#139: The “World Health Organization” Killer (Case of Jean-Claude Romand)

- Bramble. - Butterbeam Butterbeam. - Welcome to this week's mini-sode of Rotten Mango. I'm your host Stephanie Sue, and I'm sure we've all thought about it. What do doctors do in their free time? Not just any doctors? No, no, the ones on the news. The ones that are dedicating their entire lives, working for let's save the world health organization. They're sitting their day in, day out, finding cures for the incurable diseases. Do they have fun outside of work? Do they let loose? Are they even, do they have scandalous lives? Well, Jean-Claude was one of these doctors. He was a researcher for the WHO, and his wife was a pharmacist. So from the outside, I mean, they're in it couple. They got these cute little two kids. But of course, you know that's not true. You're like, yes, Stephanie, we've heard this story a million times. Who did he cheat with? Who is cheating? He had this mysterious mistress, who was another doctor, worked as a child psychiatrist. The mistress was friends with his wife and all of his other doctor friends. I mean, this is obviously a recipe for disaster. Well, one day, Jean-Claude said he had a blackout in his memory, like these splotches, these holes in his memory. And all he remembers is, standing over his wife's dead body with a bloody rolling pin in his hand. He vaguely remembers killing both of his children and his parents and shooting their family dog. But I mean, there must be a reason, right? Did it have to do with something he learned at the WHO? Why doesn't he remember? Did his mistress put him up to it? As always, full show notes are available at rottenmangopodcast.com, but I implore you to read this book called The Adversary by Immanuel Carrari. Now, this author actually lived in the same region of France, in the same, like at the same time that Jean-Claude was out and about. He interviewed him in prison for this book. It's honestly such a good book. There's even a movie that's based off of this case in this book, so you know it's good. So let's just jump into the main story. The early life of Jean-Claude is straight out of the movie. He was born in this beautiful region in France, in Eastern France, that was essentially all about wine. The area was known for having these very unique, distinctive, unusual wines, and landscape-wise, I mean, visually speaking, the area was picturesque. It was beautiful. There was not one I saw in sight. You've got the green valleys, the mountains, the orchards, you've got this romantic French architecture for most of the houses. I mean, it's every uncultured American girl's dream. I'm talking about me. I want to go there, okay? Now, the remonde family had been there for several generations, and they mainly worked as foresters. - What's a forester? - They are tree experts. So remember when my grandma passed away, we wanted to plant her under a tree. - Yes. - Well, there were foresters who were very picky about trees, and they're all about getting trees sustainably, planting them in a certain way, and making sure that they have the most optimal, and it was gonna be like $5,000 for a tree. Like, it was wild. So I imagine that they're kind of like that. Now, the whole family there was well respected. They were incredibly hardworking. But everyone did say that the remonde family was a bit stubborn. I don't know why you could just see it on their faces. The neighbors would even say, "You know what? You've got a real remonde face, don't you?" And it just meant that you were a stubborn kid. They were just notorious in the area. So, Ami remonde, this is John Claude's dad. He was born right after World War I, and he fought in World War II. During World War II, this guy was taken as a war prisoner. Thankfully, Germany was like, "Okay, you know what? I'm gonna let you go." And he went back to work as a forester. Like, he just tried to get rid of all that PTSD and dedicate his life to trees. Ami Mary's John Claude's mother, Ann Marie, and she was this very cute little petite woman, but the problem was everyone who knew her thought she was sick. They had no idea what was wrong with her. She just seemed weak. She was always dealing with the cold or had these body aches. It speculated that she was secretly dealing with depression, and that's what all these ailments were. So, did Ami, her husband, care about this depression? Maybe a little. I mean, he cared more about popping out little babies. It was common for the remonde family to have an entire house packed with kids. Like, that's what a sibling's had. That's what everybody had. That's what he wanted. But the couple only ended up having one child. John Claude, the plan originally was to have more kids, but after John Claude, they tried, and they tried, and Ann Marie suffered from two ectopic pregnancies, which means that there's a fertilized egg that starts growing outside of the uterus. I mean, it's incredibly dangerous. It can cause internal bleeding, injuries. It requires immediate termination of the pregnancy. So eventually, she even had to get her uterus removed. I mean, I can only imagine the trauma that she was feeling with all of this. But she tried to hide it from her son, and Ami started getting obsessive over her, over their son, just everything. I think it really pushed John Claude to be a bit of an overachiever. He was a really smart kid. So by the time that he's on fifth grade, he's top of his class. In his free time, this kid does not go outside and ride bikes. No, no, he sits there, and he reads books about forests, about trees, about how to plant trees. He was so well-mannered, so well-behaved. Some people would even say, "I don't know, dude." It was kind of creepy. Like, the kid is too well-behaved. It's almost like he's staring at you with adult eyes. Something about it is given orphan vibes. Do you know the movie I'm talking about? Like an adult trapped in like a kid's face, you know, it was just weird. He was just too sweet, too well-mannered. He would always talk about how his parents taught him to be humble, and sometimes it's best to stay silent. Because if you talk about your achievements when somebody else is bringing it up, it seems like you're bragging. So for example, he would explain that he taught underprivileged family members how to read him right, because they didn't know how. But instead of telling people that, he would lie and say he spent Saturdays going to the movies with his friends. Which like, I don't know. This just feels like a really convoluted way to brag about what you just did anyway. If I'm not mistaken. So instead of saying, "Oh, I'm gonna go teach my underprivileged family how to read him right," he'd be like, "Here's what my parents taught me about being humble." So here's what I do to be humble. But he had a good childhood, regardless. He loved his parents. Sure, his mom was a little bit overbearing. He was the only child, and Jean-Claude understood. He got along well with his dad. He said that his dad was well-named, because Ami meant beloved, and that's what his dad was. I think Jean-Claude picked up a lot after his dad though, so they would both hide things from Ann Marie. Not bad things, but they knew that she was stressed and depressed, so they learned how to lie to her. And Jean-Claude got really good at lying to her. He just felt so bad. Any little white lie he could tell, he would tell it. He felt like sorrow and depression were like eating away at his mother. She was wasting away, and he was worried that it was gonna kill his mom. He never showed his mom that he was stressed. He never showed his mom that he was sad. So this is kind of a clear cut case of a child becoming a parent. Instead, Jean-Claude would rush into his room, burst into tears, and just talk to his dog. Yeah, his dog was like the only one that really got him. Then one day, poof, the dog is gone. Now, I don't know why, but Jean-Claude had this sneaking suspicion that his dad shot the dog with a rifle. He's like, maybe the dog was sick, and nobody wanted to tell Jean-Claude because it's depressing, or maybe the dog did something so bad like peeing on the carpet that it pissed off his dad enough for him to shoot it. His dad just kept trying to tell him, "No, Jean-Claude, your dog ran away." But Jean-Claude knew. He said, "My dad is amazing at telling lies." He's so good that I know, for a fact, my dog would never run away. So high school comes around, and Jean-Claude is full on moody at this point. He's living that small town, main character vibes. Those guys introverted. He's not interested in sports or girls, like he's just not like the other boys, you know? Now, at some point in high school, he just stops going to school. We don't really know what happened, but there was this random year that he stayed home every single day. He said that it had something to do with bullying, but he never really elaborated. And he would just stay cooped up in his room, reading day in and day out, and he announced to his parents one day. Parents, instead of getting into forestry, like so many generations of our family have, I wanna go to med school. Dad, I mean, don't get me wrong. It's not like I hate trees. I think every single one of them is beautiful, and one tree can span the life of six human beings. I mean, there's literally nothing as beautiful to ever exist as a tree. But I wanna do this for