The murder of René Gorlin
On November 25, 1980, workers at a construction site outside Paris made a disturbing discovery.
A man’s body was lying in the mud beside a pile of gravel. He had been shot twice in the back of the head.
The victim was soon identified as 39-year-old René Gorlin.
At first, investigators thought the killing looked like an organized crime execution. But René had no history that supported that theory. He had only been arrested once, for petty theft when he was 18, and had stayed out of trouble afterward.
The investigation then turned toward René’s complicated personal life.
He had been living between two relationships. In Paris, he lived with his pregnant girlfriend, Marie-Pierre Deshombres. About 60 miles away, he lived on a farm with his long-time partner, Danielle Blondel, and their two children.
Both women knew about each other.
But after René’s death, investigators discovered that the truth was more complicated than it first appeared.
René Gorlin’s complicated relationships
René worked as the stage manager for the famous French comedian Coluche.
At the time of the murder, Coluche had recently announced a presidential campaign. Although the campaign had started partly as a joke, it was attracting attention and causing concern among political figures.
Coluche was receiving threats, and authorities were reportedly monitoring him. René was worried that his connection to Coluche could also put him in danger.
But René had another major problem.
Marie-Pierre was seven months pregnant. René had promised her that he would leave Danielle and marry her after the baby was born.
He was not certain that he would keep that promise.
That created a possible motive for jealousy, resentment, or revenge.
René’s final trip to the farm
On the evening of November 23, René was in Paris with Marie-Pierre.
She did not want him to leave, but René boarded a train toward Château-Thierry.
Later that night, he arrived at the farm where Danielle and their children lived.
The evening quickly turned into an argument.
René went to check on the horses and noticed that they had not been groomed while he was away. He confronted Danielle about it.
Danielle became angry. She had been looking after the children and the farm alone while René was away.
The argument escalated into a serious fight.
René eventually left the room to calm himself. He went into the bedroom and called Marie-Pierre.
During the conversation, he complained about Danielle and their argument.
Marie-Pierre gave him a simple suggestion: if he was so unhappy with Danielle, he should leave her.
René began considering it.
He wondered whether he should return to Paris instead of spending another night at the farm.
That decision would become important to the murder investigation.
A body is found at a construction site
Two days later, on November 25, a worker at a construction site outside Paris noticed something unusual near a pile of gravel.
At first, he thought it might be a sandbag.
When he got closer, he realized it was a human body and called the police.
Inspector Charles Diaz arrived at the scene.
It was his first major murder investigation.
The weather had created a problem. Rain, mud, workers, and police activity had likely destroyed many possible footprints and tire tracks.
The victim appeared to be a man in his 40s. There were two bullet wounds in the back of his head.
Diaz believed the killing looked like an execution.
The victim had no wallet or identification, but police were able to identify him through his fingerprints.
He was René Gorlin.
Ballistics later determined that he had been shot with a .22-caliber long rifle.
Two women become important suspects
While Diaz was investigating the murder, police received another important report.
A woman had come to a police station to report René missing.
It was Danielle Blondel.
Danielle told investigators that René had returned to the farm on November 23 but soon wanted to go back to Paris. She said that she and her sister had driven him to the train station.
She had not heard from him for several days, so she went to Paris to look for him.
When she could not find him at his apartment, she reported him missing.
Diaz then told Danielle that René had been found dead.
Her reaction immediately caught his attention.
After the news sank in, Danielle named someone she believed could have killed René: Marie-Pierre, his pregnant girlfriend.
Marie-Pierre gives investigators a different story
Diaz went to René and Marie-Pierre’s apartment in Paris.
Marie-Pierre was pregnant and became extremely emotional when she learned that René was dead.
She told Diaz that she had taken René to the train station on November 23. According to her, he boarded the train and left for the farm.
She said they briefly spoke on the phone later that night but that she had not seen him since.
This created a major contradiction.
Danielle had said René returned to the farm and then left for Paris.
Marie-Pierre said she had seen him leave Paris for the farm and never saw him again.
One of them could have been lying.
Or both could have been telling the truth, meaning René might have been killed somewhere between the two places.
The political murder theory
Marie-Pierre also told Diaz about René’s work with Coluche.
She said Coluche had received death threats because of his political campaign. René had also been worried that he was being watched because of his connection to the comedian.
Diaz considered the possibility that René had been murdered as a warning to Coluche.
It sounded extreme, but there were reasons not to dismiss it immediately.
Coluche was receiving threats, and political tensions were high.
Later, Coluche himself became so concerned that he gave Diaz an envelope containing a bullet and a threatening note that read, “The next one is for you.” He also agreed to cooperate with investigators if he was placed under police protection.
