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In a small village in northern France, on the morning of August 2nd, 2017, two men sat in a bar, laughing together. The individuals were identified as Lucien Perot and Olivier Boudin. Despite the significant age gap, Lucien, aged 69, and Olivier, aged 38, were inseparable. They were so close that the villagers often referred to them as father and son. Lucien had dedicated his entire life to working in manufacturing in a nearby city. However, four years ago, he retired and relocated to a small house in this northern French village. However, when he initially settled into his new house, he felt extremely isolated and unhappy. Lucien faced divorce, battled alcoholism, and endured a challenging life, resulting in his current state of distress. However, once he encountered Olivier, his entire life changed. Similarly, Olivier was in a tough spot when they crossed paths. He was struggling with some health issues that made it hard to work. For years, he had been bouncing progressing between the nearby city and this village in northern France, looking for work somewhat unsuccessful.
The bond between Lucien and Olivier
When these two happened to connect, it's like they bonded over having difficult lives. For Lucien, what really mattered to him was Olivier, despite being so much younger than him, did not treat him, did not treat Lucian like he was this dried up, worthless old man. He treated Lucian like a peer. And so together, these two very unlikely best friends began orchestrating their lives around the other. And before long, it was like their lives had all this new structure and routine and meaning to them because, again, the two men got to be together basically all day long. So on this particular morning, as Olivier and Lucien were together at this bar, they began talking about what they wanted to do that night, and they settled on having a barbecue at Lucien's house. Lucien would cook up some beef, and they would sit out on his back garden patio and just spend the night together. It sounded like a wonderful plan. In fact, the bartender would say that when Olivier Olivier and Lucien finally left the bar that day, that he recalled overhearing them being so excited about this particular barbecue. That evening, Olivier and Lucien arrived at Lucien's house, and they went out to the back patio where Lucien had already draped a nice tablecloth over this small roundtable.
Marie observes the scene
It was a red and white checkered pattern tablecloth, and on this table was an open bottle of wine and some cheese and a baguette. Olivier, he sat down and began enjoying some wine and bread, and Lucien walked over to grill and began cooking up the beef. Lucian had a neighbor. We're going to call her Marie because we don't actually know her real name. And Marie's second floor window overlooked Lucian's garden patio where the two men were having this cookout. And so that night, Marie did glance out and saw the two men listening to music and goof around. She was used to them spending lots of time together, and she was also used to them staying up late at night. And so she figured, tonight's going to be another one of those nights where these guys are up late, having wine, celebrating, whatever. She was just going to shut the window and try to ignore the noise coming in and just let them do their thing. Eventually, Marie would do that. She would go to bed to the sound of music coming from next door and the sound of men talking. Then the next morning, when Marie got up around 6:00 AM, she looked out that window again and frankly was not that shocked at what she saw.
Marie's growing concern
Lucien was still just sitting at the table looking like he could be eating some bread or still drinking wine, and Olivier had clearly passed out on the ground. Now, Marie didn't judge. She knew these two like to stay up late and drink and do stuff like this, and so she thought, You know what? None of my business. Then at 9:00 AM, so three hours after Marie had first woken up, she left her house to go to another neighbor's house to feed their chickens while they were away for the day. As she passed by Lucian's house, she glanced into his back garden patio and she saw Lucian was still just sitting at the table and Olivier was still passed out on the ground. It was like they hadn't moved for three hours. But But again, Marie's thinking, none of my business. She just kept on going, went to her neighbor's house, and fed the chickens. But when Marie came back to her house three hours later, around noon, she looked again into Lucian's backyard and she saw the two men still had not moved. Lucian is sitting at the table and Olivier is laying on the ground.
Discovery of the bodies
And suddenly, Marie's thinking, Wait a minute. The sun is high in the sky right now. These guys aren't moving. They're going to get heat stroke. We got to do something about this. And so she yelled to Olivier and Lucian, but she got no response. And so Marie just walked into Lucian's backyard. And as she got closer and closer to the two men, she realized that they were not moving at all. They were not breathing. Something was horribly wrong here. And so Marie, she just turned and ran to another neighbor's house. She told them what was going on, and they got these big pots of water, and they ran back and doused Olivier and Lucien with water, trying to get them to snap out of their drunken stupor. But the two men did not move at all when the water hit them. Clearly, they were dead. The next day, the local prosecutor announced there was going to be an investigation into the two men's deaths, which were being classified as criminal acts. And the prosecutor also said that it seemed like Lucian and Olivier died at the same time, and so most likely this was either a double homicide or a murder suicide.
Investigation and theories
The primary theory as to what killed the two men was poison put in their food. And so police sent off the canned beans the two men were eating to this institution in Paris to test it for something called botulism, which is a deadly toxin that will grow inside of canned foods. But it came back negative. And then also police sent off the rest of the food the two men were eating to various other laboratories to be tested for poisons. Again, all of it came back negative. There was nothing that the police could detect in any of the food they ate. Police were confused for a minute, but then the autopsies came back for Olivier and Lucien, and everything changed. Lucien and Olivier were not murdered. This was not a murder suicide. They didn't die from botulism or from some poison in their food. They died because of a set of very particular circumstances. Both Lucien and Olivier suffered from non-fatal minor medical issues. Lucien had bad dental health and so was missing a couple of teeth, and Olivier was suffering from a heart condition called cardiomegaly, which means his heart slightly enlarged and somewhat fragile.
Conclusion of the investigation
His condition was totally being monitored by doctors and was under control. But just for a second, on the night of August second, 2017, when Lucian and Olivier were having that cookout in Lucian's backyard, their non-fatal minor medical issues suddenly became a really, really big deal. Lucian cooked up a big plate of beef rib. Now, beef rib can be difficult to chew even when you have all your teeth take your time. But Lucian was missing teeth, and he loved this beef rib so much, he was wolfing it down really quickly, and so he wasn't chewing it enough. At some point, he swallowed a particularly big, untchewed bite, and he began to choke. When that happened, his best buddy, Olivier, sitting across from him, he stood up to try to help his friend who's basically dying right in front of him. The stress of this moment caused his heart to seize up, his heart, which is already enlarged and fragile, and he had a heart attack and died. Then Lucian, who now has no one to help him, continued to sit at the table trying to get this beef out of his throat, but he couldn't, and he eventually asphyxiated and died as well, hunched over at the table.
Summary
- A neighbor, Marie, noticed the two men enjoying their evening but became concerned the next day when they remained unmoving in Lucien's backyard.
- Marie and other neighbors discovered that both men were unresponsive and dead, leading to an investigation by local authorities.
- Initial theories suggested poisoning, but tests on the food and drinks consumed by the men showed no signs of toxins or botulism.
- Autopsies revealed that Lucien choked on beef due to missing teeth, and Olivier died from a heart attack triggered by the stress of seeing his friend choke, resulting in the tragic deaths of both men.