me. I wanna do something different. Okay, well, why do you wanna be a doctor? Now, he doesn't tell his parents this part, but something in Jean-Claude, the thing that he cared more about trees was status. So he's going to this fancy school in this small town with a bunch of students, a bunch of kids, whose parents were doctors and lawyers, and they all made fun of him. They're like, you're that frickin' forest kid. Oh, you wanna go hump a tree? Like, they were just being really rude. They thought that they had no money. Like, all you do is just walk around in the woods. Like, what do your parents even do? What even is forestry? Like, they were just really rude. And they were like, wow, those are the only clothes you have? So he just felt really attacked. Now, not knowing this part, Jean-Claude's parents were so proud of him. Sure, they expected their only child to go on with the family legacy, get into forestry, but there's someone's gonna grow up to do big things. Look at how caring he is. Look at how smart he is. Jean-Claude really was so eloquent, so eloquent. And he's caring, he wants to help people. They were so happy for him. Jean-Claude was happy too, until his first day in medical school, because he found out something very fascinating about his own personality. The first day he gets there, he thinks to himself, everybody is gross and filthy, and touching sick bodies is repulsive. He had a physical gag response. Like, if you have a cold and you go to him as your doctor, He's like, oh, disgusting. Don't get near me. I'm gonna get sick. So many germs in this room right now. He hated it But when it came to the actual learning part, he he did really well He loved it like he loved reading. He was good about learning about diseases mental illnesses even and during one of these studies He looks up from his giant textbook and he sees a familiar face Florence Krolet a distant cousin. You're like wow, so sweet. How comforting to have a family member in the same school as you That's amazing. No She was distant enough that sweet home Alabama was not playing in the background But close enough that they met at family gatherings. So yeah, you know where this story is going Jean Claude was smitten with his own freaking cousin Everybody was confused not because they were cousins What so alarming about that, but they thought that Florence was too boring for Jean Claude She was a very very very average. That's what everybody said about her as mediocre as people get Which is just so frickin rude. They said that she was also very old-fashioned. She loved to bake cakes for church How is that average? I feel like that's really sweet It's a caring person No, and the only reason that she was in med school her friends would say is to bump into another male Fall in love with this soon-to-be doctor quit medical school have a couple kids live a quiet life in a rain drover Like that type of vibe But Jean Claude said no, no, no my cousin. I mean my crush is not boring. Sometimes we watch porn together Okay, anyway, at first Florence was not interested in Jean Claude She thought that he was a weak bookworm who had no upper body strength But she eventually started dating him and she said yes to his advances because he wore her down She said that she said yes only because he kept freaking asking and she just got exhausted Jean Claude was also not known for helping Florence's friends So for example, there's a friend named Luke who's pretty important in this story Luke was a good friend of Florence's and Jean Claude always helped Luke Just gave him notes incredibly written notes for classes. I mean, this is all you would need to crash study for an exam You would put them together so well that were color coordinated his handwriting was impeccable. I mean this guy was smart So Florence, she was in in love, but she respected and admired Jean Claude her cousin And this is how they start casually dating and start casually saying I love you to each other and eventually having sex with one another As distant cousins. So who said romance is dead, you know, I'd like to have a word with them. Look at this case in point Anyway back to the sex Florence said that the first time that they had sex was incredibly underwhelming Or at least that's what she told her friends now I guess underwhelming is a really nice word to put it because Florence actually tried to break up with Jean Claude after their first sexual encounter Yeah, it was not bad So imagine you have sex for the first time It's a post to enhance your relationship and enhance your love But instead she sat on the edge of the bed and was like I don't think it's gonna work Because it's not it's not doing it for me She would later tell her friends. Oh, yeah, I was pretty disgusted by him Jean Claude would later say oh, no, no, no Florence was the first time and the only woman I've ever had sex with Well minus the one time that I cheated on her, but I'm getting ahead of myself But Jean Claude was not just weird with his dating habits and preferences He was just a weird guy to hang out with in general for example after finals one day a bunch of students went to the clubs Now Jean Claude had stepped out to get some cigarettes from his car But he's gone for hours which another pressing question is why was everyone still at the club hours later Were they waiting for him? Were they having that much fun? I don't know that seems like a long time to be at a club So after a few hours Jean Claude walks in covered in blood his clothes are torn They're like whoa, what the hell happened you Jean Claude? Oh my god, you'll never believe it. Some guys jumped me when I went to go to my car to get the cigarettes They threatened me with the gun. They put a gun up to my head They said give me your keys so I gave them my keys and they were like get in the trunk So I got in my own trunk. I was forced into the trunk of my own car Anyway, I have no idea who these guys were, but honestly I was terrified They probably thought that I was like a like a rival member of a gang or something because why else would they do that? They were probably gonna do something bad to me So I'm in the trunk of the car 30 minutes pass And they get out they drag me out and they beat me up throw my keys down at my face And they left they walked away. So I drove all the way back What what did what did they want with you? I have no clue. I'm asking myself the same thing. Well, this is crazy. You have to tell the police, Jean Claude This is too much. Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. I will Jean Claude never reported it It's one of those stories where if it's true It's so bizarre that you don't really know what to say and it's also why didn't you report it to the police because if it's not true And it's made up why spread a lie like that? Maybe his brain is all scrambled from all the Molly he takes But that means what really happened then Exactly. Yeah 20 years later Jean Claude would say that I do think that I made it up But I don't remember because I don't remember tearing up my shirt or scratching myself I must have done it though because I don't have a memory of being attacked But in the end, I do feel like I was attacked So Jean is weird, right? I mean the strange thing is nothing triggered or prompted Jean to make up this story If this is a made up story, but being weird is not a crime, right? I mean, he didn't report it to the police so it's not even a false police report It's just a weird bizarre lie that he told his friends So the first year of med school goes by and after his second year of med school he had to take another test So every year you have to take a test to advance to the third year or the fourth year and this guy just skips the test He doesn't even show up. It's not like he didn't even study. That's the crazy thing He sat there, crashed studying with all of his peers They were quizzing each other they were taking these um they were verbally quizzing each other They were doing these like workbooks together. They were spending hours. I mean this is med school They're at a cafe together not even giggle gagging just sitting there are freaking studying and Jean was one of them He knew all of the information. He could have easily passed the test But he just didn't go He just laid in bed watching the time pass Stressing out that he was skipping the test, but he skipped it anyway So the whole thing is so strange he tells his parents that he passed it and he tells all of his friends that now What is the endgame? I don't know because I mean they're gonna they're still in the same school But his parents were so proud that he passed the second test So they bought him a studio apartment near his college They're like you need to focus on your grades and have fun Now they envisioned him becoming a man in that apartment But in reality he just locked himself in that apartment for months Refusing to come out. He didn't go to classes. He didn't even repeat second-year classes He didn't even try to find out if he could take a gap year nothing He just felt so ashamed So depressed that he lied and he proceeded to ignore everything and everyone For months, he never saw his friends never went to a single class even though he was paying the tuition Never talked to his parents. He gained 45 pounds in a few months by only eating salty food out of a can Like I'm talking just canned beans all day all night