French serial killer dies at 79 in secure hospital unit

PARIS (AP) — The Paris prosecutor says a French serial killer sentenced twice to life imprisonment for the murder of eight women has died at the age of 79. Michel Fourniret died Monday in a secure unit of a Paris hospital. Arrested in 2003 in Belgium, he was convicted to life imprisonment in 2008 for the murder and the rape or attempted rape of seven female teenagers and young women. The crimes were committed in France and Belgium from 1987 to 2001. Ten years later, he was convicted for the murder of the companion of a former cellmate. Last year Fourniret also confessed to the murder of a 9-year-old girl in 2003.