Ludivine Chambet was a care assistant at a home for elderly people near Chambéry, in the Savoie department of eastern France. Thirteen residents of the home were named in the charges, for separate episodes between September 2012 and November 2013, and ten of them died. On May 23, 2017, the cour d'assises de la Savoie in Chambéry found her guilty of "empoisonnement de personne vulnérable" on all thirteen counts and sentenced her to 25 years of réclusion criminelle.
The case is unusual for the length of time it covers and for the way the investigation began. It was not a single event but a run of separate episodes over about fourteen months, each involving a different resident, and the pattern emerged only after the tenth death.
Chambet was born in 1983 into a modest family near Chambéry. She trained as an aide-soignante and worked at the care home from 2005 to 2010 and again from 2012. She was promoted at the home in May 2013. Her mother, to whom she was very close, died in June 2013, in the middle of the period covered by the charges. Her father later testified at the trial. At the time of the hearing she was 34, single and without children.
Colleagues described her as simple, kind and generous.
The thirteen residents were eight women and five men, aged 76 to 96. At the verdict, the court was told that none of them had been near the end of life and none had expressed a wish to die. Ten died:
Mathias Carle, 86, who died on November 23, 2012.
François Ruiz, 82, who died on March 27, 2013.
Georges Lombard, 96, who died on April 2, 2013.
Joséphine Pachoud, 89, who died on April 23, 2013.
Alice Miège, 91, who died on October 7, 2013.
Augusta Zottino, 93, who died on October 9, 2013.
Marcel Poncet, 92, who died on October 14, 2013.
Simone Aguettaz, 85, who died on October 24, 2013.
Anne-Marie Marcillac, 88, who died on November 16, 2013.
Elise Maréchal, 83, who died on November 29, 2013.
Three other residents survived.
The death of Elise Maréchal on November 29, 2013, led to an inquiry, and Chambet was arrested on December 10, 2013.
Questioned by police, she acknowledged what she had done to the residents but said her aim had been to relieve them, not to kill them. She accepted eleven of the thirteen counts and denied the other two.
The trial opened in May 2017 before the cour d'assises de la Savoie in Chambéry, with Isabelle Oudot presiding, two assessors and a jury of citizens. It lasted eleven days. Chambet faced life imprisonment. Her defense concentrated on her personal history, including the loss of her mother. The prosecutor, avocat général Pierre Becquet, described her as dangerous and, on May 22, 2017, asked for 30 years.
Throughout the hearing she repeated the same account: "Je voulais les soulager, pas les tuer." Before the verdict she told the court she was aware that it had been "une folie".
The court retired for about six hours. On Tuesday, May 23, 2017, it found Chambet guilty on all thirteen counts, including the two she had contested. It recognized an "altération de son discernement" at the time of the acts. The sentence was 25 years of réclusion criminelle, with a ten-year obligation of medical care and a lifetime ban on practicing as an aide-soignante. She remained impassive as the verdict was read.
She had ten days to appeal. Her lawyer did not say at the time whether she would. Whether an appeal was lodged, and its outcome, is not on record. Her present place of custody and any release date are likewise not on record.
She acknowledged eleven of the thirteen counts before the trial and contested the other two, and the jury found her guilty on those two as well. No court finding on any additional deaths at the home is on record, and none is attributed to her.
1983: Ludivine Chambet is born near Chambéry.
2005 to 2010: works at the care home near Chambéry; returns in 2012.
September 2012: the first of the thirteen counts.
November 23, 2012: Mathias Carle dies.
March 27, 2013: François Ruiz dies.
April 2, 2013: Georges Lombard dies.
April 23, 2013: Joséphine Pachoud dies.
May 2013: she is promoted at the home.
June 2013: her mother dies.
October 7, 2013: Alice Miège dies.
October 9, 2013: Augusta Zottino dies.
October 14, 2013: Marcel Poncet dies.
October 24, 2013: Simone Aguettaz dies.
November 16, 2013: Anne-Marie Marcillac dies.
November 29, 2013: Elise Maréchal dies; the alert follows.
December 10, 2013: Chambet is arrested.
May 2017: trial opens at the cour d'assises de la Savoie, Chambéry.
May 22, 2017: the avocat général asks for 30 years.
May 23, 2017: guilty on 13 counts; 25 years' réclusion criminelle.