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From archives on the discovery of the corpse of a naked woman in Paris in 1806, the historian reopens a “cold case” of which neither the victim nor the murderer is known.
On Wednesday May 7, 1806, in Paris, rue des Anglais, around 4 a.m., the naked corpse of a woman was discovered, hands and legs tied, head covered, presumed victim of a crime which has never been elucidated . How do we know, since the press hasn’t talked about it? By three brief police reports and above all by the morgue register, of which the historian Bruno Bertherat is the great specialist. Intrigued for a long time by this affair, the latter set out on the trail of this cold case which could only interest a scholar keen to restore all of their juice to the archives.
We are thinking of World Found by Louis-François Pinagotin which Alain Corbin attempted to reconstruct the life of a modest 19th century clog maker, whose name he found randomly in departmental archives. Yes, but Pinagot at least had a name, which provided the starting point for the investigation. Here, nothing of the sort: the naked woman of the rue des Anglais will never have an identity. We are also thinking of All those who fallin which Jérémie Foa identifies the murderers of certain victims of Saint-Barthélemy. Yes, but here we won’t know anything about the killers. Until the end, there is also u
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