After this accusation, Petiot fled to Paris, where he opened a new medical practice. He used fake credentials to attract patients and in 1936, was appointed médecin d'état-civil, which meant he was able to write death certificates. During World War II, he provided people fake disability certificates so they could avoid having to serve. Petiot also created a fake escape route under the name Dr. Eugène. He told people he could get them out of France, and lured Jewish people and Resistance fighters to a secret passageway. Petiot told them they needed a certain vaccine before escaping, and then injected them with cyanide and burned their bodies in the basement of his house after stealing their belongings.