Martin Dumollard was born on June 22, 1810, in the rural commune of Tramoyes, in the Ain department of France. His parents, Pierre Dumollard and Marie-Josephte Rey, were of modest means; his father was originally from Pest, Hungary, and reportedly fled his homeland after committing crimes there. The family moved frequently between the small French towns of Dagneux and Tramoyes. When Martin was only four years old, he witnessed his father’s capture and gruesome execution by dismemberment at the hands of Austro-Hungarian troops in 1814. This traumatic childhood event would later be seen as a defining factor in his emotional detachment and disregard for human life.

Dumollard’s early years were marked by poverty and instability. He began working as a shepherd at just eight years old, serving under a landowner named Guichard at Sure Castle in Saint-André-de-Corcy. During this period, he met Marie-Anne Martinet, the woman who would later become both his wife and accomplice. They married on June 29, 1840, and settled in the Côtière region near Le Montellier before moving back to Dagneux.

Although accounts of Dumollard’s youth describe him as reserved, uneducated, and somewhat slow-witted, villagers recalled that he was also manipulative and secretive. He occasionally worked as a laborer and lived on the outskirts of society, often involved in petty theft. His wife, Marie-Anne, shared in his financial struggles, and together they lived in near destitution. Their home would later be described as filled with hundreds of items belonging to missing young women—evidence of the grisly double life Dumollard led.

By the late 1850s, as industrialization increased migration from rural areas to Lyon, young women seeking domestic service became easy prey. Dumollard’s crimes occurred in this social context—amid widespread poverty and limited law enforcement reach in the countryside.

Between 1855 and 1861, Martin Dumollard carried out a series of robberies, assaults, and murders primarily targeting young domestic servants seeking employment in Lyon. His method was deceptively simple: posing as an employer, he promised women well-paid household positions in the countryside. Once they agreed to follow him, he led them on long walks toward rural villages such as Dagneux, Saint-André-de-Corcy, and Montluel. When isolated, he attacked—beating, strangling, or attempting to rape his victims before stealing their clothing and personal effects. His wife, Marie-Anne Martinet, helped him resell stolen garments in local markets.

The first confirmed murder occurred in February 1855, when the body of Marie Baday was discovered in the forest of Montaverne. The case was initially unsolved until several similar assaults revealed a pattern. Dumollard’s next known attacks included Olympe Alubert (March 1855), Josephte Charletty (September 1855), and Jeanne-Marie Bourgeois (October 1855), all of whom escaped alive. However, another unidentified woman found dead in the Montmain Woods later strengthened the suspicion that Dumollard was a serial predator.

Between 1859 and 1861, Dumollard’s crimes escalated. Witnesses and victims such as Julie Fargeat and Louise Michel survived assaults and later testified against him. The most brutal murder was that of Marie-Eulalie Bussod, killed in February 1861. She was lured by Dumollard with the promise of work, assaulted, and buried alive after being raped. When her remains were discovered months later in the Bois de la Morte (Woods of the Dead) near Pizay, the discovery shocked France. The murder site was later marked with a cross bearing her name.

Dumollard’s final attempted murder, that of Marie Pichon on May 28, 1861, led directly to his downfall. After escaping a strangulation attempt in the woods near Balan, Pichon sought refuge at a local farm. Her detailed description of her attacker, including his distinctive swollen lip, matched that of a man known locally as “Raymond”—a nickname for Dumollard. Within days, police arrested him at his home in Dagneux, where investigators uncovered over 1,200 women’s garments and personal belongings, confirming the vast scope of his predatory activities.