It’s a case worthy of Sherlock Holmes: A detective solves a murder, only to discover he committed it after a local businessman is found shot on the beach. It sounds too incredible to be true, and as you’ll learn, the biggest mystery of all is whether it actually happened.
According to the commonly repeated version of events, a well-respected French police detective named Robert Ledru journeyed to the coastal city of Le Havre in 1887. He went there to investigate the killing of a local businessman who had been found dead on the beach, shot at close range.
Soon after arriving, the story goes, Ledru noticed a set of footprints in the sand that appeared to lead away from the body. One footprint, in particular, caught his attention because it was missing a big toe, a distinctive feature Ledru himself reportedly had after losing the toe in an accident.
Meanwhile, the murder weapon, according to the tale, was traced back to Ledru’s own service revolver, which he normally kept fully loaded. He also allegedly realized that his socks were wet, suggesting he had been on the beach earlier without remembering it.
Putting the pieces together, Ledru reportedly reached a shocking conclusion: he must have murdered while sleepwalking, a condition known as somnambulism. Rather than trying to get away with it, the story says Ledru confessed to the authorities.
What happened next depends on the version. In many retellings, Ledru was then subjected to medical observation, during which he allegedly demonstrated violent behavior while asleep. As a result, he was never formally convicted in a court.
Instead, French authorities placed Ledru under lifelong supervision. Now, the case is a staple on “strangest crimes in history” lists and discussions of sleepwalking defenses, but some historians and researchers are skeptical
Why the Robert Ledru story may not be true
Despite its popularity, many researchers argue the Ledru story may not be true at all, or at least not in the way it’s commonly presented. The biggest issue is the lack of primary sources. No verified French court records, police files, or contemporary newspaper articles from the 1880s clearly document the case. For a crime involving a prominent detective and such extraordinary circumstances, this absence is notable.
Another red flag is how the story appears to spread. Most modern accounts repeat nearly identical details and often trace back to mid-20th-century English-language retellings, rather than 19th-century French reporting.
A book called The Two Lives of Robert Ledru, published decades after the alleged events, is frequently cited as a key source. However, it offers few verifiable archival references and reads more like narrative nonfiction — or even fiction — than documented history.
Skeptics also note that the story fits a “too perfect” narrative structure: the investigator who becomes the culprit, the unmistakable footprint, the moral dilemma of reason confronting the unconscious mind. Historians note that this kind of narrative symmetry is a hallmark of legends and cautionary tales, particularly those that grapple with crime, morality, and the limits of human consciousness.
Whether Ledru was a real detective who unknowingly solved his own crime, or a fictional character whose story evolved into a widely believed legend, remains unresolved. What’s clear is that the investigation into the story itself continues to fascinate. We may never know if the case truly happened. But the mystery of Robert Ledru endures precisely because it forces us to question how history is written, remembered, and sometimes imagined
Published: Jan 20, 2026 01:26 pm