research studies about serial killers

The Dark Psychology of Serial Killers: Unpacking the Factors Behind their Brutal Behaviour

Serial killers have long captivated the public’s imagination with their shocking and senseless acts of violence. But what drives individuals to commit such heinous crimes? In an effort to answer this question, psychologists and criminologists have been exploring the complex interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors that can contribute to the development of a serial killer.

While there is no one-size-fits-all explanation for why someone becomes a serial killer, research has shed light on several key factors that can increase the likelihood of violent behaviour.

One of the most well-known biological factors is brain structure and chemistry. Studies have shown that a malfunctioning amygdala , the region of the brain responsible for regulating emotions and aggression, may be involved in the development of violent behaviour. Additionally, low levels of serotonin , a neurotransmitter that regulates mood, have also been linked to impulsive and violent behaviour. This means that a serial killer’s brain structure and chemistry can play a significant role in their behaviour, leading to an increased likelihood of violence.

Childhood abuse and trauma are also important factors in the development of serial killers. Childhood abuse can have lasting effects on an individual’s mental and emotional health, and research has suggested that individuals who experienced childhood abuse are more likely to engage in violent behaviour compared to those who did not experience abuse. In some cases, this abuse can lead to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can further increase the likelihood of violent behaviour.

Personality disorders also play a role in the development of serial killers. Serial killers often display a range of personality disorders, including antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), narcissistic personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder .

ASPD, in particular, is characterised by a lack of empathy and a willingness to engage in criminal behaviour, making it a key factor in the development of serial killers. These personality disorders can lead individuals to become detached from reality and engage in violent behaviour.

Social and environmental factors also play a role in the development of serial killers. Growing up in dysfunctional families or communities where violence is common can increase the likelihood of violent behaviour. Exposure to violent media, such as films and video games, has also been linked to an increased likelihood of violent behaviour. This exposure can desensitise individuals to violence and normalise it in their minds, leading to an increased likelihood of violent behaviour.

The psychology of serial killers is complex and multifaceted, and it is unlikely that any one factor can fully explain why someone becomes a serial killer. Instead, it is likely that a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors contribute to the development of violent behaviour.

A 2022 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health  explored the psychological profiles of serial killers and found that they often share several key characteristics. These include a lack of empathy, a history of childhood abuse and trauma, a desire for control, and a fascination with death and violence. The study also found that serial killers often display traits of both psychopathy and sadism, suggesting that these two personality disorders may be key factors in the development of serial killers.

A 2005 study published in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology looked at the role of childhood abuse in the development of serial killers. The study found that childhood abuse is a strong predictor of violent behaviour and can have lasting effects on an individual’s mental and emotional health. The study also found that individuals who experienced childhood abuse are more likely to engage in violent behaviour, including serial murder.

Knowing what makes a serial killer tick is crucial in stopping them from striking again. Researchers are diving into the mix of biological, psychological, and social factors to figure out why some people feel the urge to kill multiple times. This understanding can then be used to create better prevention strategies and help with future investigations.

Finding out why serial killers do what they do can also bring comfort to victims’ families and help society tackle violent crime in a more complete way. The study of serial killer psychology is ongoing and full of new discoveries. By looking into the complicated nature of serial murder, researchers are working towards a world without these horrible crimes.

Dennis Relojo-Howell   is the managing director of  Psychreg.

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Why are there fewer serial killers now than there used to be?

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Looking at the most-streamed movies or television shows on any given streaming service, it would be easy to assume that serial killers lurk behind every corner. The stories of Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and the Boston Strangler still loom large––even if the likelihood that you’ll encounter another Zodiac Killer has never been lower.

Since the 1970s and 1980s, a high activity period for serial murderers, the numbers have dropped significantly. Numbers peaked in the 1970s when there were nearly 300 known active serial killers in the U.S. In the 1980s, there were more than 250 active killers who accounted for between 120 and 180 deaths per year. By the time the 2010s rolled around there were fewer than 50 known active killers. 

This data is based on numbers from the Radford University/Florida Gulf Coast University Serial Killer Database that have been further analyzed, combed through and published in the recently-updated “Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder” by James Alan Fox , Jack Levin , Emma Fridel.

But what accounts for this dramatic decrease over the last 40 years?

According to Fox, a criminology professor at Northeastern University, it comes down to several major changes in forensic science, policing, criminal justice and technology that have made it harder than ever for the BTK Killers of the world to escape capture.

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The decline that started in the 1980s mirrors a decrease in a nationwide crackdown on crime that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s made it difficult for serial killers, let alone anyone involved in violent crime, to stay out of prison.

“Part of it has to do with the same reason the murder rate has gone down,” Fox says. “You have a surging number of people behind bars, so some of the would-be serial killers were likely behind bars as opposed to in the bars looking for victims.”

