https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/04/11/the-unravelling-of-an-expert-on-serial-killers Skip to main content The New Yorker * Newsletter To revisit this article, select My Account, then View saved stories Close Alert Sign In Search * News * Books & Culture * Fiction & Poetry * Humor & Cartoons * Magazine * Puzzles & Games * Video * Podcasts * Archive * Goings On * Shop Open Navigation Menu To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories Close Alert The New Yorker New Yorker Favorites * The Vertical Tourist * How Putin's Oligarchs Bought London * A Pakistani Novelist Tests the Limits * The Philosopher Chef Dept. of Criminology April 11, 2022 Issue The Unravelling of an Expert on Serial Killers Stephane Bourgoin became famous through his jailhouse interviews with murderers. Then an anonymous collective of true-crime fans began investigating his own story. By Lauren Collins April 4, 2022 * * * * * Save this story for later. Stphane Bourgoin stands in a mirrored room. Bourgoin told interviewers that studying serial killers provided "a personal exorcism" after the murder of his girlfriend.Illustration by Maxime Mouysset * * * * * Save this story for later. Content This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. A brother and a sister are standing on the balcony of a sixth-floor apartment in Monte Carlo. It's the nineteen-seventies, in May, the afternoon of the Grand Prix. The sun is glinting off the dinghies in the turquoise shallows of the harbor. The trees are so lush they're almost black. The brother, Stephane Bourgoin, is in his twenties. He's come from Paris to visit his sister Claude-Marie Dugue. Race cars circle the city, careening onto the straightaway on Boulevard Albert 1er, which Dugue's apartment overlooks. Over the thrum, Bourgoin leans in and tells her something shocking: in America, where he'd recently been living, he had a girlfriend who was murdered and "cut up into pieces." Her name was Helene. Published in the print edition of the April 11, 2022, issue, with the headline "Murder, He Wrote." New Yorker Favorites * A major Black novelist made a remarkable debut. Why did he disappear? * Andy Warhol obsessively documented his life, but he also lied constantly, almost recreationally. * How breakfast gets served in Las Vegas. * A writer insisted that his novel was fiction, but a detective was sure it could help solve a murder. * The quest for a stove that can save the world. * Fiction by Upton Sinclair: "How to Be Obscene." Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker. [collins-la] Lauren Collins has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2008. She is the author of "When in French: Love in a Second Language." More:ExpertsTrue CrimeSerial KillersFranceMurderersInterviewsLying WivesCollectives This Week's Issue Never miss a big New Yorker story again. Sign up for This Week's Issue and get an e-mail every week with the stories you have to read. E-mail address [ ] Sign up By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. The New Yorker Sections * News * Books & Culture * Fiction & Poetry * Humor & Cartoons * Magazine * Crossword * Video * Podcasts * Archive * Goings On More * Customer Care * Shop The New Yorker * Buy Covers and Cartoons * Conde Nast Store * Digital Access * Newsletters * Jigsaw Puzzle * RSS * Site Map * About * Careers * Contact * F.A.Q. * Media Kit * Press * Accessibility Help * Conde Nast Spotlight (c) 2022 Conde Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Conde Nast. Ad Choices * * * * * Do Not Sell My Personal Info