Kriti Mehrotra
With Netflix’s ‘Monique Olivier: Accessory to Evil’ living up to its title in every way imaginable, we get a deep insight into the dark, twisted, sordid side of human nature and its underlying influence. After all, it comprises not just first-hand accounts but also archival footage to really explore the way Monique helped her husband, serial killer Michel Fourniret, terrorize young girls for over 15 years. So now, if you wish to learn more about her — with a specific focus on her past, her hand in his criminal offenses, and her current standing — we’ve got the necessary details for you.
Who is Monique Olivier?
It was back in 1987 that recently divorced mother of two Monique first came in contact with convicted felon Michel through a small written advertisement he’d placed in a Christian magazine. The 45-year-old had made it perfectly clear he was a prisoner seeking to correspond with someone to fill his time, but the 38-year-old still responded since she understood his sense of aloneness. Thus began their constant communication, only for there to be 217 letters between them (he sent 133, whereas she penned 84) over a period of ten months before his full release around October.
In these personal notes, neither Monique nor Michel reportedly held back any aspect of who they were one bit, driving them to begin a romance before quickly deciding they wished to tie the knot. The strange aspect is the fact she didn’t pull back even when he admitted he was behind bars for sexually assaulting several girls or that he had a need to violate virgins in particular. Instead, she seemingly willingly devoted herself to him because he had already eased her own loneliness and asserted he’d avenge her by harming her allegedly abusive ex-husband, André.
As per the Netflix production, Monique has always claimed André was extremely controlling, possessive, and physically abusive, which is why she had to abandon him as well as their two kids. This facet has never actually been affirmed, yet many believe it to be the truth as she ostensibly became very closed off around this time, making it much easier for Michel to then get involved. It is all likely one of the reasons she went along with the convict despite being well aware of his plans to continue preying on young girls by enlisting her help and maybe even kill her former spouse.
However, Monique and Michel soon went way beyond their initial objective as they not just abused their targets but also murdered them in the worst ways conceivable — her ex wasn’t one of them. Yet she still aided her then-partner by being actively involved in the abductions, using date rape drugs, and then sexually preparing him to actually go through with his depraved intentions. As if that’s not enough, she admittedly kept their victims secure for as long as he desired and even manually checked their virginities/”pureness” before turning utterly deaf to their piercing screams.
However, the worst part is the fact Monique never felt remorse or revealed Michel’s actions to officials, that is, until nearly a year after he got caught following a failed kidnapping attempt in 2003. This was when she finally conceded her husband had killed eight females aged between 12 to 30 in France as well as Belgium, with the first being within two months of his October 1987 jail release. She also didn’t shy away from declaring she was an active accomplice in several of these cases, leading to both getting extradited to their homeland on a litany of charges spanning 1987-2003.
Monique Olivier is Currently Serving Time
The truth is Monique came across as a diminutive, manipulatable, and submissive wife for quite some time, but this narrative shifted drastically once she and Michel actually stood trial in 2008. That’s because although she’d claimed she always followed her husband’s orders only owing to his temper, it came to light she could’ve attained some perverse satisfaction from everything as well. She insisted she was scared of her husband, who reportedly used to threaten her and their son’s life a lot, but she then stated their bedroom activities were often essentially a recreation of their crimes.
Furthermore, with Monique’s IQ being an incredible 130+, prosecutors implied she was intelligent enough to be the one driving all the offenses and then manipulate the authorities. The fact her son with Michel was born almost exactly nine months following their first murder — in September 1988 — just to then be used to lure other victims was a fact that shocked the entire world too.
Therefore, after an almost two-month-long trial, on May 28, 2008, a jury found Monique guilty of accessory in several murders and/or rapes or attempted rapes. She was consequently sentenced to a life term without the possibility of parole for 28 years, meaning she’ll only become eligible for conditional release in 2032.
The now 73-year-old is hence currently serving time at the Penitentiary Center in Rennes — she’d divorced Michel shortly following their arrest and has since told a fellow inmate his victims “greatly exceeded 30.” We should also mention she is expected to stand trial in connection to three other disappearances/murders, that of Marie-Angèle Domèce, Joanna Parrish, and Estelle Mouzin, later this year.
Read More: Who Were Michel Fourniret’s Victims? How Did He Die?