Between 1980 and 1992, the incarceration rate in federal and state prisons more than doubled to 332 per 100,000 U.S. residents, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics .

Advances in forensic science and DNA testing have also made it possible for police to more effectively investigate murders, even those that have remained open or questionable for decades . 

“The first case I was involved with in 1990, I was on a task force investigating the murders of five college students,” Fox says. “We had DNA, but it was pretty crude. We couldn’t get DNA from hair––now you can. You needed a lot of genetic material to be able to identify the DNA pattern––now you don’t.”

Forensic genealogy , recently used in the case of suspected quadruple murderer Bryan Kohlberger, has even made it possible to test DNA collected at a crime scene against DNA collected from a suspect’s family. 

And serial killers can leave a digital fingerprint too. Fox says the proliferation of surveillance cameras and the advent of the cellphone with its GPS tracking capabilities have made it harder for serial killers to abduct their victims in the first place. Investigators also have even more tools at their disposal to track a killer’s whereabouts, whether it’s an IP address or, in the case of the BTK Killer , the metadata off of a floppy disk.

Fox also attributes the decrease in serial killers to changing behaviors among the public as well. With widespread social and cultural changes in the 60s and 70s––drug use, hitchhiking, the hippie movement, anti-establishment sentiment––conditions were prime for predators to go on the prowl, Fox says.

@northeasternglobalnews The chances of you encountering someone from Mindhunter has never been lower, research suggests. Why? #Northeastern criminology professor James Alan Fox points to several factors, including parenting styles and advanced technology, contributing to this decrease. #TrueCrime #TrueCrimeTikTok #DeepDive ♬ Spooky, quiet, scary atmosphere piano songs – Skittlegirl Sound

But things have changed in the last few decades. Fears around mass killings have increased, as has the public’s general anxiety and distrust for one another . People are “much more aware and cautious than we used to be” and might be less likely to accept help from a stranger who says they just want to help you fix your flat tire .

Changes in how parents think about their children’s safety also mean some of the most common targets for serial killers, young women and girls, are less vulnerable than in decades past. According to Fox, Levin and Fridel, of the 5,582 victims killed by serial killers since 1970, more than half are female. About 30.2% of those female victims are between the ages of 20 and 29 and 23% are between the ages of 5 and 19.

Laurie Kramer , a professor of applied psychology at Northeastern, says many parents now feel like the world is a “more dangerous and risky” place, even at school , places they previously assumed were “risk free.”

“There is that sense that parents need to be much more participatory and intentional about selecting those opportunities in which their kids are going to be beyond school and church or other sorts of things that are pretty normative for them,” Kramer says. “There’s just a general anxiety, and I think that plays out with being protective.”

Kramer also speculates that the shift toward social emotional learning that occurred in school systems across the country over the last decade could partly explain why there are fewer serial killers now. SEL helps students develop empathy and manage their frustration and anger, while also giving educators a chance to “compensate for some trauma that kids may have experienced in other settings, like their homes,” Kramer says. Although it’s not a guaranteed fix, that extra layer of support could help prevent potential serial killers from developing in the first place.

“By having some ability to identify individuals early in life who are having difficulty, to provide appropriate forms of intervention and treatment earlier and to provide more effective forms of treatment, all of this is improving,” Kramer says.

Even though there are fewer serial killers stalking American streets, the culture at large remains fascinated by the horrific, sordid tales of who Fox calls “the legacy killers.” Serial killers may have an oversized cultural presence given how unlikely it is for people to encounter them, but Fox says it is still vitally important to study and, hopefully, prevent them from killing.

“The Boston Strangler killed 13 people and impacted their loved ones, but also was able to hold this entire city in a grip of terror for years,” Fox says. “The idea that there was one person who wreaked so much havoc on the city, whatever we can do to understand and prevent and capture someone like that early on, the better off we are.”

Cody Mello-Klein is a Northeastern Global News reporter. Email him at [email protected] . Follow him on X/Twitter @Proelectioneer .

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What can neuroscience tell us about the mind of a serial killer?

• By John Parrington
• April 19 th 2021

Serial killers—people who repeatedly murder others—provoke revulsion but also a certain amount of fascination in the general public. But what can modern psychology and neuroscience tell us about what might be going on inside the head of such individuals?

