The Vampire Of Paris

Nico Claux "The Vampire Of Paris"

"Throughout my apartment,bone fragments and human teeth were scattered about like loose change;

vertebras and leg bones hung from the ceiling like morbid mobiles,and hundreds of videocassettes,mostly slasher and hardcore S&M flicks,filled my shelves.One can only imagine what went through the minds of the investigators as they looked around my living quarters.

On one wall hung a bullet-riddled target,while across the room sat a TV set with jars of human ashes resting on top of it.Several bondage magazines were piled in a far corner,and nearby my backpack was found,which contained handcuffs,surgical instruments and duct tape.In addition to my tastes and choice of decor,investigators also discovered several stolen blood bags inside of my refrigerator."

Born March 22nd 1972 in Cameroon,Nico Claux is the son of a banker who spent most of his childhood moving from country to country due to his fathers work.Finally settling in Paris at the age of 16,Nico claims he had already started his journey into the darkness.Nico has stated that his parents never expressed any sort of positive emotion towards him. Although he himself has never said it,many think that this lack of affection in a lonely life is what led him down the path he chose.

The Vampire of Paris started his dark work in 1990 when he started roaming Parisian graveyards. Although it was originally morbid fascination,like many other murderers throughout history,merely seeing the dead would not be enough.

Claux set his sights on a tomb in Passy Cemetery and armed with pliers,screwdrivers,a crowbar and black candles he set out to defile his first grave.Boldly deciding that the best time to do this would be during the middle of the day,he waited for the grave keepers to take a break and kicked in the door of the mausoleum having previously picked the lock.The tomb belonged to a family from Russia who had died during the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Taking his time as to make no noise,Claux has stated that he took hours in the tomb and a whole hour to remove a coffin and place it on the floor to open it.After unscrewing the lid of the coffin Nico states that the sight of the body drove him further down the rabbit hole.After nearly passing out from the smell,he used the screwdriver to stab the stomach of the half rotted corpse over 50 times.He only stopped when,in his own words,his arm was covered in corpse slime.

At 20 years old Nico decided to join the military,expecting to spend much of his time surrounded by the dead and dying,he was severely disappointed.He would spend only one year in the military and in that time he would be a gunsmith,cleaning and repairing weapons.

Once out of the military Nico would be rejected by a local embalming school but would be given a position in St Vincent de Paul's children's hospital.Although it is obvious that his morbid fascination/mental state was on a downward spiral and he was in constant contact with the dead while working,no illegal activity was carried out by him under the roof of the children's hospital.    

After only a few months he would move on to a position in St. Joseph's hospital as an apprentice mortician.

It was here that his taste for human flesh would be allowed to blossom.After being taught to prep bodies after autopsies,he would be left to do so in peace.This gave him the opportunity to strip meat off of the bodies before getting them funeral ready.He claims to have tried various body parts during this time but it seems that meat from around the ribs were his first choice mainly because he would have to stitch closed the stomach anyway which helped conceal his work.

Another one of his jobs during this time was transferring blood from the blood bank to surgery for the Digestive Surgery Unit of St. Josephs.He quickly realized that there were often times that some of the blood bags would be left unused,this gave him the perfect opportunity to try something new.During work he would store these unused bags in his locker and after work would take them home to mix with protein powder and human ashes and drink the vile concoction.He would state that the reason for mixing the blood rather than drinking it straight was due to it being too thin due to lack of plasma.

Although he managed to contain his desires for years on end,on October 4th 1994 his urges got the best of him.After talking to Thierry Bissonnier on a chat site called Mintel and discussing their love of bondage and S&M, the two decided to meet up that same day.Thierry gave Nico his home address in what would be a fatal mistake.

Once inside the door,Nico pulled out his.22 caliber handgun and shot Thierry in the head.Nico would sit down in a corner and eat cookies while watching Thierry bleed out.He would shoot the dying man several more times in the head and chest after being shocked by how long it was taking him to die.

Before leaving the apartment he would take several of of his victims personal belongings.

It would take three days before the body ot Bissonnier would be discovered by his parents and the man hunt began.

Nico would create his own undoing when he tried to use Bissonnier's ID and check book to purchase a VCR.The store employee noticed the signatures didn't match and called the police.Nico would try to run but was arrested outside Moulin Rouge on November 15th.

The Vampire of Paris would surprise investigators when,after being shown the ballistics report,admitted to all his crimes.Nobody was ready for the level of detail Nico would go in to over the course of his trial and on May 1997 he would be found guilty of murder and sentanced to a shocking 12 years in prison.What is even more shockin is that The Vampire would be released on March 22nd 2002 after less than 5 years in prison .

Since his release,Nico has gone on to become somewhat of a celebrity.Using skills he learned while in prison,he created his own website which he would use to sell his morbid art,paintings of famous serial killers.

He has also settled down with a long term girlfriend and seemingly filled the void which created the monster he became,surrounding himself with friends and like minded people.

Hopefully this has helped quench The Vampire of Paris' need for blood.