Henri DesirÉ Landru

Serial killer Henri Desiré Landru, often called the “20th-Century Bluebeard,” is considered by many to be the male version of the proverbial “Black Widow Killer.” During the early 1900s, Landru romanced and swindled more than 300 women out of their life savings; 10 of them also paid with their lives.

Landru worked as a secondhand furniture dealer and automobile mechanic/garage owner. His victims were most often vulnerable middle-aged widows whom he would meet through the furniture business or through matrimonial advertisements he placed in newspapers.

In and out of prison seven times with his swindling schemes and connected to more than 30 murders, Landru eventually met his end at the guillotine on February 25, 1922.