Serial killers characteristically lack empathy for others, coupled with an apparent absence of guilt about their actions. At the same time, many can be superficially charming, allowing them to lure potential victims into their web of destruction. One explanation for such cognitive dissonance is that serial killers are individuals in whom two minds co-exist—one a rational self, able to successfully navigate the intricacies of acceptable social behaviour and even charm and seduce, the other a far more sinister self, capable of the most unspeakable and violent acts against others. This view has been a powerful stimulus in fictional portrayals ranging from  Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , to Hitchcock’s  Psycho , and a more recent film,  Split . Yet there is little evidence that real-life serial killers suffer from dissociative identity disorder (DID), in which an individual has two or more personalities cohabiting in their mind, apparently unaware of each other.

Instead, DID is a condition more associated with victims, rather than perpetrators, of abuse, who adopt multiple personalities as a way of coming to terms with the horrors they have encountered. Of course a perpetrator of abuse may also be a victim, and many serial killers were abused as children, but in general they appear not to be split personalities, but rather people conscious of their acts. Despite this, there is surely a dichotomy in the minds of such individuals perhaps best personified by US killer Ted Bundy, who was a “charming, handsome, successful individual [yet also] a sadist, necrophile, rapist, and murderer with zero remorse who took pride in his ability to successfully kill and evade capture.”

“a recent brain imaging study … showed that criminal psychopaths had decreased connectivity between … a brain region that processes negative stimuli and those that give rise to fearful reactions”

One puzzling aspect of serial killers’ minds is the fact that they appear to lack—or can override—the emotional responses that in other people allows us to identify the pain and suffering of other humans as similar to our own, and empathise with that suffering. A possible explanation of this deficit was identified in a recent brain imaging study. This showed that criminal psychopaths had decreased connectivity between the amygdala—a brain region that processes negative stimuli and those that give rise to fearful reactions—and the prefrontal cortex, which interprets responses from the amygdala. When connectivity between these two regions is low, processing of negative stimuli in the amygdala does not translate into any strongly felt negative emotions. This may explain why criminal psychopaths do not feel guilty about their actions, or sad when their victims suffer.

Yet serial killers also seem to possess an enhanced emotional drive that leads to an urge to hurt and kill other human beings. This apparent contradiction in emotional responses still needs to be explained at a neurological level. At the same time, we should not ignore social influences as important factors in the development of such contradictory impulses. It seems possible that serial killers have somehow learned to view their victims as purely an object to be abused, or even an assembly of unconnected parts. This might explain why some killers have sex with dead victims, or even turn their bodies into objects of utility or decoration, but it does not explain why they seem so driven to hurt and kill their victims. One explanation for the latter phenomenon is that many serial killers are insecure individuals who feel compelled to kill due to a morbid fear of rejection. In many cases, the fear of rejection seems to result from having been abandoned or abused by a parent. Such fear may compel a fledgling serial killer to want to eliminate any objects of their affections. They may come to believe that by destroying the person they desire, they can eliminate the possibility of being abandoned, humiliated, or otherwise hurt, as they were in childhood.

Serial killers also appear to lack a sense of social conscience. Through our parents, siblings, teachers, peers, and other individuals who influence us as we grow up, we learn to distinguish right from wrong. It is this that inhibits us from engaging in anti-social behaviour. Yet serial killers seem to feel they are exempt from the most important social sanction of all—not taking another person’s life. For instance, Richard Ramirez, named the “Night Stalker” by the media, claimed at his trial that  “you don’t understand me. You are not expected to. You are not capable of it. I am beyond your experience. I am beyond good and evil … I don’t believe in the hypocritical, moralistic dogma of this so-called civilized society.” 

It remains far from clear why a few people react to abuse or trauma at an earlier stage in their lives by later becoming a serial killer. But hopefully new insights into the psychological or neurological basis of their actions may in the future help us to identify potential future such killers and dissuade them from committing such horrendous crimes.

Featured image via Pixabay

John Parrington is an Associate Professor in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, and a Tutorial Fellow in Medicine at Worcester College, Oxford. His latest book,  Mind Shift  (OUP, 2021), draws on the latest research on the human brain to show how it differs strikingly from those of other animals in its structure and function at a molecular and cellular level.

Parrington is also the author of  The Deeper Genome  (OUP, 2015) and  Redesigning Life (OUP, 2016). He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in science journals including  Nature, Current Biology, Journal of Cell Biology, Journal of Clinical Investigation, The EMBO Journal, Development, Developmental   Biology , and  Human Reproduction .

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[…] Click here to view original web page at blog.oup.com […]

For being so academically educated this article was poorly written. Everything here has been written many times before fervently. As much as the fascination exists to walk in their mind and body we can not unless we are like them. Unless there is stunning new research in anantomy, physiology or psychology; maybe it would be more productive to focus on teaching feelings, emotional intelligence and empathy to prevent this type of individual.

It would be better if the study/s mentioned were properly referenced to double-check them. I think that’s a paramount element when reading about any science-related topic.