not a fresh vegetable insight Luke was a mutual friend of Jean-Claude's influences remember the one that gets the notes So he had witnessed their breakup so at this point Florence was like, okay, you're being weird You're not even talking to me anymore. I'm gonna break up with you So he had witnessed this and he realizes that Jean-Claude is no longer a mount Nobody's getting in contact with him and in general Luke is just like this super sweet guy So he goes over to Jean's apartment and bangs on the door for so long and so badly that there was no way Jean-Claude could get rid of him So he opens up the door and he says what do you want? Luke walks in like one of those movies snap out of it I know that you're sad about this breakup, but this is med school You've still got your whole life ahead of you. You need to let it go listen to me Jean-Claude when you hit rock bottom That's when you have to kick the hardest you have to give that kick that's gonna shoot you back up Come on man. Girls are weird, but you and I we're gonna be doctors It was like one of those sappy heartfelt speeches, but he meant well like Luke is Truly a terrific person an amazing doctor. I'd hope now Jean was just staring at him like he was stupid Because Jean's thinking it's not about Florence. I mean sure it is But it's the fact that he failed and there's no way that he can tell his parents or even his peers And in that moment, Jean really wanted to tell Luke the truth About everything how he skipped the finals how he's not in third year He said he has to repeat second year and he's embarrassed his parents don't know. They're so proud of him So he looks Luke in the eye and he says Luke The truth is I have cancer Excuse me what what so Jean he felt guilty the minute that those words slipped out of his mouth But there was no taking it back and honestly you sick of it He was sick of everyone probably pitting him making fun of him But at least when he said he had cancer everybody would shut up They'd shut up and just feel sympathy He'd be a strong admirable person going through something so tough Especially in a place like men's school are you kidding? No one was gonna question why he didn't show up to classes why he skipped months of work No, I mean when you have lymphoma anything could happen And if Jean Claude was really lucky and if he played his cards right He would even get Florence back should feel so bad that she'd want to date him again So with this newfound unsubstantiated cancer diagnosis He even managed to weasel his way back into med school and he even started hanging out with his friends again He repeated year two of med school for the next 11 years Wait, wait, wait, what? Yeah, why? I don't know, so he kept paying tuition for 11 years, so the way that it works in Europe, I guess, is that you don't get kicked out even if you don't show up to classes, so he paid tuition for 11 years, but he left campus and he moved to like a different part later, but he just paid tuition, yeah, he's paying, yeah, or I guess his parents, I mean it's weird, so it's bizarre, he puts in the time pretending to be a doctor, always starting with his friends, taking notes, and by the way, his notes were impeccable. That's what everybody said, he honestly studied really hard when his friends would do mock tests and they'd be like, okay, Jean Claude, answer this question, right, like those pop quizzes when you study together, he would get every question right, he was really knowledgeable, but when it came to exam time, he just wouldn't take it, he would even show up to the building to pretend like he was taking it, and when the exams were over, he would slip back in and pretend like he either just aced it or bombed it, that is so odd, it's so confusing. - What do you think that is? - I think maybe his ego is too big. - You think it's ego or he could have handled the stress? - Maybe it's like the stress of the exam plus, if it's not a good score, I think maybe his self-image would be shattered, but it's very confusing because he genuinely was a smart person, he honestly would have aced the test, maybe he has like weird self-esteem issues, I just don't get it, like I get one thing where you don't study and you don't show up, okay, it's like fine, you're really not performing well, but this one is bizarre. - Yeah, so he seemed like he needs some help there, but nobody noticed that? - Nobody, because he was so good at lying, I mean he spent so much time and energy that it would have taken to just become a really successful doctor, I don't understand. - How was someone like that get into WHO then? - Oh yeah, so the way Florence fans are about his cancer, which by the way, this is how they get back together, this guy is a little schemer, a little plodder, he told everybody who was friends with Florence that he had lymphoma. But you have to promise not to tell Florence, I don't want to stress her out where in med school, she doesn't need the extra pressure, but most of them would say, "I'm sorry, but I have to tell her, I mean this is my friend, she has the right to know, and he was so happy, this is exactly what he wanted, he didn't want to tell Florence that he had cancer, he wanted the friends to do it, it felt more real and raw, so Florence comes back running into his arms because she felt so bad for him. And the plan worked, because two years later, Jean proposed, she accepted because she felt like she had no choice, and they got married. They got married in their "fourth year of college", which by the way, Florence decided to become a pharmacist instead. They decided, you know, two doctors, let's think about it realistically, even if we get married, it's going to be crazy with our schedules, with residency, we're never going to see each other, why does Florence become a pharmacist? She will work part-time, raise their future kids, and Jean will be the doctor, just makes sense, right? So the two of them got married, and Florence's parents were so ecstatic, they loved Jean Claude because it's like they're not feeling well. And they thought that he would be a great husband, a great breadwinner, a very smart guy, so disclaimer, I don't think they had any share of genetics. So distant cuts in meaning that they did not share any of the same genetics, which makes it fine, but it's still a little weird at family gatherings, I'm assuming. And it was this cute moment that after they get married, Florence finished her thesis in pharmacology, and Jean Claude passed his medical board examination in Paris, or so he said. I mean, he did go to Paris, but he sure as hell was not taking the medical exam. Now after he gets his quote, license, he gets a job as a research scientist at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. The couple even relocate to a border town of France and Switzerland, and soon they have two kids, and for their birthdays, the two kids birthdays, Jean Claude would come home with gifts. Oh, it's from my boss at the WHO. Florence was ecstatic. I mean, sure she had never met them before, but they were buying her baby's gifts, like that's so sweet of them, and the fact that this is amazing. So she'd sit there and spend so much time writing the most heartfelt thank you letters to Jean Claude's bosses at the WHO, with Jean Claude promise to give them at work the very next day. Jean would later say that he was a fake doctor, but a real father and husband. Yeah, sure. Everyone who knew the family thought that they were just so cute from the outside. The kids were a little shy, but they seemed to be growing up in these loving homes, and they were so proud of their dad. Caroline, the daughter, wrote a school project, like a little poem, and she talked about how her daddy is a doctor, and doctors help people. Now, the very fascinating thing is that Florence would tell all of her friends that she doesn't really know what Jean does for work. She doesn't mind, though, that's just how Jean Claude is, and that's how he's always been. He's really good at compartmentalizing. He doesn't bring his work home, otherwise he'll get stressed. He wouldn't even invite colleagues over for a coffee or dinner. He wants to keep his personal life personal, and his work life work. He did travel a lot for work, though. She knew that, and he also did some sort of research for arterioscalorosis, which is the thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries, and it typically happens as you age. And Jean also had some big connections. He knew the Prime Minister of the National Assembly of France, but any time she brought it up, he would get so shy and embarrassed. He was such a humble king. Florence would be like, "Oh, you know, my husband just had lunch with the Prime Minister of the National Assembly," and he'd be like, "Oh, God, Florence, really?" He's just such a humble king who doesn't want to talk about his super important life-saving work. He was so compartmentalized, in fact, that he even refused to give his wife his work number. I mean, Florence didn't think it was weird. Jean Claude, in general, had a ton of quirks. Like, he was just a quirky dude. He seemed emotionless, and he was just a weird guy, so she joked around. One of these days, I'm going to find out that my husband is a communist spy. Okay. That's a weird joke. No, at the same time, he would bring home tickets to go to the Swiss ballet in Switzerland, and he said, "Oh, one