Former French Military Cop Reportedly Admits Being Notorious Serial Killer 'Le Grêlé' In Suicide Note

A former French military officer has reportedly claimed in a suicide to be a serial killer who terrorized Paris for decades.

The man, identified only as 59-year-old Francois V., fatally overdosed on pills at a seaside resort near Montpellier on Wednesday, Le Parisien reports. Before dying in what has been characterized as a suicide, he had been called in for questioning in connection with the “Le Grêlé” serial killer case.

The “Le Grêlé” or “The Pockmarked Killer,” named for his pockmarked face, was a serial killer and serial rapist who preyed upon people in both the 1980s and 1990s. Amongst his believed victims is 11-year-old Cécile Bloch in 1986. DNA found at her murder scene linked her killer to the 1986 rape of an 8-year-old girl and the 1987 rape of a teenage girl. In the latter case, the suspect was “pretending to be a police officer,” French outlet La Depeche reported last year.

The DNA linked the long unknown serial killer to six rapes in total and two other murders: the 1987 torture-murder of 38-year-old Gilles Politi and his 21-year-old au pair Irmgard Mueller. The murder of Karine Leroy, 19, in Montceaux-lès-Meaux in 1994 has also long been attributed to the predator.

Francois V. was supposed to provide his DNA to police in regards to this string of killings but didn’t show up for the appointment. His DNA will be now be tested post-mortem to see if he is indeed the notorious killer.

According to Le Parisien, he wrote in his suicide note that he was “not well in life” during the time of the attacks. He had worked as policeman with the French military, the BBC reports.

Criminal profiler Carine Hutsebaut told La Depeche last year that she believed the killer was a “psychopath” who felt guilt and who had “problems with his sexuality."