How Two Israeli Backpackers Captured France's Most Wanted Forest Predator in 1963
In 1963, two 20-year-old Israeli women finishing their military service unwittingly led French police to capture a notorious serial predator known as the Monster of the Bois de Boulogne after escaping his assault in the French woods.
In October 1963, the grocery store owned by Shmuel Feiner on Remez Street in Givatayim was unusually crowded. Neighbors and friends had gathered not to buy provisions, but to hear the remarkable adventure of Bina, the store owner's daughter. Alongside her childhood friend Ora Yoshua, both twenty years old, she had returned from Europe that very morning. Just two weeks prior, their names and faces had dominated French headlines, broadcast across radio and television, detailing how two young Israeli women had unwittingly engineered the capture of a notorious predator terrorizing the French countryside.
An Adventurous Journey Across Europe
The story began a month earlier when Bina Feiner and Ora Yoshua completed their compulsory military service and set out on an adventurous backpacking trip through Britain, France, and Switzerland. They sailed to Britain aboard a French vessel, volunteering for a week at a youth camp east of London alongside teenagers from Britain and Scotland. Unfazed by recent news reports of a tragic hitchhiking murder in the region, they pressed on, eventually crossing the English Channel by ferry to continue their journey through France entirely by thumb.
That summer, the French police were hunting for a serial assailant the press dubbed "The Monster of the Bois de Boulogne." Posing as a friendly motorist, he targeted young female tourists, luring them into his blue Dauphine car under the guise of offering a ride. Once isolated in remote forested areas, he would attempt to assault them, forcing the terrified victims to flee and leave behind all their belongings, which the robber would then steal. Over several months, he successfully preyed upon some twenty young tourists from Norway, Germany, England, and the United States, leaving law enforcement with few clues beyond the description of his blue vehicle.
The Encounter in the Woods
After spending three days in Paris, Feiner and Yoshua decided to travel south toward Lyon and Geneva. Ignoring casual warnings against hitchhiking, they positioned themselves on the outskirts of Paris with their backpacks and a side bag containing their passports, return ship tickets, and money. A blue Dauphine pulled over. The driver, a tall man wearing a cap and soiled work clothes, offered them a polite ride. Ora sat in the back while Bina took the front passenger seat.
As they drove, the atmosphere rapidly deteriorated. The driver claimed the main road was blocked by construction and veered into a dense forest. Suddenly stopping the car, he turned to Bina, grabbed her, and declared, "In France, we make love." Terrified and recalling grim stories of murdered hitchhikers, Bina screamed. Together with Ora, they managed to throw open the doors and sprint from the vehicle.
Justice and Global Headlines
The driver made no effort to pursue them, simply speeding away with all their possessions, including their passports and money. Although left stranded in the woods without identification or cash, Ora had managed to memorize the license plate. After receiving help from a passing cyclist and the local mayor, they reported the incident to the police. Initially skeptical, investigators verified Ora's details, leading to the swift arrest of the suspect forty-eight hours later: a forty-two-year-old married printer named Albert Thibault.
Though their stolen documents and cash had been burned, the French press immortalized the two women as heroines. Major newspapers like France-Soir celebrated their bravery, running headlines about how two former Israeli soldiers had brought down the dreaded forest predator. Unfazed by their sudden celebrity status, the young women simply continued exploring Paris, blissfully unaware of the media storm they had left in their wake.
