In the three months between 28 June and 3 October, seven members of the household died suddenly, including the priest himself, his aged mother and father, and her own visiting sister, Anne Jégado.

Jégado returned to Bubry to replace her sister, where subsequently three people, including her other aunt, died over the course of three months, all of whom she cared for at their bedside.

Then, in the same town, the widow Lorey offered Jégado a room; she died after eating a soup that her new boarder had prepared.

Among her most infamous murders was that of a child, little Marie Bréger, who died at the Château de Soye (Ploemeur) in May 1841, ten years and one month before her final arrest.

There is no record of any suspected deaths from late 1841 to 1849, although a number of her employers later reported thefts; she was apparently a kleptomaniac and was caught stealing several times.

Later inquiries linked her to 23 suspected deaths by poisoning between 1833 and 1841, but none of these were thoroughly investigated since they were outside the ten-year limit for prosecution and there was no scientific evidence.

Jégado's behaviour in court was erratic, changing from humble mutterings to loud pious shouting and occasional violent outbursts against her accusers.

[1] The defence lawyer, Magloire Dorange, made a remarkable closing speech, arguing that she needed more time than most to repent and could be spared the death penalty since she was dying of cancer anyway.

Jégado was sentenced to death by guillotine and executed in front of a large crowd of onlookers on the Champ-de-Mars in Rennes on 26 February 1852.