About Henri Désiré Landru
Henri Désiré Landru was a French serial killer, nicknamed the Bluebeard of Gambais and a prolific marriage fraudster. He is confirmed to have murdered at least ten women and the teenage son of his first victim, primarily targeting lonely war widows whom he met through newspaper advertisements, seduced, defrauded of their assets, and then killed, disposing of their bodies by burning them in his stove. He committed these crimes between December 1914 and January 1919, first at a house in Vernouillet and later at an isolated villa in Gambais, near Paris. The true number of Landru's victims remains unknown, as police traced correspondence with 283 women, 72 of whom were never found. He is considered one of France's most famous and notorious murderers, whose investigation and trial became a media sensation in the aftermath of World War I. His case served as the inspiration for Charlie Chaplin's film Monsieur Verdoux. Police eventually concluded that Landru had met or been in romantic correspondence with 283 women during the First World War, meticulously categorized by their potential wealth; seventy-two were never traced. The outbreak of World War I in August 1914 created a grim opportunity.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.