of my bosses from the WHO said WHO. One more time, Jean Claude." We get it. One of my bosses from the WHO had some extra tickets. They wouldn't even invite another couple to go with them. All of their couple of friends were doctors, by the way. So this guy is not just fooling his wife, but fooling full on doctors. They would sit there, and they'd watch this ballet, and Jean would come out of their absolutely ecstatic. He loved it. I mean, nobody was surprised, so I imagine all of their friends and all these other doctors are just normal people with very, very respectable careers, but they probably watch Marvel movies on the weekends. But Jean Claude, no, he was the intellectual of the group. He read a lot. He loved talking about philosophy in the middle of dinner. He was an active volunteer. He joined the local animal rights movement. The automobile club medical. He proudly wore their merch. He had stickers slapped onto his car. I mean, where do you find the time? Every morning, he would drive his kids to private school, walk them to the courtyard, talk to some fellow teachers and parents, and they all thought that he was this super fancy dude, like he's the type of guy that I normally would be so nervous to have a conversation with. Because I'm just thinking, "God, he probably thinks I'm an idiot." Then he would get back into his car, drive across the border to Geneva, Switzerland, which was a little over a mile from the border, and Jean would cross the border without even an inspection. He would pass every single day. He was known to be a commuter that works for the WHO. So even Border Patrol was like, "I'll ask the doctor." He researchers for the WHO. He would even drive into the WHO headquarters. He didn't even need a visitor's pass. Even the guards thought that he worked at the WHO because who the fork goes to the WHO every single day. I mean, of course, it's not free for all. They have a visitor's lounge and a library that visitors can visit as well as a cafe and stuff, but you can't go to the upper floors of the actual conference rooms where actual stuff is happening. So I guess nobody would genuinely go every single day unless they worked there because it's like, "Why would you go?" He would start in the public areas, just walk through the library, walk through the conference rooms. He would take anything that was free. So his entire house and car were overflowing with pamphlets and stamps and letters with the WHO logo and everything on there. Sometimes the family would go to Switzerland and the kids would be like, "Dad, I really want to see your office." Like, "Where do you work all day?" He would drive to the WHO building, point at a random corner office and say, "There you go, that's my office, now let's go get lunch." In the beginning of his charade, Jean would go to the WHO every single day, but eventually he grew tired of it. So he would just leave in Switzerland to go buy some magazines and books and journals and sit at a cafe or in his car to read. And during these business trips, he wouldn't even fly anywhere. He would just get a hotel near the airport, relax for a few days, watching TV, reading about the place that he was allegedly going, and they were some crazy places. Like, he's not in France going like, "Oh, I'm going to go to Paris. Oh, I might stop by Italy," which is, you know, it's very, very fancy, but it's very close. He'd say, "I'm going to Tokyo. I'm actually going to South Africa tomorrow." How is he supporting the family? Oh, yeah. Okay, we're going to get on to it. So he would go to these wild places, but then he would tell them about how much he missed them while he was there and all these things that he saw in Tokyo and how he felt so bad that he didn't buy them souvenirs because of, you know, I work for the WHO, I'm so busy. So I picked up some random things at the airport instead. Here's a bag of nuts, kiddo. It's just weird. Like, you're like, "How the hell does this guy have money for all of this?" I mean, he's pretending to work at the WHO, which not fine, but like, do you have a job somewhere else? Like, those other, you know, stories that you hear about. But like men losing, or people losing jobs and then they feel too bad to tell their family because they feel like a letdowns or maybe they get a different job. No, this guy, he had a backup plan. $300,000. So remember that apartment that his parents got him? Well, he sold it and he kept every single penny of that sale, which is weird because, you know, that's his parents' money. And Sean also convinced his parents since he works in Switzerland. He cannot put their money in his Swiss bank account and it will return as high as 18% interest every single year. So yeah, he was spending his entire family's life savings. His dad and his mom gave him their entire retirement savings, their life savings, even an uncle heard about it and was like, Jean-Claude, my nephew who works with a WHO here, take my money. They even had Florence's father invests his entire retirement fund of $400,000 into Jean-Claude's Swiss account so that it could be invested in Switzerland. But of course, everything had to be done and monitored by Jean-Claude and nobody else, otherwise it would be considered illegal. Even with all this borrowing that Jean did from everyone, the family was not doing well. Florence was now almost a full-time stay-at-home mom and she would work here and there, but they still drove this old Volvo that was on the verge of breaking down. They lived in a one bedroom apartment with a couple sleeping in the living room on a pull-out couch. So everybody always joked, Jean, you're either super cheap or you have a very expensive mistress. And everyone laughed, but Jean-Claude did not find it funny. Instead, he said, "Well, I'm thinking maybe I will move the family abroad so I don't want to commit ourselves to a house in France or tie us down. Besides, I don't like throwing money around and displaying wealth will that disgust me." And then a few weeks later, Jean-Claude was almost caught. Pierre, this is Florence's dad, wanted to talk to Jean-Claude about taking some money out of his investment account. He was getting old and he just wanted to finally be able to afford some sort of luxury. He wanted to own a Mercedes for once in his life. And Jean smiled and he said, "Oh for sure, I totally get it. It makes sense, I'd feel the same way. Why don't I come over next week and we can talk about it?" And I'll bring some money. October 23rd, Royals Around. Nobody was home except for Jean and Pierre. His father-in-law, at his father-in-law's house. Now, that specific day, Pierre fell down the stairs and lost consciousness. Jean called the paramedics, but he was pronounced out at the scene. No way. So Pierre had a very mysterious death and Florence was distraught. Florence's aunt had more tragic news for the whole family. She said, "My husband was diagnosed with uncurable cancer." Now, I don't know why Jean-Claude did this, but he tells her the aunt. Oh, what kind of cancer? Well, I have this supervisor at the WHO who's working on the cure for cancer and it's all about fresh cells from embryos being harvested at an abortion clinic and it could potentially stop or even reverse the cancer itself. I mean, obviously, it's still in the developmental stage and might not be available right now because, well, I don't know. I don't think your husband will make it to the human trials or if he would even qualify. Unless, no, no. I mean, I can't guarantee anything, but you are family. Maybe I could try to get a capsule or two from work and help you guys out, but it won't be cheap. At this stage in the game, each capsule costs about $15,000 even for us to make and about two doses are usually required so that would make it $30,000. So at first, Florence's uncle was like, "Absolutely not, I can't do this. We can't afford it. It's way too much money." But eventually, Florence's aunt persuaded her husband. We've got to do this. So they coughed up $30,000 for two pills that could have easily been probiotics or vitamin D for all we know. A short while later, the husband had to have a major operation and Jean-Claude said, "Oh, this is why I hate doctors." They're idiots. They don't even know what they're doing to you. I think after a major surgery like this, your body is more vulnerable and you're gonna need another two doses. And they trusted him. They felt like he was a better doctor. I mean, would you trust your doctor at a random hospital or a researcher for the WHO that's also family? He cares more. He's probably more intelligent, right? So they give him another $30,000. Florence's uncle died a year later from the disease. But nobody blamed Jean-Claude because it's cancer. After this, Florence's mom was just over it. She wanted to sell the house that she used to share with Pierre, her dead husband. It just felt too big for her. It made her feel lonelyer. So she sells the house and she made about $1.3 million from it. She gave $433,000 to Florence and Jean-Claude. And with that, they start renting a nice, renovated farmhouse in a nearby town. Now, this new area that they moved to is where all of their friends lived. It's still on French territory, but it's technically considered a residential suburb of Geneva. So I mean, most of the residents were white collar workers that were doctors that worked at Geneva, that weren't to Geneva to do fancy things. I don't know. Jean was so happy. He felt like he could finally live in a place that fit his job, his status, his ego. And he put Florence to work immediately. He said, I want this house to be a home. I want you to decorate it. Tent, 10 to the yard, set up a swing for the kids. And she thought that it was a nice escape from thinking about her dad's death. But then suddenly she had too many distractions because she kind of had an inkling that her husband was having enough fare. