IN PLAIN SIGHT

Serial Killer Appeared on Game Show Amid Manhunt: Report

François Vérove, a retired cop, killed himself in 2021 as police closed in on him.

A French serial killer who spent more than 35 years on the lam once appeared on a nationally televised game show as police searched for him in connection to a string of rape and murders there. The appearance came in 2019 on the show Tout le monde veut prendre sa place (Everyone wants to take his place), which is similar to Jeopardy. Francois Vérove’s appearance on the show came just two years before he killed himself after he received a police summons that said his DNA was found on one of his victims. Officers responding to his suicide, inside an Airbnb, uncovered a note they said was penned by Vérove, where he admitted to a string of child rapes and murders in the 80s and 90s. Vérove’s wife, who said she was unaware of her husband’s chilling past, told police that her partner never tried to conceal his identity—evidenced by him once appearing on a French game show. The magazine Marianne uncovered the footage Tuesday, which shows Vérove, a retired police officer, participating in the show as if all was normal—even discussing his old job as a cop with the presenter.