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The Unravelling of an Expert on Serial Killers

By Lauren Collins

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, Stéphane Bourgoin, is in his twenties. He’s come from Paris to visit his sister Claude-Marie Dugué. Race cars circle the city, careening onto the straightaway on Boulevard Albert 1er, which Dugué’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 Hélène.

Bourgoin’s revelation was one of those moments when you “remember exactly what you were doing that day at that precise moment, the news is so striking and indelible,” Dugué recalled recently. “It was stupefaction and shudders, amid the revving engines of Formula 1.” Dugué and Bourgoin shared a father but had different mothers. They had got to know each other not long before, and Dugué didn’t feel that she could probe for details about a girlfriend she hadn’t met, or even heard of until that day. “I found the whole situation disturbing,” she said. She simply told Bourgoin how sorry she was.

At the time, Bourgoin had a career in the realm of B movies, reviewing fantasy and horror films for fanzines and dabbling in adult film. Later, he started writing his own books, which became hugely popular and helped establish him as a prominent expert on serial killers in France. His best-known work, “Serial Killers,” a thousand-page compendium of depravity, was released in five editions by the prestigious publisher Grasset. Travelling around the country to book festivals, Bourgoin built up a particularly devoted following within the already zealous subculture of true crime. One fan, Bourgoin said, sent him annotated copies of his own books, with items such as scissors, razors, and pubic hairs glued to the pages, corresponding to words in the text.

Bourgoin also had admirers in law and law enforcement. “He was one of the first people in France to say that serial killers weren’t only in America,” Jacques Dallest, the general prosecutor of the Grenoble appeals court, told me. Dallest was so impressed with Bourgoin that he invited him to speak at the École Nationale de la Magistrature, France’s national academy for judges and prosecutors. Bourgoin also gave talks at the Centre National de Formation à la Police Judiciaire, a training center for one of France’s main law-enforcement bodies, for which he claimed to have created the country’s first unit of serial-killer profilers.

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An energetic self-promoter, Bourgoin appeared frequently in the press and on television. “I counted, I did eighty-four TV shows in one month,” he once said. “I get up at 4:45 A.M. to be on the morning shows and go home at midnight to have a bite to eat.” He cultivated a flamboyantly geeky look, with equal shades of Sherlock Holmes (ascot, horn-rimmed glasses) and Ace Ventura (cerulean blazer, silky skull-print shirt). A quirky-shoes enthusiast, he sometimes wore a pair of white brogues made to look as though they were spattered with blood. On Facebook, he claimed to possess the remains of Gerard Schaefer, a serial killer from Florida. “To each person who buys my book, I will offer a small bag containing a little piece of Schaefer—fingernails, hair, ear, kneecap, skin, bones, etc.,” he wrote, in 2015. Female fans, he added, would be given priority.

Bourgoin was most famous for his jailhouse interviews with murderers. In the course of more than forty years, he had conducted seventy-seven of them, he said, “in the four corners of the planet.” He riveted audiences with tales of his encounters with the “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz (“David, I come here, you agreed to meet me, but I hope you’re not going to tell me the same bullshit that you told at your trial”), with the homicidal hospital orderly Donald Harvey (“He confesses seventeen additional crimes to me that he hadn’t even been suspected of”), with the “Killer Clown” John Wayne Gacy (who, Bourgoin said, grabbed his buttocks during the encounter). “Confronting these individuals can be dangerous from a mental point of view,” Bourgoin wrote, in “Mes Conversations avec les Tueurs” (“My Conversations with Killers”), a 2012 book. “To make them talk, you have to let down your guard, open yourself completely to a psychopath, who manipulates, lies, and is devoid of any scruple.”

If you dedicate your life to serial killers, the first question anyone asks is “Why?” Bourgoin’s answer was that Hélène’s death made him want to confront the worst that humanity had to offer, as “a form of catharsis” or even as “a personal exorcism.” At some point, he started pronouncing her name “Eileen,” the American way. He said that he’d met her in the mid-seventies, when he was living in Los Angeles, working on B movies; that, in 1976, he went on a trip out of town; that when he returned to the home they shared he discovered her dead body, “mutilated, raped, and practically decapitated.” The killer was apprehended two years later, and eventually confessed to almost a dozen other murders. He was now awaiting execution on death row.

When an interviewer asked for an image of Eileen, Bourgoin would produce a black-and-white photograph of the young couple. It was beautifully composed, almost professional-looking. In it, the two of them are pictured in closeup, facing each other. Eileen has feathered hair and rainbow-shaped brows. Bourgoin’s hair is long, and he appears to be wearing a leather jacket with a big shearling collar. He is turned toward her in a protective stance. She looks up at him with a snaggletoothed smile. They’re so close that their noses are almost touching.