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about the mysterious mistress. That's what she was known as in papers. It was a woman named Corinne Horton. And yes, I'd use the term mistress because she was friends with Jean and with Florence. She was a mutual friend. She knew that they were married. Corinne herself was also married to a Remy Horton. They were renting an apartment very close to Luke from the couple's college days. Remember that friend? Now, what's interesting is that the Horton's had a ton of money. Remy was a psychiatrist. And Corinne was a child psychologist. They had this fancy office in Geneva. They knew how to live life. And they knew how to spend their hard-earned cash. They went to nice restaurants. They drank expansive brandies. I mean, Remy, the husband, was probably someone that Jean grew to envy. The sky had everything. He was a smooth talker. He was handsome, he was laid back, successful, rich. And Remy and Corinne, they believed that their lives were too short. And that they were too hot and too rich to be monogamous. Now, neither of them were necessarily in an open relationship, per se. But it seems like they both knew that the other party was cheating. And they were like, well, you know what? I'm cheating too, so does it really matter? So Corinne was very similar to Remy. She had this really lively era about her. She also seemed very eager to be with other men. At one point in their marriage, Corinne takes the kids, packs her bags, and leaves her husband and moves to Paris. So all of the couple's friends were on the husband's side. Oh, poor Remy, he was abandoned. It was out of nowhere. He was blindsided. She took the kids. She took her jewelry and she left. But Florence, Florence and Jean-Claude didn't feel like that. Florence even said, well, I'm sure Remy cheated a lot too. They're both still my friends. And it's not up to me to decide who's right or wrong. That's marriage. Florence kept in touch with Corinne. Sometimes Florence and Jean would visit Corinne a few times in Paris for lunch. And Corinne was touched, but she found them a little boring. After their last lunch together, Corinne wakes up in her Parisian apartment and she's startled to see a giant bouquet of flowers on her doorstep. And there's a note. Maybe it's Remy? Maybe he wants her back? He's going to come back begging on his knees? No. The note was from Jean-Claude. It went something like this. Corinne, I will be in Paris for a conference soon and I would love to take you out to dinner. I'm staying at the hotel, Roya. The hotel, Royal, can't say it, but it's a five-star hotel. I cannot pronounce it. It's just going to declassy everything, OK? But it's a five-star hotel. Corinne was impressed. She said, why not? Let's do it. She was used to sleeping with married men. I mean, she's very proud of it. That's what they all did. They all just slept with each other. So she was shocked, though, because they will usually take her to a low-key restaurant where they know that their wife would never go and nobody would have an importance, whatever, see them. But he took her to a fine dining, impressive restaurant. And he went on to boast about his life, his super important research, all the amazing things he was doing for the WHO, which Corinne was shocked. I mean, she knew that he worked for the WHO, but when they would go out with all their doctor friends, he was just kind of quiet on the side. So she thought, oh, he's probably just another boring, freaking doctor, just doing some random stuff for the WHO, not a cutting-edge researcher that's going to save humanity. I mean, this guy's different. He's got connections all over France. The man is established, and it was hot. He even knew one of the founders of doctors without borders. - What's up? - Bruh. It's like a huge foundation where they go to places that don't have a lot of doctors, and doctors will literally volunteer their time to go save lives in areas that are underprivileged. So it's like without borders, they'll travel the world. - Ah, so he knew a friend. - That founded doctors with its huge-- - Oh, I see. - The founder of doctors without borders. So I mean, I know it's like, wow, so cool for us, but in the medical field, I'm assuming this is like knowing Jeff Bezos or something, right? She was so shocked. She had gone out with a lot of husbands and had a lot of affairs, but she just, I mean, usually all they do is wind about their dull lives, about their dull jobs, and their dull relationship, and about how their wives are the cause of all their issues, because the wives get upset when they leave the toilet seat up. Oh yeah, sure, that's what's ruined in your life. Her yelling at you, because you left the toilet seat up, like that's what they would complain about, and she would roll her eyes, but she's just in it for the sex. Bajan was different. He was successful, established. She had never really talked to someone like that. Someone though, it's that important, and she was ecstatic when he asked her out again, with this. This is when she realized that she just wanted to be his friend. He just was kinda boring. And at the end of that dinner, he shocked Corinne by saying Corinne, "I have something to confess. I am in love with you." Corinne was shocked. I mean, she had men throw themselves at her, which she hated by the way, but what the hell is this? She's disappointed she thought John was different, but now he's just the same as the rest of them, thinking that she's stupid and is gonna believe, "Oh, I love you so much, you babe." and that, you know, really, they're only interested in making her a mistress. Let's be real. You don't love me. You just met me. She was disgusted. She realized, "Wait a minute, though. I mean, I never want to see this man naked because he's gross, but he's still well connected and he's fascinating and he's a good dinner guest. Maybe I'll just be his friend." So she shuts him down in the next day he apologizes and he's sent her a very expensive apology gift for coming on too strong, a gold ring with an emerald, surrounded by little diamonds. It costs nearly 20,000 dollars. "Oh my gosh, John Claude, I cannot keep this. You're crazy." "Keep it." And that's all it took, she kept it. So John continued to fly out to Paris once a week and continued to stay at these five-star hotels, dining and whining Karin, at the best of the best establishments. I mean, this guy's burning through his money, he even bought himself a new rain drover. Meanwhile, Florence was burning through cash, too. She's decorating the house and I guess she never really looked at their bank account because then she would realize that they're burning through all the money. They even went on a 10-day lavish trip to Greece with the whole family. And then remember Luke from college? Well he moved nearby and he had always been a friend, like he had stayed a friend. And he noticed that Jean, John Claude was changing. Instead of his normal jeans that were a bit run down in his tweet jacket, Jean Claude was wearing an expensive suit. He was losing weight, he looked more distracted. He seemed less interested in Florence or the kids or even their friend group. He kept bringing up, you know, I think I might get a second place in Paris. I already traveled there a lot for work and why not just get a place, save on hotel fees? Now, this is when Luke and Jean Claude are alone, so Luke was alarmed and he straight up told them, "Well, I hope you're not making any stupid decisions." That's a bit of a warning because I'm sure Luke is familiar with what's going on, right? A week later, Luke gets a call from Jean Claude and he's like, "Hey, I'm feeling a little bit of heart palpitations. Can I come over? I don't really want to go to the doctor's office right now. It's after hours." So Luke is like, "Yeah, sure, come over. I'm going to leave the door unlocked so you don't wake up my kids." So just come in. A couple hours later, you know, he comes and they sit down just the two of them, Luke's wife and kids are asleep. Luke said it's just a panic attack, which speaking of since we're alone, Jean Claude, do you want to tell me what's going on? What? I know something's going on. I'm having an affair with Corinne. Luke was disgusted. First of all, Florence was his friend since day one. Ever since they were young, but on top of that Corinne, the ungodly seductress who abandoned her husband and obsessed with breaking up with families, she's probably just jealous of Florence and she wants to ruin her family like she ruined her own. Jean Claude, you have to promise me. You have to break it off with her and you need to tell Florence because if you don't, I will. Okay, yes. Luke, you're right. I will. Now, did Jean Claude intend to? I sincerely doubt it. In mid-August, Jean Claude invited Corinne on a three-day trip to Rome. She tried to come up with a million excuses because she