide. Gassen suffocates, faints and someone (probably Nadir Sedrati) would have dismembered Gassen's body, the various pieces of which were thrown into the canal.^[1][2]

However, the police are puzzled that Gassen's head, found in an advanced state of decomposition, to suggest that the head was thrown into the canal in late April, when Gassen died on 21 May 1999. While searching again in Sedrati's apartment, the police discover quicklime in the basement and learn that it has helped to delay the identification of a body when a member of the human body is immersed in it product ; hence Gassen's head which seemed more rotten than the other members found.^[1]

On 23 July 1999, after 48 hours of police custody, Nadir Sedrati was brought before the examining magistrate and imprisoned for the murder of Hans Gassen. In prison, Sedrati proclaims his "innocence" and the police discover that Sedrati had no apparent motive to kill Hans Gassen, except the money, because Sedrati stole the victim's bank card to carry out some withdrawals (300 francs).^[1]

Discovery of the second body[]

At the end of July 1999, the police are now responsible for solving the mystery of the third kneecap (found at the same time as the pieces of Gassen). They learn that Gérard Steil and Norbert Ronfort, two other detainees who also knew Nadir Sedrati, disappeared during the year 1999. The police believe that the third ball joint of the canal belongs to Steil or Ronfort. For this, they decide to call on the family of the two missing to take a DNA sample. It turns out to be complicated, but the police still manage to collect the DNA of a relative of Gérard Steil as well as one of Norbert Ronfort.^[1]

While awaiting the DNA results, the investigation shows that Gérard Steil was released from prison in October 1998, then that he found work for six months in Strasbourg as a delivery driver in Strasbourg; place where he resided before his disappearance.^[1]

His last sign of life dates back between 14 and 15 May 1999, when he was to have a job interview with Philppe Grossiord the same day, and that he was to be back in Strasbourg on Monday 17 May 1999, but never reappeared. Again, the police quickly identify Philippe Grossiord as Nadir Sedrati. However, the motive for this crime is unknown. However, the police are convinced that Sedrati's only interest in killing Gérard Steil was the meager retirement pension that Steil was receiving.^[12]

In September 1999, DNA confirmed that the third patella, found in the canal, belonged to Gérard Steil. The police officers as well as the Fluvial Brigade of Nancy decide to dredge the whole canal to try to find the possible remains of Steil.^[1]

In November 1999, remains were recovered from the canal and actually belong to Gérard Steil. Nadir Sedrati is therefore charged with the murder of Steil. However, the investigators do not stop at this second indictment, because they also discover the identity papers of another ex-prisoner of Sedrati: Norbert Ronfort.^[1]

Unsuccessful searches for the third and fourth bodies[]

In December 1999, an investigation was opened in order to find Norbert Ronfort. Moreover, Norbert Ronfort, another acquaintance of Nadir Sedrati who had also disappeared just like Gérard Steil, was released from prison on 19 July 1999, and had a project to reconnect with his family and buy a motorhome. The police also learn that Ronfort had spoken of his plans to Nadir Sedrati and that he had received a phone call from the company Inter Europe Diffusion. The company boasted of selling camper vans and, attracted by the offer of a certain Philippe Grossiord, Norbert Ronfort had agreed to meet him to acquire the camper van. In addition, Ronfort's last sign of life took place on 19 July 1999; or less than 48 hours before the arrest of Nadir Sedrati. Since this conversation, Norbert Ronfort has disappeared and his body has still not been found.^[1]

In February 2000, beatings and a search took place in order to find the corpse of Norbert Ronfort, but these investigations yielded nothing. The gendarmes are convinced that, following the murder of Norbert Ronfort, Nadir Sedrati did not have time to get rid of his plant shredder; His arrest having occurred less than 48 hours after Ronfort's disappearance and, probably, less than 24 hours after the butchering of his corpse. He would also have hidden the corpse of Norbert Ronfort, due to the discovery of the bodies of Gassen and Steil.^[1]

On 22 March 2000, Nadir Sedrati was charged with the murder of Norbert Ronfort. Although he denies all three facts, Sedrati now has three murder charges: He is indicted for the intentional homicide of Hans Gassen, Gérard Steil and Norbert Ronfort, although the latter's body will never be found. Although he still denies the murders with which he is accused, Nadir Sedreti was referred to the Assize Court in August 2001.

In the meantime, an investigation into the disappearance of Léon Krauss (disappearance from which Nadir Sedrati had already benefited from a dismissal) is also reopened with regard to Sadrati, in order to find his body. This is the fourth count against Sedrati. However, no imputation is yet sufficient to link it to Sedrati and results in a final dismissal in October 2001.^[10]

While he has been in prison for more than two years, Sedrati is therefore returned to the assizes for three counts; the murders of Gérard Steil, Hans Gassen and Norbert Ronfort (whose body has never been found).^[1]

Trial[]

On 25 April 2002, the trial of Nadir Sedrati opens, before the Assize Court of Meurthe-et-Moselle. He was then 64 years old.^[1][8]

Nadir Sedrati, quite sure of himself, always proclaims his "innocence". Then during this trial the plant chipper found at Sedrati is presented in the Assize Court to be examined. In truth, the vegetable mulcher does not contain anything that could overwhelm Nadir Sedrati: indeed no piece of human body was found in the mulcher. Nobody therefore knows if the chipper could have been used or not to cut up Hans Gassen or Gérard Steil. On the other hand, the blood found on the linoleum and on the sink allow us to affirm that Nadir Sedrati killed his victim or his victims in the kitchen.^[1]