“Eileen was his hook,” Hervé Weill, who co-runs a crime-fiction festival at which Bourgoin often appeared, told me. The story of her death stirred the public’s emotions, adding a sheen of moral righteousness to Bourgoin’s vocation. “I knew of Stéphane Bourgoin well before this program having seen almost all his interviews with prisoners, but I’m only here learning that he was the partner of a victim,” a YouTube user wrote, after watching one of Bourgoin’s television appearances. “Incredible man.”

In his public appearances, Bourgoin delivered even the most gruesome anecdotes with weary didacticism, as if he had seen it all and emerged omniscient, emotion transmogrified into expertise. He spoke in data points: seventeen crimes, seventy-seven serial killers, “hundreds of thousands” of case files that he claimed to have stored in his cellar. “For nearly fifteen years, I accumulated files that I synthesized into more than five thousand tables, four of which are reproduced in the book,” he said at one point, announcing that he had, in all likelihood, solved the long-standing mystery of the murder of Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia.

Bourgoin could seem a little off at times, more like an admirer than a dispassionate observer of the killers he studied. But it was easy enough to interpret this macabre streak as a consequence of his trauma. His social-media feeds featured an uncomfortable mixture of cat pictures (he named a cat Bundy), promotional brags (“once again a packed house, for the seventeenth time in a row”), morbid memes (“ BEING CREMATED IS MY LAST HOPE FOR A SMOKING HOT BODY ”), and crime-related kitsch (barricade-tape toilet paper; gloves and a jacket designed to look as if they were made from human skin). He spoke of his opposition, on moral grounds, to the death penalty, but he’d pose for a photograph in a fake electric chair, captioning it “Today, I’m lacking a little juice.” What might normally have seemed in bad taste could feel like defiance coming from a bereaved partner. He showed up for interviews in a Jeffrey Dahmer T-shirt and signed books “With My Bloodiest Regards.”

In 1991, Bourgoin travelled to the Florida State Prison to meet Ottis Toole, sometimes called the Jacksonville Cannibal, for a French-television documentary. Toole claimed to have eaten some of his victims and allegedly issued a recipe for barbecue sauce calling for, among other ingredients, two cloves of garlic and a cup of blood.

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Bourgoin opened the interview brightly, saying that someone had sent him the recipe for the sauce. “And I must tell you that I tried it,” he said.

“Was it any good?” Toole asked.

“Yeah, it was very good,” Bourgoin answered, his voice quickening. “Although I didn’t try it on the same kind of meat that you did!”

Despite Bourgoin’s inclination toward facts and figures, his own memories could be indistinct. Sometimes he said that he’d been introduced to serial killers, in the late seventies, by a police officer he got to know from Eileen’s case; at other times, he said that he’d met some sympathetic cops at meals hosted by Robert Bloch, the author of “Psycho.” Bourgoin refused to identify Eileen’s killer, or to give her last name, saying that he was preserving her anonymity out of respect for her parents. Whether because of decency, laziness, or esteem for his reputation, Bourgoin’s interlocutors tended not to press him very hard. “I seem to have been prepared to put down his evasions to professional caution or eccentric obsession,” Tony Allen-Mills, a British journalist who interviewed Bourgoin in 2000, told me. “He was accepted as an expert, and that’s how I treated him.”

Bourgoin knew the power of fandom, having spent decades stoking the public’s emotional investment in true crime. But he underestimated the intelligence of the audience. After years of watching TV specials, attending talks, reading books, and replaying DVD boxed sets about necrophilia, satanism, bestiality, torture, infanticide, matricide, patricide, and the like, followers of the genre had learned not to count on anybody’s better angels, or to underestimate humankind’s capacity for deceit. They were connoisseurs of the self-valorizing lie, having been trained by authors like the “master of noir” himself.

One group of true-crime fans, disturbed by inconsistencies in Bourgoin’s stories, launched their own investigation, which would unravel his career. “Can you imagine yourself in a long hallway?” a member of the group told me. “Each time you open a door, behind it there’s another door. That’s how many lies there were.”

One seemingly grandiose element of Bourgoin’s life story is true: his father, Lucien Joseph Jean Bourgoin, was a great man of history. Jean, as he was known, was born in 1897, in Papeete, Tahiti. He joined the French military at the age of seventeen, fighting with distinction in the First World War before studying at the élite engineering school École Polytechnique. During the Second World War, he made a bold escape from French-colonial Indochina after being put under surveillance for his support of the Free French, and was personally summoned by Charles de Gaulle to join the government-in-exile in London.

