Weber was born in a small fishing village in western France, which she left for Paris at age 14, working various menial jobs until she married in 1893.

On 25 March, Weber was babysitting her brother's seven-year-old daughter Germaine when the girl suffered a sudden attack of "choking," complete with red marks on her throat.

They returned prematurely to find Maurice gasping on the bed, his throat mottled with bruises, and Jeanne standing over him with a crazed expression on her face.

It was alleged that Weber killed her son in March to throw suspicion off herself, but she was being defended by a brilliant defence lawyer Henri-Robert, and jurors were reluctant to believe the worst about a grieving mother.

He was greeted at the door by a babysitter, "Madame Moulinet," who led him to the cot where nine-year-old Auguste Bavouzet lay dead, his throat badly bruised.

Back in Paris, Weber was arrested for vagrancy and briefly confined to the asylum at Nanterre, but doctors there pronounced her sane and set her free.