Monique Olivier befriended young women so that her serial killer husband could rape and kill them, French prosecutors say.
On Tuesday, the 75-year-old widow of French murderer Michel Fourniret — the so-called “Ogre of the Ardennes” — was found guilty for her role in the decades-old rape and murders of two young women and the disappearance of a 9-year-old girl, according to the BBC.
That same day, Olivier was sentenced by a French Court to life in prison for the crimes, Le Monde reports.
She was convicted of helping her late husband kidnap, hide and murder 20-year-old British student Joanna Parrish in 1990 and 18-year-old Marie-Angele Domece, who vanished from Auxerre in 1988, France 24 reports.
Parrish’s naked body was found in the Yonne River in central France. She had been beaten, drugged and raped.
Domece’s remains have never been found.
Olivier was also convicted of her part in the 2003 kidnapping, sequestration and murder of Estelle Mouzin, 9, whose remains have not been found.
In early December, Olivier told the court how she sat in the front seat of the couple’s car when Fourniret went into the back to kill and rape Parrish in May 1990, CBS News reports.
“Like a coward, I do nothing, I hear her scream a little but I don’t intervene,” she testified. “It’s fear, panic, ]I am] unable to do anything at all,” she said.
She also told the court that her husband used her as “bait,” the BBC reports.
Olivier described the so-called “hunts” for virgins she would embark on for Fourniret, saying, “I was the dog, I was never anything but the dog that must obey,” CBS News reports.
Olivier was already serving a life sentence that was handed down in 2008 for her part in four other kidnappings and murders by her husband.
In 2018, she was sentenced to another 20 years for her part in another slaying.
After Olivier was sentenced, Parrish’s father, Roger Parrish, held a moment of silence for all of Fourniret’s victims, the BBC reports.
“We’ve waited a long time,” he said.
Talking about how Olivier lured his daughter and other victims, he said, “Her presence alone would’ve gained the confidence of all the victims, who would never have believed a woman could’ve been such a part of such an appalling and depraved act,” according to the BBC.
Fourniret died in 2021 at age 79 before he could be tried for the murders of Parrish, Domece and Mouzin.
Fourniret was convicted of murdering eight girls and young women between 1987 and 2001, according to the BBC.
He confessed to 11 murders but authorities believe he could have killed more than 20 other victims, France 24 reports.