As a civilian, Jean travelled the world building roads, tunnels, railroads, irrigation systems, and electrical networks. Later, he became a Commander of the Legion of Honor, and took part in UNESCO ’s effort to relocate the ancient Egyptian temples of Abu Simbel. His twenty-two-page dossier in the National Archives of France chronicles countless missions, decorations, and “special services rendered to Colonization” in roughly twenty countries. “I’ve heard that there was much more to the story, that he was also a high-level intelligence officer,” Julien Cuny, his grandson, told me.

Bourgoin’s mother, Franziska Glöckner, was as mysterious and daring as her husband. Born in Germany in 1910, she moved to France in the thirties after marrying her second husband, a French diplomat. In 1940, with her husband at war, she took a job as an interpreter with the German command at Saint-Malo, on the coast of Brittany. “Intelligent, courtesan-like, and calculating,” according to one writer, she spent the war years facilitating fishing permits, attending cocktail parties, and consorting with the Grand Duke of the Romanovs, who was living in exile at a nearby villa. A French official recalled that she eventually acquired “such an influence that she was known to all as ‘Commandante du Port.’ ” A newspaper article later dubbed her the “Mata Hari of Saint-Malo.”

Toward the end of the war, Franziska was arrested on charges of treason and was accused of acting as an informant. At her trial, ten local witnesses, including the former mayor of Saint-Malo, testified in her defense. “It was thanks to her exceptional situation with the high German command that the docks of Saint-Malo, where ninety-six mineshafts had been set, were not exploded,” a newspaper article reported. She was ultimately acquitted.

Jean and Franziska married in Saigon in 1951. He was fifty-three and she was forty. Two years later, their only child, Stéphane, was born in Paris. The family lived in a Haussman-style apartment in the Seventeenth Arrondissement, not far from the Arc de Triomphe. Stéphane spoke French, German, and English, and attended the venerable Lycée Carnot. He seems to have been an awkward child. “The second the bell rang, three minutes later I was outside with twenty people, but he was rather isolated,” Jean-Louis Repelski, a classmate, recalled.

An unremarkable student, Bourgoin left high school without a diploma. He was obsessed with cinema, sometimes seeing five movies in a day. “He was a walking dictionary,” Claude-Marie Dugué told me. “He knew all the directors and films by heart, and inundated me with references and anecdotes.” At some point, Bourgoin parlayed this interest into a series of jobs in adult film. He is credited as the screenwriter of “Extreme Close-Up,” “La Bête et la Belle,” and “Johnny Does Paris,” a series of late-seventies and early-eighties productions starring John Holmes, the prolific American porn actor.

Bourgoin has said that his career in movies got started in the U.S., but, despite featuring some American actors, the three films were shot in France. Bourgoin did go to America at least once in his youth, as I learned from the papers of his father’s former wife, Alice Gilbert Smith Bourgoin. Alice was a New England patrician, with a degree from Smith College, who appears to have had an ardent but melancholic relationship with Jean, exacerbated by the turbulence of their era. Toward the end of her life, she wrote an affectionate letter to Jean offering to return “two handsome and valuable rings you gave me—a solitaire diamond and a beautiful dark blue sapphire.”

Alice’s letter arrived in Paris on June 7, 1977, but Stéphane was the one to receive it. Jean had died, of a heart attack, three days earlier, at a ceremony hosted by his alma mater. Jean’s death must have been a shock, but Stéphane replied to Alice, in a letter dated the same day. “You do not know me, but I am Jean’s son, Stéphane, born in 1953, and, by the way, the only child of his last mariage [ sic ],” he wrote, in English. “Perhaps you want to know a little bit more about me.”

He told her that he had recently spent almost a year in America, but the letter made no mention of a murdered lover, or of a serial killer. “I love very much the USA and the kindness of the Americans,” he wrote. He added that he was engaged to an American girl who was living in France, a love story just like Alice and his father’s. “Right now, I am keeping aside every penny I earn to be able to make another trip to the States.” He concluded by giving Alice his telephone number and his address.

In the bottom left-hand corner of the second page of the letter, there is a handwritten note, made at a later date by a nephew of Alice’s:

Stéphane subsequently came to the USA and visited ASB, at her expense, when she handed over the rings. He never wrote to express any appreciation and was not heard from again before she died.

As a young man, Bourgoin resembled a character out of a potboiler. In the late seventies, he began working at Au Troisième Œil, a secondhand crime bookstore in Paris’s Ninth Arrondissement, which he later took over. Customers could find him there, presiding “like a spider in his web,” according to a longtime client. The shop was a narrow room bursting with first editions, forgotten genre novels, and rare crime fanzines, stacked double on shelves that ran from floor to ceiling. “It was a lair stuffed with literary treasures, and you could spend ages there talking about le roman noir ,” the writer Didier Daeninckx recalled.