On 3 May 2002, Nadir Sedrati was sentenced to life imprisonment with a safety sentence of 20 years. Still claiming to be "innocent" of the three assassinations with which he is accused, Sedrati is appealing the decision.^[1]

Second trial[]

On 19 May 2003, Nadir Sedrati's second appeal began before the Metz Assize Court. He was then 65 years old. During this second trial, Sedrati appears tired and sad. A dramatic turn of events occurs: an inmate woman who knows Norbert Ronfort claims to have seen him in 2000 (a year after Sedrati's arrest). A bailiff is sworn in to go and question this woman about what she knows. The young woman claims to know Norbert Ronfort again and that she met him in 2000. Her testimony seems coherent and in good faith. Norbert Ronfort's mind hovers over the Sedrati trial.^[1]

Psychiatric experts say Sedrati could reoffend at any time. Moreover, he has usurped the identity of two other missing persons and is accused of having murdered them:

• André Gachy, 42, disappeared since 19 May 1982.^[8]
• Léon Krauss, 63, disappeared since October 1994.^[9]

The bodies of these two people have not been found to date. Experts consider him to be "a perverse personality, close to cannibalism", a pervert who "feeds on the manipulation of others", to the point of simulating madness during his detention where he is. a foul-smelling inmate who eats his feces and drinks his urine.^[1]

On 26 May 2003, during deliberation, the jurors did not take into account the testimony of the imprisoned woman, due to Ronfort's blood found at Sedrati's home during her arrest. Jurors sentence Nadir Sedrati to life imprisonment with a 22-year safety sentence.^[1]

Following his conviction, Nadir Sedrati appealed on points of law, but his appeal was dismissed on 7 October 2004.^[1]

Sedrati's release has been possible since July 2021, but the latter is still imprisoned as of that date.

Advances in DNA[]

The 1990s marked a big step forward for genetics, because the latter led to the flourishing of DNA, which is now the "queen of evidence". During the investigation, between May and July 1999, DNA and its recent software made it possible to identify that the first body of the Canal de Nancy was that of Hans Gassen, with the help of the Center Médico-Legal de Paris, which allowed to reconstitute the borrowing of Gassen. The DNA was of great help in showing that other members of the Canal belonged to Gérard Steil. This utility also made it possible to discover that a blood stain, found at Sedrati's home, belonged to Norbert Ronfort. It was with the help of these expertises that Nadir Sedrati was sentenced for these three assassinations.^[1][13]

On the other hand, the disappearances of André Gachy, in May 1982, and Léon Krauss, in October 1994, did not allow convictions for murder to be established against Sedrati. Because DNA did not yet exist in 1982, Sedrati's trial in November 1985 allowed him to be acquitted, due to the lack of physical and genetic evidence. During the 1980s, however, genetic traces were made by blood group, provided that any traces found were exploitable. It was only at the end of the 1980s that DNA began to become popular, then this method proved to be more effective in the 1990s. However, although the latter was better exploitable, it did not allow to establish that Léon Krauss would have been assassinated, because his body was not found.^[1][13][14]

It was not until 1999 that Nadir Sedrati was finally indicted with great material and genetic evidence. However, the forensic genetics of Paris, which was still in its infancy, failed to stop Nadir Sedrati before he killed Norbert Ronfort, less than 48 hours before his arrest. The DNA, however, has uncovered a "murderous personality" in Nadir Sedrati's style, which had not been taken into account before. By discovering Sedrati's criminal past, Me François Robinet (a lawyer for the civil parties in the trial) remains convinced that Nadir Sedrati also killed André Gachy and Léon Krauss. He is also convinced that Sedrati may have killed other people between 1985 and 1995, as well as before the first disappearance, in May 1982.^[1][14]

See also[]

• List of serial killers by country

References[]

TV documentaries[]

• "Nadir Sedrati, the cutter of the canal" in May 2005, March 2007 and July 2009 in presented by Christophe Hondelatte on France 2.
• "The Sedrati Affair, the detachment of the canal" December 1, 2010 in Criminal Investigations: the magazine of the facts on W9 rebroadcast in Criminal Records on Number 23.
• «Nadir Sédrati: The serial killer of the Nancy canal» in Crimes in the East on France 3.

Press articles[]

• "The human remains reveal their butcher. New indictment in the case of the murders of the Rhine-Marne canal." Article by Nicole Gauthier published on March 24, 2000, in Libération.
• "Experts judge Nadir Sedrati as extremely dangerous" Article published by Nelly Terrier on May 3, 2002, in Le Parisien.
• "Perpetuity for Sedrati" Article published by Nelly Terrier on May 4, 2002, in Le Parisien.
• "The Chablaisian childhood of the 'Cutter of the Nancy canal'" Article by Julien Berrier published on March 11, 2010, in Le Messager.
• "Nadir Sedrati: multiple faces" Article published on September 6, 2013, in L'Est républicain.
• "The cutter of the canal" Article by Jérôme Estrada published on September 11, 2013, in L'Est républicain.
• "Nadir Sedrati, Machiavellian killer" Article published on September 12, 2013, in L'Est républicain.

External links[]

• Complete file on L'Est républicain.
• Document gathering articles published in L'Est républicain (format PDF).
• Pictures of the case published in L'Est républicain.