French author Stéphane Bourgoin is famed for his books on serial killers that have sold millions of copies in France. However, he is now making the news for being exposed as a serial liar, thanks to an online investigation.
Age 67, Bourgoin was known as one of France’s leading experts on serial killers, with an impressive portfolio of over 75 books and multiple documentaries. Given his reputation, he was often called to give speeches regarding his experience across the nation and even served as a guest lecturer at the French national judiciary police academy. Bourgoin has previously claimed to have interviewed over 70 serial killers, including Charles Manson. He has also claimed that his own wife was murdered by a serial killer.
In January however, an anonymous collective brought into question Buorgoin’s credibility. “4e Oeil” or “4th Eye” released a series of Youtube videos accusing the famed author of lying. A spokesperson for the group revealed to CNN that they were suspicious that Bourgoin had plagiarized his material from books that were originally written in English. Their investigation began in August 2019 after discussing Buorgoin’s work in a Facebook group that was dedicated to criminal cases, the spokesperson said.
Bourgoin has since spoken to the press and taken to social media and confirmed that he did indeed lie. In an interview with Le Parisien, Bourgoin said that he is “ashamed to have lied, to have hidden things.” Bourgoin admitted, “It is true that when I was in the public eye I sometimes happened to embellish, to extrapolate, to exaggerate my importance because I always had the deep feeling of not really ‘being loved.”
An article by The Guardian reveals that Bourgoin has now admitted to the French press that his wife never existed but was actually inspired by Susan Bickrest, a young woman that he had met in a Florida bar who was murdered by serial killer Gerald Stano in 1975. Bourgoin also confessed that he had never interviewed Charles Manson, had met far less serial killers than he claimed and “never worked as a professional footballer – another claim he had made.”
“I am profoundly and sincerely sorry. I am ashamed of what I did, it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Bourgoin said to Le Parisien.
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