 "The horrific case of a French chef who killed a man and then cooked him")
In a barbaric case that has stirred horror in France , a pizza chef has admitted to killing his reclusive neighbour, dismembering the body, and cooking parts of it in a pot with vegetables.
Philippe Schneider, 69, is currently on trial in the Aveyron region, along with his 45-year-old partner Nathalie Caboubassy, for the gruesome 2023 murder of Georges Meichler. Meichler, 60, had been living alone in the quiet, remote village of Brasc in southern France.
According to The Telegraph, Schneider, who previously worked as a butcher, allegedly confessed to police that he and Caboubassy killed Meichler during a failed break-in at the victim’s home. While Schneider has admitted to the killing, Caboubassy has denied any involvement.
Here’s how this horrifying murder unfolded.
A suspicious message
The victim, Georges Meichler, lived as a recluse in a small stone house in the middle of a forest without electricity or running water. His sudden disappearance quickly raised concern in the small community.
Neighbours noticed his absence, and suspicion deepened when Meichler’s daughter received strange text messages that didn’t sound like him. “It wasn’t like him to text,” she told investigators.
One such message read: “Hi. I’m heading to Brittany with a friend. Get some fresh air and see the country. See you when I get back. Have a nice day.”
Soon after, police launched a missing persons investigation in Brasc and began door-to-door enquiries. A local resident told authorities they had spotted two people driving around in Meichler’s van.
Following the lead, police traced the movements and phone activity of the restaurateur couple.
The van was eventually found parked outside a council building about 38 km from Brasc, with Schneider and Caboubassy at the wheel.
The duo, who reportedly identified as druids, had moved to the region in 2019. Schneider, known locally for selling “magic potions” made from garden plants at a sex shop, later opened a pizzeria named Don Filiippo in Saint-Sernin-sur-Rance.
At first, the couple claimed that Meichler had lent them the van while he was away on holiday and had asked them to care for his animals. But their story quickly began to unravel.
According to The Sun, investigators discovered bloodstains and several bags filled with human remains inside the vehicle, leading to the chilling realisation that something far more sinister had occurred.
A ‘horrific confession’
Schneider, the man at the centre of the gruesome murder case, reportedly made a “horrific confession” to investigators.
“What I’m going to tell you is horrific, it’s going to be difficult to hear,” Schneider warned, before revealing what had happened to Georges Meichler.
He told the investigating judge that he and his partner, Nathalie Caboubassy, had gone to Meichler’s home to steal cannabis. During the break-in, Schneider tied up and gagged Meichler. When they returned after searching the house, Meichler had died of suffocation — at least according to Schneider’s latest version of events.
Earlier, he had claimed that the death was accidental and happened during a dispute. His story shifted several times throughout the investigation. Caboubassy, on the other hand, consistently denied any involvement in the crime, The Telegraph reported.
A shocking cover-up
To cover up the killing, Schneider said he dismembered Meichler’s body, burned the head, hands, and feet, and left other parts scattered around, including in Meichler’s own van, which the couple used to flee.
In one of the most disturbing details, Schneider reportedly said he tried cooking parts of the body in a pot of vegetables. This was, he claimed, part of a religious ritual he’d learned in Nepal, and also a way to mask the smell.
A 25-year-old gravedigger, now also on trial for complicity, testified that Schneider told him to cook the meat until it “fell off the bone” and to tell others it was “food for the dog” if questioned.
Schneider’s lawyer, Luc Abratkiewicz, said his client accepts full responsibility. “At the time, he lived a life of alcohol, drugs, and then this completely crazy idea of going to burgle his neighbour. He gags him. It goes badly, he dies… He made a serious mistake,” he said.
“Afterward, he continued to sink into absurdity and horror, because the fact of having cut up this corpse is going to cost them dearly,” the lawyer added.
Schneider is on trial for kidnapping leading to death, concealment of a corpse, and endangering the integrity of the corpse. Caboubassy and the gravedigger are both facing charges of complicity.
The verdict is expected on May 22.
With input from agencies
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