Investigators eventually connected some of the threatening letters to a group calling itself Honor of the Police.
But they could not identify its members.
The political theory remained possible, but there was no evidence directly connecting the group to René’s murder.
Investigators focus on Marie-Pierre
As the investigation continued, Danielle’s story received support.
Her sister confirmed that they had driven René to the train station.
Investigators also found no evidence of a shooting or struggle at the farm.
Danielle’s lover was also cleared after investigators confirmed his alibi.
That left Marie-Pierre looking increasingly suspicious.
Investigators learned that her relationship with René had been extremely complicated. Both had been unfaithful, and René had reportedly cheated on her with several women, including Marie-Pierre’s sister.
Diaz began to suspect that René had returned to the Paris apartment and that an argument with Marie-Pierre had ended in murder.
But there was a problem.
There was no physical evidence connecting Marie-Pierre to the killing.
She had also allowed police to search the apartment, but investigators found nothing that proved she had killed René.
The case eventually went cold.
The unusual food clue that changed the case
Months later, Diaz received a report from the medical examiner.
It contained an analysis of René’s stomach contents.
The examination showed that René had eaten chestnut cream during the few hours before his death.
That detail seemed minor, but it gave Diaz a new lead.
Chestnut cream was a particular food, and investigators began trying to determine where René could have eaten it.
They could not find anywhere near his Paris apartment that appeared to serve it.
Then Diaz returned to the area around Danielle’s farm.
A neighbor provided an important detail.
The neighbor had recently helped Danielle clean out her refrigerator and remembered that Danielle had chestnut cream in it.
Suddenly, the food in René’s stomach became important evidence.
What the chestnut cream revealed
Danielle’s original story suggested that René had spent very little time at the farm on the night of his death.
According to her account, he arrived, they argued, and he soon wanted to return to Paris.
But the stomach analysis showed that René had eaten chestnut cream only a few hours before he died.
The evidence suggested that he had probably remained at the farm much longer than Danielle had admitted.
That gave Diaz a reason to question her story again.
Investigators confronted Danielle about the chestnut cream.
This time, she broke down and confessed to killing René.
How René Gorlin was killed
According to the investigation and Danielle’s confession, René was killed at the farm during the early hours of November 24.
The killer entered the bedroom while René was asleep.
René was shot twice in the back of the head with a rifle.
Afterward, an accomplice helped remove the body and clean the bedroom.
The body was taken away in a car.
The sheets were disposed of and burned at a landfill, while the murder weapon was thrown into a nearby river.
René’s body was eventually taken to the construction site outside Paris, where it was left in the mud.
The following day, Danielle went to the police and reported René missing.
Danielle Blondel confessed to the murder
The investigation concluded that Danielle was responsible for René’s murder.
Her anger over their repeated arguments and resentment over René’s affair had built up over time.
His relationship with Marie-Pierre had become even more difficult for Danielle after Marie-Pierre became pregnant.
The argument at the farm appears to have been the final trigger.
Danielle’s sister helped her clean up the crime scene and dispose of René’s body.
Both women initially lied to police and claimed that René had left the farm and gone back to Paris.
But the chestnut cream evidence undermined that story.
Danielle eventually confessed.
She was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Her sister received a six-month suspended sentence for helping dispose of René’s body.
What solved the René Gorlin murder case?
The René Gorlin murder investigation shows how a small forensic detail can become important when the main theories fail.
Investigators initially considered several possibilities:
- A gang or organized crime killing
- A murder connected to Coluche’s political campaign
- A jealous killing by Marie-Pierre
- A killing involving someone else during René’s journey between Paris and the farm
None of these theories initially produced enough evidence.
The breakthrough came from an unexpected source: René’s stomach contents.
The discovery of chestnut cream gave investigators a way to test Danielle’s story.
The food suggested that René had spent more time at the farm than she claimed. A neighbor then confirmed that Danielle had chestnut cream at the farmhouse.
That contradiction eventually led to Danielle’s confession.
Conclusion
The murder of René Gorlin began as a confusing case involving a complicated relationship, political threats, and several possible suspects.
Investigators initially struggled to determine where René had been killed and who was responsible.
The case eventually turned on one small detail.
René had eaten chestnut cream shortly before his death.
That evidence pointed investigators back toward the farmhouse and raised questions about Danielle’s account of his final hours.
When investigators confronted her with the new evidence, Danielle confessed.
The case is a reminder that an investigation does not always turn on dramatic evidence. Sometimes, a seemingly ordinary detail can expose a false story and change the entire direction of a murder investigation.