liked the guy as a friend, but a three-day trip can only mean one thing. So she starts coming up with bizarre excuses. I'm going to wash my driveway. There's no legitimate reason for her saying no, though. So she finally said, "Okay, fine. I'll go on the trip." And on the very last day of this anti-romantic getaway, where nothing romantic or sexual allegedly occurred, well, Jean Claude said it did, but we don't know. Corinne decided to tell him straight up. "Listen, Jean Claude. I don't love you. You're just, you're too sad. Too sad? No, I'm not." And he burst into tears and begged for her to take him back, which indeed made him seem more sad. But Corinne was nice about it. I promised we'll stay friends. So they parted ways and back home with his wife and kids, but Jean Claude was depressed. He tried to take his own life in the woods at one point, and in order to explain all the scratches he had on his body, he called his wife and said, "Florence, I got into a car accident on the highway. I was driving the Mercedes, and so when slammed in to me, the car is totaled and a helicopter airlifted me to the hospital, and I'm calling you from the hospital right now." Florence was hysterical. And Jean Claude was like, "Wait a minute. Why the fork did I say that? Because the car is not totaled. I did not get airlifted. I just have a couple bruises on my arms." So he suddenly downplayed everything. He's like, "I'm going to be home by the evening. No need to don't even come to the hospital. It's jam-packed. It's a busy day here. You're just going to make it busier and I don't need your hysteria." The car is fine. Take us home. The story doesn't even match. But I guess Florence was too shaken from the light scratches that he had to even notice that the story didn't match. She was just happy that he was safe and back at home. He collapsed onto the bed and he started weeping. She said, "Oh, Jean, I know that you're really shaken by this, but is there something else that's going on? You've been so off lately. Yes, now that you ask. One of my supervisors at the WHO, a respectable man and a dear friend and a respectable colleague of mine. He recently passed away. He's been fighting cancer for years. It looked grim, but I don't know why I always thought that he would make it. I guess we can't always be scientific and logical. It was just horrible." Jean sobbed all night while Florence comforted him. He was really crying because Karen had dumped him. But it went over so well that Jean Claude was inspired to revive his own cancer. The lymphoma that had been dormant for 15 years, well now it was Hodgkin's lymphoma and it was back with a rage. He tells Florence he rushes to tell Luke and this time Luke felt sorry for him. He said, "You're right. I'm not going to tell Florence about the affair, but maybe this will bring you and Florence together. Maybe, I mean, she's so supportive as a person and as a mother and maybe this will show you that life is short and people like Karen, they don't really care about you." Yes, I know. Florence is very supportive. Yes, she is, but I don't want to burden her. She's offered to take me to Paris to see a doctor. Have you heard of Dr. Schwartz? Yes, one of the most famous oncologists that doesn't even take patients anymore because he's so jam booked and like one session with him is like a bajillion dollars. Well, he made an exception for me because we're such good friends. So I'm going to be going to Paris a lot to visit my oncologist and I told Florence not to burden herself. I can fight this alone. It's my fight to fight, besides the kids. So John started playing this part of the sick husband and he played it well. He started taking days off from the WHO. He started napping, moping around and honestly the cancer was just an excuse for him to grieve the end of his relationship with Karen. He just was so mopey. Florence would yell at the kids, "Don't be loud in the house." She didn't want to disturb her husband. John hovered over the phone all day and he finally gave in and called Karen. She wasn't going through a great time. She'd been trying to date, but she couldn't find any men that were interesting and John offered to comfort her as a sibling would. But before long their dates were back on in Paris. They even went on another vacation together to Russia this time and it was just like the first trip at the end of the trip Karen tells him, "Hey, I just want to be friends." And John would burst into tears dramatically and he would say, "Well, you have nothing to worry about anyway because I will be dead soon. I have cancer. I have cancer." Karen was really confused, but honestly really annoyed at this whole situation because like cancer and not, "Really? This is the time you want to tell me." A few weeks later there was this huge dinner party of doctors being held at Luke's house and John Claude was invited, but so was Remy. Karen's a strange husband. Remy got so drunk and boy did he let it spill during dinner. He said that he was able to visit his kids in Paris recently and they told him all the details. They were talking about how Karen is dating every single guy that she can find and how she can't settle down. And then guess what? I find out that my wife, Karen, she's got two men that she's debating between. One of them was some, I don't know, some cardiologist or something. He's very established in his field. I think he works for like a big, anyway, he's very responsible, but he's so boring, so boring. And then the other one is this Parisian dentist, one who has a backbone and knows how to have a good time. She even rubbed this in my face. This husband's just going well. So next time you go to the doctor's office, yeah, this is what they be doing, okay, half hours. She went with the dentist. Personally, I know she's my ex and all, but I think she should have chosen the boring doctor. She could really use some stability. She's out of her mind. But of course she chose the freaking dentist. Luke would later say that Jean Claude had the most pitiful expression on his face because he was the boring cardiologist. Minus the cardiologist because he's not a doctor. Karen did call Jean a few times here and there. Strictly as friends, she even told him about the dentist she was seeing. He's just not that type of guy that you can just twist around your finger. You know, he fights me. He makes me so mad. I feel like I'm losing my mind when I'm with him. He just gets under my skin, you know, but yeah, I like him a lot. Jean would say it's good. Sorry, my lymphoma. I got to go. One day Karen called Jean to tell him about her ex-rami, about how they just sold their office in Geneva and she has about $900,000 that she doesn't really know what to do with. Sure, she could buy another office here in Paris, but she just wants to take her time with it. So I guess it's just going to be sitting in the bank unless you have any investment ideas. Of course, Jean had ideas. He's the man with the plan. Give it to me. I can put it in my bank with 18% interest rates and you don't even have to pay taxes on it. You will be rich. It was like a spy movie. Karen withdraw all the money and cash, put it in a briefcase, flew to hand over the money to Jean in Geneva. She knew it was illegal. that he was putting it into his Swiss account which was evading taxes so that there would be no receipt. She knew that, nothing. But at least she'd get 18% returns. Jean even told her dramatically, "You know if something happens to me, all your money will be gone." Like if I die from lymphoma tomorrow, your money's gone. Jean, if something happens to you, it's not the money I'll be worried about. This was perfect timing for Jean. He had just burned through everything else. So he immediately put it into three different accounts and started spending it. But this time things were a little bit different. This was a friend, someone in their friend group, not a family member. If she wanted her money back and he didn't have it, he'd be screwed. So he'd realized the minute that he's done spending that money is the minute that he'd have to commit suicide. And sure enough, within months, Karen wanted a little bit of the money. But he didn't want to give it her. He kept avoiding her calls. He was using her money to get professional massages and buy porn. Yeah, he was buying porn, which he claimed were for his wife and him to watch, which, like, does that even change anything? I don't think so. He used it as a sympathy card. Speaking of Florence, she had stopped taking her birth control and she was trying to consider having another child. She loved kids. This is the one thing that really pushed her in life. So one day, as she's dropping off her kids, another mom approached her. This is before Christmas. And this other mom, her husband actually worked at the WHO. So she says, oh, Florence, are you going to the Christmas party? The annual work party. The what? The WHO for your husband's work party? You're not going? I'm not going to see you there. Are you bringing the kids? You know, every year they bring the kids and they give gifts to all the kids of the employees so sweet. And Florence laughed enough and she said, oh, I don't know. We might be with family. I'll let you know tomorrow, though. She gets home and she's pissed. I mean, something fishy-- something fishy is going on. What Christmas party? So she confronts him and he just