The cultivated seediness of the place and its proprietor was irresistible to the writers who frequented the shop. Daeninckx put Bourgoin into one of his books, as a bookstore manager who deduces that a key character has cribbed his tale of suicide by piano from the plot of an obscure novel. Bourgoin also seems to have inspired the character of Étienne Jallieu, a “self-taught erudite shopkeeper” who outwits professional sleuths, in Jean-Hugues Oppel’s thriller “Six-Pack.” Bourgoin spun the myth out further, co-writing several especially grisly true-crime books (one focussed on infanticides) under the pseudonym Étienne Jallieu.

Bourgoin got an early taste of public attention in 1991, as a writer on “100 Years of X,” a cable documentary about porn. This was also the year of Bourgoin’s first filmed meeting with a murderer. Serial killers were having a cultural moment, following the success of Thomas Harris’s novel “The Silence of the Lambs.” On the eve of the book’s publication in French, Bourgoin wrote an article for a small crime-literature review about “a new type of criminal: the serial killer.” He seems to have sensed that a phenomenon was in the air, one that would only gain momentum with the release of a film version of “The Silence of the Lambs,” starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. One night in Paris, Bourgoin regaled guests at a dinner party with tales of these new American murderers and the profilers who spent their days tracking them. “We were utterly captivated,” Carol Kehringer, a documentary producer who attended the dinner, told Scott Sayare, writing in the Guardian . “I started asking him all sorts of questions,” she added. “The more he spoke, the more I thought to myself, We’ve got to do a film!”

Kehringer and Bourgoin were acquaintances and had worked together before, so she asked him to conduct the interviews for the documentary. In the fall of 1991, Bourgoin and a crew flew to the United States to shoot the film for the French television channel FR3. At Quantico, they met with John Douglas, the pioneering F.B.I. criminal profiler who would later gain fame through his book “Mindhunter.” They travelled to Florida and California for meetings with murderers, arranged by the production crew.

The film, sold as “An Investigation Into Deviance,” was Bourgoin’s first public foray into the world of serial killers, but, by the time it was finished, Bourgoin and Kehringer were no longer speaking. “When he had the killers in front of him, it was as if he was sitting across from his idols,” she told the Guardian . Still, other producers continued working with him, and he soon published his first book on serial killers, a study of Jack the Ripper. He followed it with a flurry of spinoff volumes and, in 1993, with the first edition of his masterwork, the “Serial Killers” almanac.

Eileen doesn’t figure in Bourgoin’s work from this time. He seems to have introduced her into his professional repertoire sometime around 2000, even though, according to his sister, he had been telling the story privately for decades. “I had doubts when he said his girlfriend had been murdered, simply because I had known him for years and he had never spoken about it before,” François Guérif, a well-known French crime-fiction editor and Bourgoin’s former boss at the bookshop, recalled. Bourgoin was clearly conscious of a need to add emotional punch to his work. “He could cry on command,” Barbara Necek, who co-directed documentaries featuring Bourgoin, told me. Some of Bourgoin’s peers considered him a hack who presented himself as a globe-trotting criminologist when he was merely a jobbing presenter. “Neither I nor any of our mutual friends at the time had heard the story of his murdered girlfriend, nor of his so-called F.B.I. training,” a colleague and friend of Bourgoin’s from the eighties told me. “It triggered rounds of knowing laughter among us, because we all knew it was absolutely bogus.”

But elsewhere Bourgoin was taken seriously. As his career progressed, he came into contact with family members of the victims of killers. They saw him as a kindred survivor, someone who could be trusted to treat them with integrity, because of his personal experience. Conversely, proximity to them was valuable to Bourgoin as a form of reputational currency. “Each month, two or three people contact me,” he boasted, of his relationship with victims’ families, in 2012. Through his association with a victims-advocacy group called Victimes en Série, Bourgoin got to know Dahina Sy. She had been kidnapped and raped at the age of fourteen by Michel Fourniret, who later murdered seven young women.

One evening, Sy went to a dinner at Bourgoin’s house. The atmosphere there was peculiar—a “museum of horrors,” according to a journalist who once visited, filled with slasher-film posters, F.B.I. memorabilia, porcelain cherubs in satin masks, and case files of uncertain provenance. Sy told me, “He said, ‘Come here, I want to show you something.’ ” Bourgoin began pulling crime-scene photographs out of a folder. “Puddles of blood,” Sy said. “It was absolutely abject.” Sy had suffered from post-traumatic stress for years after her abduction. One of its manifestations was extreme arachnophobia. At the dinner table, Bourgoin put a plastic spider on her shoulder. “I was paralyzed, and he was laughing,” Sy recalled. “I think it gave him pleasure to mess with my mind.”

