14 ms·

The Unravelling of an Expert on Serial Killers

86 points by benbreen 5y ago

frereubu 5y ago
If you're not a New Yorker subscriber and have run out of free articles, there's a good free-to-read account of him in this Guardian article from November 2021: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/nov/09/secrets-of-top-serial-killer-expert-france-stephane-bourgoin https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/nov/09/secrets-of-top-... (There are some quotes from this article in the New Yorker piece).
- ratrocket 5y ago
  Or: https://archive.ph/Qv2i3 https://archive.ph/Qv2i3
- netsharc 5y ago
  "Sadly" their system isn't that bulletproof, I have Firefox set to clear cookies on exit, and when I reopen Firefox, it forgets that I ran out of free articles.
  - IAmEveryone 5y ago
    "Luckily" they know that! Porous paywalls are price discrimination. Someone willing to restart their browser/wiggle their VPN/watch an ad etc. is just not at the point in their life where they are likely to pay, so it's intended to allow you to read without making the paying customers feel like they paid for nothing. The next step ip is to replace some (but not all) of the agony with some (but not all) of the price: coupons, year-end sales, bundles etc.
  - bambax 5y ago
    Or you can simply disable javascript on uBlock Origin; works a treat on many sites (including the NYT).
- riffic 5y ago
  there's a browser extension for this.
bombcar 5y ago
TLDR he made up most of the stories on his side of things. He wasn’t a serial killer himself.
- krick 5y ago
  Thank you. I wish somebody did it to every NewYorker "article".
  - smnrchrds 5y ago
    Yes! Shakespeare too! "TDLR: They both die". So much better ! /s
    - aidenn0 5y ago
      Shakespeare starts Romeo and Juliet with a TL;DR for you. No need to add one
      - trentgreene 5y ago
        This will be on the ap test\ Take time to not\ Read this intro in jest
- temp8964 5y ago
  Yep. I found reading the Wikipedia page was sufficient. Reading pretentious long article on this is pointless.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - jamiek88 5y ago
    Reading the article and the writing in the New Yorker for many people IS the point. Not everyone emulates a machine and just wants data.
  - KarlKemp 5y ago
LiquidPolymer 5y ago
I’ve been traveling internationally and I’m hoping this is in the print edition piling up at my house.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bluehorseray 5y ago
I don't really like the habit of profiling relatively inconsequential transgressions of people, especially if the people aren't that relevant today. I don't think this guy necessarily deserved a New Yorker article about any lies he told in the past. Am I supposed to be mad at him? As a matter of fact I've already forgiven him after reading this. The lies made him more interesting.
- vmurthy 5y ago
  >Am I supposed to be mad at him? Families of the victims should be mad , yes. He preyed on their need for solace and made money out of it :-( I took away a lesson (which is closer to the ethos of HN) If something has gathered momentum (someone doing something unbelievable or something that other people are harping about), dig a bit deeper. Either you'll discover something nice or you can debunk the hype. Either way, you would have learned something.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - hungryforcodes 5y ago
    > which is closer to the ethos of HN HN has an ethos? I thought there were just a set of guidelines.
    - whatshisface 5y ago
      The HN ethos has one rule: Each level of comments shall disagree with the level before it, with the article counting as level 0. First-tier comments shall disagree with the article. Second-tier comments shall disagree with first-tier comments and agree with the article if necessary (but only when necessary). Third-tier comments shall disagree with second-tier comments and may or may not be related to the article, and so on.
      - fsckboy 5y ago
        that's very good, but there are some exceptions. If the article is about any health related topics, terminal illnesses, diet studies, etc., no matter how interesting, all comments shall be tangentially related personal anecdotes.
poink 5y ago
Since this entertaining article is profiling a fraud by using at least one criminal profiler as a source, it’s worth pointing out that whole discipline is of rather dubious merit.
aaron695 5y ago
HNHatesUsers 5y ago
[dead]
mrmrcoleman 5y ago
TL;DR: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stéphane_Bourgoin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stéphane_Bourgoin
atombender 5y ago
Good article, but I thought this one [1] in The Guardian, written by Scott Sayare last year (and which this article seems to be based on), was better at explaining the severity of Bourgoin's transgressions. He is clearly a shady character who built his career on inventing connections with famous people, and nothing he writes or says should be trusted. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/nov/09/secrets-of-top-serial-killer-expert-france-stephane-bourgoin https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/nov/09/secrets-of-top-...