shrugs it often, says, you know, it's like, I don't like people who take advantage of stuff like that. It's like government assistance. If I don't need free gifts from my boss, if I don't need free gifts from work, if I don't want free food and drinks at this boring cocktail party where I just see my colleagues and their wives and I have to act like I love everybody, I mean, why do we have to go? OK, I mean, I guess that makes sense. Now, then, the next week, Florence is confronted by a principal at the school. And this principal says, hey, Florence, I wanted my secretary to phone your husband about something. And I couldn't find his number in the WHO directory or in the International Organization's pension fund, either. Oh, what? That's strange, I guess I'll ask him about it. Now, the principal would never see her again, because a week later, Florence would be dead. Jean-Claude must have noticed a change in Florence, but he still went out of his way to be audacious. Really, this man is full of audacity. He had heard that Corinne and the dentist broke up, so he flew to Paris and got her a leather riding case that cost her few thousand dollars. Corinne didn't care. She just wanted her money back. So Jean pulled on his calendar at dinner and said, hmm, looks like I have a dinner planned with my good old friend in January. Would you like to join us? He's the founder of Doctors Without Borders, Bernard. I can give you your money afterwards. Corinne's like, oh my god, I would love to. So what about the ninth of January? Does that work for you? Yes, perfect. Jean drove all the way home, knowing that he had to be dead before the ninth then. What? So he starts working on a suicide note. He rewrote it a multiple times, but every time he tried to do something, he couldn't do it. New years rolls around, and now Jean really only has about nine days. He was so nervous. He barely spent time with his family. He decided to put together a little gift for Corinne. A book that was written by Bernard, the founder of Doctors Without Borders, and it was signed to Jean Claude. And it said to Jean Claude, my good friend and colleague at the WHO, love Bernard. I'm sure he signed it, okay? He also left her a suicide note for Corinne in a very specific chapter of that book that Bernard had written about one of the author's friends. He was an anesthesiologist who wanted to end his life because of the woman that he loved, but he wanted to do it with her on the phone. So he was talking to her on the phone, and as they talked, he slowly swallowed drug after drug that would cause a lethal and irreversible cocktail in his stomach. He documented every detail of his pain and agony to the woman that he loved, but she couldn't hang up. He said, the minute that you hang up and call for help, I will inject the last lethal injection to die. He took his life like this because he wanted her, the love of his life, to suffer forever, knowing and witnessing what she had done to him. So he put the note in that chapter, hoping Corinne would understand the significance, and left her a bottle of perfume to go with the book. This would be his last gift to Corinne. He went home and his plan was to wait till Tuesday to overdose on the sedatives. Where does he get the drugs? Well, he goes to the local pharmacy and he says, hey, I need some sedatives for an experiment that I'm doing at the WHO. I don't have a prescription. Now, I don't know why the pharmacist did not say, oh, the WHO doesn't provide that for you, or like, you need a prescription. You can probably ask the WHO for a prescription, but he just gave it to him because John Claude was a local celebrity. Everyone wanted to be a helping hand in his mission to save humans. Then he goes to buy a gun, borrow his dad's rifle, bought bullets, a silencer, tear gas, and a taser. He said that these were holiday gifts. He even asked the store to gift wrap it. Like, imagine opening your Christmas present and it's a freaking gun silencer. I don't know if I'd be more alarmed that that's what you'd thought I wanted, or that you went and got a freaking gun silencer. Now there's a gun silencer in my hands. He wanted to buy tear gas in the stun gun for Corinne, who's going to be a single mom in a scary city by herself. The other thing he said was for his dad. So while he's out shopping, Florence had a few moms over. And I mean, they said it was incredibly strange this moment. Florence pointed at a seven-year-old picture of John Claude as a boy on the fireplace, like a childhood picture. And out of nowhere, she said, look at those eyes. There can't be anything bad behind those eyes. Look at how cute he is. That night, John Claude said that he was comforting Florence about something one of her relatives had done. There was some family drama, and he doesn't remember much. But one second, he was holding her in his arms. And the next moment, he was holding a bloody rolling pin covered in blood, standing over her dead body over their bed. Her skull had been smashed in, and he was distraught. He was confused, he was scared of himself. He didn't know what he was capable of. But all of that could wait, because he set down the rolling pin. Didn't call the police, instead opened up the blanket and sat next to his wife, and fell asleep. Good night, honey, I love you. The next morning, he woke up and immediately started cleaning the area. He cleaned the rolling pin of any glove of any blood. And it woke up the kids. And they all went downstairs to watch the three little pigs. He said, oh, well, mom's still sleeping. She had a rough night, so don't wake her up. They spent about an hour drawing pictures together. He cuddled his kids and told them he loved them. Until he dragged them into their rooms and shot them from behind. Both of his kids. Then he leaves the house to go buy a newspaper in a magazine from the local newspaper stand. And the owner of the shop said that this man was completely normal. He didn't seem stressed, or like he had just annihilated his entire family, not of that. Then he goes back home, packs him clothes, carefully places the rifle in the trunk of his car, and goes to eat lunch with his parents. And just like with his kids, he lures them, each upstairs and kills them one by one. At this point, he had killed his wife, his two children, and his two parents, that's five victims, not including Pierre. Florence's dad, that he probably killed. His parent's dog, which was a big labidor, was sitting next to his dad's body, whimpering. So John Cloud thought, why the hell not? And shot him too. John washed his gun with cold water, changed his clothes, and called Corinne to say, I'm going to pick you up on Saturday, right? For the dinner? Yeah. He went to Paris. And he said as he was driving away from his parents' house, he did what he did all the time, which was to look back at the front door and sigh. Because this could be the last time he ever sees his parents, because his parents are old and sickly. Yeah, the irony. The freaking irony, you killed your parents. He drives all the way to Paris, constantly checking his watch. And Corinne gets into the car and he hands her a map with an X marked on it. And it's a random X. He said it was to Bernard's house. They were going to have dinner at Bernard's place. Now, Corinne, of course, asks about her money in the car. And he says, oh, sorry, I didn't have time to fly to Geneva. You know how the holidays are. But I'm going to fly out first thing in the morning, and I'll catch the noon flight back to Paris. And you'll have your money before the afternoon. So she's helping him navigate. But ultimately, I mean, they were leaving the city and heading into the village part. And they had gotten lost. And John kept saying, I have Bernard's number and the truck somewhere, but I have to go look for it. All of this leads to Corinne getting out of the car to help him in this isolated road to look for this number. And he freaking pepper sprays her. Her eyes were burning. Her throat was on fire. And he put the taser up to her stomach. And she starts screaming, I don't want to die. Please don't kill me. Think about my kids. And she looked into his eyes. And he sat down and says, wait, what just happened? Corinne, calm down here. Let me help you up. So they calmly get back into the car. And I mean, this whole thing is terrifying. He's so calm. And she said he was so calm that it almost seemed like he was more confused than her about what just happened. He kept asking her, what just happened? She was terrified that he was going to snap again. So she just said, can we just go home? He dropped her off. And she said, John, I know your illness is putting you in a lot of strain. I get it, but you should probably see someone. I could recommend a few good psychiatrists and they can help you. Corinne goes upstairs and she thought that was strange. But he promises to give her her money on Monday. But instead, he does not go to Geneva. He goes home, grabs gasoline canisters that he had casually laying around, starts pouring gas all over the house. He went upstairs, poured gas all over the attic, all over his murdered children. And he went down and he lit the place on fire. He went into their main bedroom that he shared with Florence, where her dead body still lied. He's like, "Oh, shit, where are my sedatives? The ones that he were gonna take, you know, to knock him out to