Eugène Marie Chantrelle was born in 1834 in Nantes, France. By 1868, he had relocated to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he worked as a French teacher at the private Newington Academy. It was there that he began a relationship with one of his pupils, Elizabeth Dyer, who was 15 at the time. They married when she was 16, and she gave birth to their first child two months later. The couple resided at 81a George Street in Edinburgh.

Their marriage was troubled from the outset. Chantrelle was known to be physically abusive and frequently threatened Elizabeth with poisoning. In August 1877, he took out a £1,000 life insurance policy on her, citing accidental death as the cause for payout.

On the morning of January 2, 1878, Elizabeth Chantrelle was found unconscious and later died in the hospital. Initially, her death was suspected to be due to coal-gas poisoning. However, further investigation revealed traces of opium in her vomit and on her nightgown, leading authorities to suspect foul play.

Chantrelle was arrested on January 5, 1878, following her funeral. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial commenced on May 7, 1878, and lasted four days. The jury deliberated for just over an hour before returning a guilty verdict. Chantrelle was sentenced to death and was executed by hanging at Calton Prison in Edinburgh on May 31, 1878.

The case garnered significant public attention and is believed to have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson in writing "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." Stevenson had met Chantrelle through his former French teacher, Victor Richon.