86 points by benbreen 5y ago

If you're not a New Yorker subscriber and have run out of free articles, there's a good free-to-read account of him in this Guardian article from November 2021: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/nov/09/secrets-of-top-serial-killer-expert-france-stephane-bourgoin https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/nov/09/secrets-of-top-... (There are some quotes from this article in the New Yorker piece).

ratrocket 5y ago
Or: https://archive.ph/Qv2i3 https://archive.ph/Qv2i3
netsharc 5y ago
"Sadly" their system isn't that bulletproof, I have Firefox set to clear cookies on exit, and when I reopen Firefox, it forgets that I ran out of free articles.
- IAmEveryone 5y ago
  "Luckily" they know that! Porous paywalls are price discrimination. Someone willing to restart their browser/wiggle their VPN/watch an ad etc. is just not at the point in their life where they are likely to pay, so it's intended to allow you to read without making the paying customers feel like they paid for nothing. The next step ip is to replace some (but not all) of the agony with some (but not all) of the price: coupons, year-end sales, bundles etc.
- bambax 5y ago
  Or you can simply disable javascript on uBlock Origin; works a treat on many sites (including the NYT).
riffic 5y ago
there's a browser extension for this.

bombcar 5y ago

TLDR he made up most of the stories on his side of things. He wasn’t a serial killer himself.

krick 5y ago
Thank you. I wish somebody did it to every NewYorker "article".
- smnrchrds 5y ago
  Yes! Shakespeare too! "TDLR: They both die". So much better ! /s
  - aidenn0 5y ago
    Shakespeare starts Romeo and Juliet with a TL;DR for you. No need to add one
    - trentgreene 5y ago
      This will be on the ap test\ Take time to not\ Read this intro in jest
temp8964 5y ago
Yep. I found reading the Wikipedia page was sufficient. Reading pretentious long article on this is pointless.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- jamiek88 5y ago
  Reading the article and the writing in the New Yorker for many people IS the point. Not everyone emulates a machine and just wants data.
- KarlKemp 5y ago

LiquidPolymer 5y ago

I’ve been traveling internationally and I’m hoping this is in the print edition piling up at my house.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

bluehorseray 5y ago

I don't really like the habit of profiling relatively inconsequential transgressions of people, especially if the people aren't that relevant today. I don't think this guy necessarily deserved a New Yorker article about any lies he told in the past. Am I supposed to be mad at him? As a matter of fact I've already forgiven him after reading this. The lies made him more interesting.

vmurthy 5y ago
>Am I supposed to be mad at him? Families of the victims should be mad , yes. He preyed on their need for solace and made money out of it :-( I took away a lesson (which is closer to the ethos of HN) If something has gathered momentum (someone doing something unbelievable or something that other people are harping about), dig a bit deeper. Either you'll discover something nice or you can debunk the hype. Either way, you would have learned something.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- hungryforcodes 5y ago
  > which is closer to the ethos of HN HN has an ethos? I thought there were just a set of guidelines.
  - whatshisface 5y ago
    The HN ethos has one rule: Each level of comments shall disagree with the level before it, with the article counting as level 0. First-tier comments shall disagree with the article. Second-tier comments shall disagree with first-tier comments and agree with the article if necessary (but only when necessary). Third-tier comments shall disagree with second-tier comments and may or may not be related to the article, and so on.
    - fsckboy 5y ago
      that's very good, but there are some exceptions. If the article is about any health related topics, terminal illnesses, diet studies, etc., no matter how interesting, all comments shall be tangentially related personal anecdotes.

poink 5y ago

Since this entertaining article is profiling a fraud by using at least one criminal profiler as a source, it’s worth pointing out that whole discipline is of rather dubious merit.

aaron695 5y ago

HNHatesUsers 5y ago

[dead]

mrmrcoleman 5y ago

TL;DR: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stéphane_Bourgoin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stéphane_Bourgoin

atombender 5y ago

Good article, but I thought this one [1] in The Guardian, written by Scott Sayare last year (and which this article seems to be based on), was better at explaining the severity of Bourgoin's transgressions. He is clearly a shady character who built his career on inventing connections with famous people, and nothing he writes or says should be trusted. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/nov/09/secrets-of-top-serial-killer-expert-france-stephane-bourgoin https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/nov/09/secrets-of-top-...