kill him, we couldn't find it anymore." So he went through his medicine cabinet and the only thing that he could find was an old bottle of nembutral, which is insomnia medication. I mean, this is a super old bottle, by the way, and it expired years ago. This guy had it in his medicine cabinet for probably 10 years, like he just moved it around with him every time. It wasn't looking good. He downed it and he waited for the house to slowly be consumed by flames. And for him to slowly slip out of consciousness, but it wasn't happening. There was someone at the door. They were knocking, banging on the doors. The street cleaners. They had seen smoke coming out of the house. They stopped what they were doing and then they were pounding on the doors. You gotta hate a good smiritan, you know? He tried to ignore them, but the drugs were not taking over his body. Instead, smoke was slowly sleeping into his room. He started coughing, his eyes were on fire, and I guess his survival instinct took over because he rushed over and opened the window. At this point, firefighters were outside and they rescued him. He was unconscious, taken to the hospital, and the firefighters immediately pronounced the children dead. They were burnt, but Florence was pronounced dead as well, but she had head injuries, so the firefighters initially thought it had to be from falling debris. The fire was bad, the ceilings were caving in. And lastly, Jean-Claude was in a coma at the hospital. At first, it was seen as this horrendous tragedy. Imagine waking up from a coma and your whole family is dead. But when medical examiner started performing autopsies, the children had fatal gunshot wounds to the head. Florence's death was not smoke inhalation, but rather blunt force trauma to the head. And on the other side of town, Jean-Claude's parents and dog were found shot dead. So the police started investigating Jean-Claude, and at first all the neighbors and witnesses say, "Oh, Jean-Claude, he's amazing! "He's doing great work, you know, at the WHO. "One time, I came down with this nasty cold "and he gave me this impeccable advice, "such a shame what's happened to that family." The police were intrigued. They called the WHO headquarters and nobody knew who the hell Dr. Romand was. In fact, Dr. Romand wasn't even listed on the National Registry of Physicians, Ether. He wasn't even listed as a graduate of medical school at the school that he went to. He never graduated. He was a student for like 12 years. Even the doctors of the hospital that were treating him were like, "Well, I don't know about that lymphoma "you were talking about because this guy does not have cancer." Or at least not right now, not a single oncologist department and all of France had any records of a patient named Jean-Claude Romand. So the police start talking to Karen. They had found out that she was a mistress and they realized that she had nothing to do with it. The police told the press to exclude her name from all the reports, so they just dubbed her the mysterious mistress. At this point, the whole community had learned the truth. Jean-Claude was not a doctor. He was not a WHO employee and he had murdered his entire family, his wife, kids, parents, and their family dog and everyone was disgusted. After three days in the oxygen chamber, Jean-Claude awoke. He was gonna make it. At first, he denied everything. He said, "No, no, no, no, I didn't kill my family "and intruder dressed head to toe and black did it. "It wasn't me." He shut the kid, set the house on fire, and I was powerless to do anything about it. I just had to watch it unfold like some sick twisted nightmare. Well, what about the death of your parents? What? I mean, I would never kill my father and mother. That's God's second commandment. The guy's not even religious. So, why did you lie that you worked for the WHO? I am a researcher. You know, I think it's the coma because I'm forgetting where I worked, but it wasn't for the WHO, but I think it was like the United Something. I must have hit my head because I don't remember. For seven hours, he denied everything, but then at the end in complete exhaustion, he confessed. Psychiatrist practically lined up to evaluate him and they said he was shocked. He was eager. He wanted to have this contrived character where he was stone-cold and mysterious, but in reality, he was incredibly emotional, very low self-esteem and a raging narcissist. He was a whiny baby. But he wanted to present himself almost as like a Batman. Like the way he talked about his crimes, he wanted to be very like. So then I went upstairs and I did this. It's like, no, you're a whiny baby. They were even more shocked when they read the letters. He was dishing out to his old friends while he was in prison. Like Luke, he tried to convince Luke to hire him a good attorney and that he had to deal with the torment of losing his entire family. So he's the ultimate victim. Sure, he killed them all, but now I have to deal with the sadness of losing my whole family. So can you take a wild guess at what he was diagnosed with? Narcissistic personality disorder. So let's talk about the trial because there was a lot that was coming out. At the trial, Florence is on to remember the one that he sold fake cancer pills to. Well, she gave her statement and afterwards, he started to stammer and he said, "Well, I never said it was a medical cure, it was a placebo, and I didn't say I was developing it, I just knew a guy." What's that? Who's the guy? Well, of course I don't remember. I was in a coma. The author of the book reached out to Jean-Claude and they briefly wrote to each other. They even saw each other in prison, but Jean, he had fans. He also really romandized everything. He romandized his size to his crimes. He said that he was unable to distinguish himself and his loved ones. At that level, there was no difference between suicide and homicide. One of Jean-Claude's fans was the teacher of one of Jean's kids. So the daughter, her teacher, was obsessed with Jean-Claude. He even told the class, which by the way, all the kids were traumatized because they had heard that one of their classmates had been murdered by their own father. Yeah, that's traumatizing for these kids. Well, she said, "Guys, in order to have a productive day, why don't we all draw a picture for someone?" Someone that's in need of some happiness. And they did. They had no idea that the teacher was a sympathizer for Jean-Claude and was shipping off all these pictures, the kids' pictures. During the grief of the murder of one of their classmates was going to the classmates' killer. So the court found him guilty. But guess what? For murdering five people in a dog, he would only serve 26 years. He was paroled in 2019. At 65 years old, we have no idea what he's doing now. But the news of his release was really hard for Florence's families. One of her brothers said, "The word free is hard to hear. For me, it just seems like he won." And that is the story of Jean-Claude, the imposter. I mean, there's a lot of questions to be asked, why did he do this? What's wrong with him? But I think the one question that a lot of people is, how did he trick all of these doctors? And I think that's one thing that we keep learning over and over again. It doesn't matter how smart or intelligent someone is, anyone can get scammed. You're talking about a group of established doctors, some of them were top of their field. They were going on to write papers that would change the course of modern medicine. - Didn't we rest somewhere that humans are so easy to be lied to? - Yes. - And we think we're so good at detecting lies, but we are horrendous. - Yeah, I mean, it's very rough, no. I would be scammed easily. He could literally just look in my direction and be like, "You know what? I'll buy it, whatever you're selling. Is that a probiotic you're doing? What's that? Let me take it all. It's just like vitamin D supplements. It's like ground up, cement. - So with this case, you think it's something that he just kind of gradually fell into it. So he made it one small life first. - Yeah, but he also grew up lying to his mom. - Right, right, right. Do you think he all starts with one, two, three, and then it became this tragedy? - So I mean, I think the part that's fascinating for this one is I know like the Tinder swindler is going crazy on Netflix right now is that this guy actually genuinely could have been a good doctor in his field. He was incredibly intelligent. He was someone that had a very intense, in-depth knowledge of medicine. He really could have been, if not an incredibly successful doctor. - Right, so what went wrong? - I don't know. I mean, and this is genuinely a pure case of, like the Tinder swindler, he made so much money off of these women. I don't think that he was capable of making money to this capacity. He scammed a lot of women. So I don't think that he was able to make this amount of money by himself without manipulating people. We're as for Jean-Claude, and I don't say this as a way of complimenting him. I say it in a weird human psychology way. I think genuinely, he would have made more money as a doctor, and he could have genuinely just been a good doctor. I mean, it's really weird. What are your thoughts on this one? And I hope you guys enjoyed this week's mini-show, and I will see you guys on Wednesday for the main episode. Bye.