Trevor O'Keeffe was an Irish

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 man who was murdered while hitchhiking

Hitchhiking

Hitchhiking is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. His body was found in a shallow grave, having been strangled. Since 1980, seven young men had disappeared in the so called 'Triangle of Death' around Mourmelon military camp.

A year after O'Keeffe's murder, chief adjutant Pierre Chanal

Pierre Chanal

Pierre Chanal was a French soldier and suspected serial killer. He was convicted of the rape and kidnapping of a young Hungarian man whom he picked up hitch-hiking in 1988. He received a 10-year sentence for the attack, and was released in 1995 on probation...

 was stopped by police, who found a Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 hitchhiker bound and gagged in the back of his van. In 1990 Chanal was convicted of kidnapping

Kidnapping

In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

 and rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

. He was released from prison in 1995. O'Keeffe's mother, Eroline, tried for 16 years to get the French authorities to bring Chanal to trial for the murder of her son. Chanal committed suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

in hospital after his previous attempt in prison in 2003 while on trial. Mrs. O'Keeffe later wrote a book on her experiences.