Michel Peiry (born February 28, 1959), known as The Sadist of Romont, is a Swiss serial killer who killed 5 people between 1981 and 1987. Described as the worst serial killer known in Switzerland since the Second World War, 11 murders were attributed to him, all of them carried out in the same way: he would take young teenage hitchhikers, tie them up, violate or sexually abuse them, then finally kill them and burn the corpses afterwards. These crimes upset all of Switzerland for many months and even after that, since in 2004, more than 15 years after the events, Peiry returned to the debate when the people had to decide on a popular initiative concerning the treatment of violent offenders in the country.