In 2018, Bourgoin began collaborating with the publishing house Glénat on a branded series of graphic novels (“Stéphane Bourgoin Presents the Serial Killers”). The second installment, about Fourniret, came out in March of 2020. Alerted by an acquaintance to the book’s existence, Sy was shocked to encounter her adolescent image rendered “flesh and bone” in a cartoon strip, with Fourniret threatening her (“I will be forced ​​to disfigure you if you don’t do exactly as I say”), his words suspended in dialogue bubbles. Sy says that neither Bourgoin nor the publisher had notified her about the book, or about the fact that it reprinted the entirety of an interview that she’d given in a different context years earlier. She hired a lawyer to send a letter of complaint to the book’s publisher, which withdrew it from the market. “It was like being defiled a second time,” she told me.

Bourgoin never interrogated Fourniret, but, oddly, the book’s writer inserted a character inspired by Bourgoin throughout the text, a revered criminologist who goes by Bourgoin’s old pseudonym Étienne Jallieu.

“I admit that I’m having trouble understanding the dynamics of your relationship with your wife,” Jallieu tells Fourniret, facing him across a table in an alfresco interrogation room set up on a prison basketball court. “Probably because none of you tell the exact truth.”

“What is the truth for you, Monsieur Jallieu?” Fourniret asks.

“What you’ve spent your entire life trying to hide, Monsieur Fourniret,” Jallieu replies.

In 2019, a man who goes by the pseudonym Valak—inspired by a demon in the film “The Conjuring 2”—picked up a Bourgoin book that happened to be at hand. Valak, who is forty-five, lives in a port city in the South of France and works in a field unrelated to serial killers. When we spoke one day, over Zoom, he sat in a small room in front of a red velvet curtain. He wore a black baseball cap, a black polo, and a black mask, an outfit that was intended to protect his identity but also gave off a whiff of stagecraft. Valak told me that he had always been interested in human psychology, particularly at its extremes. He had enjoyed Bourgoin’s work as a teen-ager, but, revisiting it as an adult, he was struck by its sloppiness.

“There were things that didn’t seem coherent,” Valak told me. “I told myself, ‘O.K., it must be me that’s paranoid, that’s looking for a nit to pick.’ And then I discovered Facebook.”

One day, in a large Facebook group of true-crime enthusiasts, someone posted a link to an article about Bourgoin. Valak commented, expressing his unease about the work. He recalled, “There were a bunch of people who responded after that, saying, ‘ Bah , oui , I agree.’ ”

The skeptics—about thirty of them—formed a chat group to discuss their doubts about Bourgoin. That group eventually splintered into a smaller cohort, composed of Valak and seven others, living in France, Belgium, and Canada. (One member left the group after a falling out.) They called themselves the 4ème Œil Corporation (the Fourth Eye Corporation)—a play on Au Troisième Œil (At the Third Eye), the name of the bookstore that Bourgoin once ran.

At first, the group members saw their task as largely literary. They set to work combing through Bourgoin’s dozens of books, expecting to find instances of plagiarism. Bourgoin had, in fact, lifted passages from English-language works that hadn’t been translated into French. In some cases, he had even pilfered other people’s life experiences. He claimed, for instance, that, while visiting a crime scene in South Africa with the profiler Micki Pistorius, he was splattered by maggots and decomposing body parts that had been churned up by police helicopters. (Pistorius did experience a similar incident, but Bourgoin was not there.)

The members of the collective weren’t professional researchers, but they were assiduous. “As soon as we started looking,” Valak recalled, “we found more and more inconsistencies.” They decided to expand the scope of their investigation. Soon, they were devoting as much time to Bourgoin as they were to their day jobs. They contacted Bourgoin’s purported former colleagues, sent letters to prisons across the U.S., and scoured YouTube for clips of obscure speaking engagements and television appearances, like music lovers searching for concert bootlegs. They were completists, even interviewing a representative of the clerk of court in St. Lucie County, Florida, about Bourgoin’s claim that he possessed most of the case evidence related to Gerard Schaefer, who was sentenced there in 1973. (Bourgoin had neither the evidence nor the remains that he had bragged about.) This was the inverse of fandom: a passionate connection driven by disappointment rather than by admiration. One man became so consumed by the work that his relationship nearly ended.

In January of 2020, after months of research, the collective began posting a series of damning videos on YouTube. They contended that Bourgoin, a “serial mythomaniac,” had fabricated numerous aspects of his life and career. Eileen, for example, was not Bourgoin’s first wife, as he sometimes claimed (alternatively, he called her his “partner,” “girlfriend,” or “very close friend”): French public records obtained by the group established that his first wife was a Frenchwoman, and that they divorced in 1995. The collective showed that Bourgoin had also given wildly conflicting accounts of the timing, the place, and even the manner of Eileen’s death. