Marie Besnard

Marie Besnard (15 August 1896 – 14 February 1980), also known as 'The Good Lady of Loudun', was an accused serial poisoner in the mid-20th century.

Besnard was first charged with multiple murder on July 21, 1949, under her maiden name, Marie Joséphine Philippine Davaillaud. After three trials lasting over ten years (the first held in Poitiers), Besnard was finally freed in 1954, then acquitted on December 12, 1961. The case attracted widespread attention throughout the country and remains one of the most enigmatic in modern French legal history.

Born in Loudun, France, Marie married her cousin, Auguste Antigny, in 1920. The marriage lasted until his death from pleurisy on July 21, 1927 (Antigny was known to suffer from tuberculosis). When his body was eventually exhumed, 60 mg of arsenic was found in his remains.

In 1928, Marie married Léon Besnard.

When Léon Besnard's parents inherited family wealth, the couple invited them to move in with them. Soon thereafter, his father died, apparently from eating poisoned mushrooms.

His mother followed three months later, apparently a victim of pneumonia. The parents' estate was left to Besnard's husband and his sister, Lucie, who supposedly committed suicide a few months later. Around this time, on May 14, 1940, Marie Besnard's father Pierre Davaillaud also died, officially due to cerebral haemorrhage, although his exhumed remains contained 36 mg of arsenic.

Shortly afterward, the Besnards sublet rooms to a wealthy childless couple, the Rivets, who were friends of Marie's husband. Monsieur Toussaint Rivet died of pneumonia on July 14, 1939, although 18 mg of arsenic was later discovered in his exhumed remains. Madame Blanche Rivet (née Lebeau) died on December 27, 1941 from aortitis, although her remains contained 30 mg of arsenic. The Rivets' will had named Marie Besnard as their only heir.

Pauline Bodineau, (née Lalleron) and Virginie Lalleron, cousins of Marie, had also named Marie as their only beneficiary. Pauline died aged 88 on July 1, 1945, after mistaking a bowl of lye for her dessert one night. Her remains were later found to contain 48 mg of arsenic. Virginie apparently made the same mistake a week later and died aged 83 on July 9, 1945. Her remains were later found to contain 20 mg of arsenic.

...
Wikipedia