Yvan Keller

On September 22, 2006, Yvan Keller committed suicide at the Mulhouse High Court. He killed himself using his shoelaces, intertwining them to form a rope that he inserted into the neon of one of the court jails.

In January 1994, at Burnhaupt-le-Haut, Basse Street resident Marie Winterholer was found dead in her bed, lying on her back. The doctor concluded that it was a natural death and issued a license to bury.

On March 12, 1994, at 11 Basse Street, a man named Germain had decided to visit his 86-year-old mother, Ernestine Mang. Just behind the door, he was surprised to find an old butter churn, which had been stored in the house's cellar for years. He then found his mother dead in bed, lying on her back. He was surprised that the bedding was flawlessly drawn, because Ernestine had trouble moving due to hip problems. Because of this, Germain was convinced that it wasn't her who had moved the churn.

On April 27, 1994, at 22 Basse Street, 77-year-old Augusta Wassmer was also found dead in her bed, lying on her back. No break-in was observed, but her daughter Marie-Françoise Roecklin found that the bed was too well done. The autopsy concluded with a death by cardiac arrest, probably "due to great fear". Later, Marie-Françoise noticed that Augusta's bank card and a key to the house had disappeared, and that the card had been used in Mulhouse to make three withdrawals.

Between 1993 and 2003, Yvan Keller was denounced 3 times, but the first two did not follow through. The third, after 3 years of investigation, led to his arrest. Keller quickly confessed, advancing the number of victims to 150, admitting to have been active in Alsace, Switzerland and Germany. He was only indicted for five deaths: three in Haut-Rhin in 1994 and two in Bas-Rhin. Eight murders, now investigated, could have completed the list, with investigators finding similarities in other cases as well.

In August 1989, Keller was released. He moved to Mulhouse on Verdun Street, in the apartment of an old mansion in a quiet and green area, away from the city center. He became a landscape gardener and created a small company: Alsa-Jardin. His clients were very satisfied with his work and frequently recommended him. He led a modest life, living with a woman named Marina, but they later separated and he found a new companion named Séverine.

This busy life took Yvan behind bars at the age of 17 for stealing two antiques in Battenheim in 1981. Keller was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbery.

Yvan Keller (born December 13, 1960 – September 22, 2006), nicknamed the "Pillow Killer", was a French serial killer. Between 1989 and 2006, he killed at least 23 people in France, Switzerland and Germany, and confessed to killing about 150. If corroborated, that would make him the most prolific French serial killer of the 20th century.

Yvan Keller was born on December 13, 1960, in Wittenheim, Haut-Rhin. His parents were basket makers and sedentary travellers who had 8 other children, all of them living on Bourg Street. His father, Joseph, was employed in Alsace's potash mines. Keller grew up in a rather unstable family, as his father forced him to work hard so they could survive. His mother died at age 49.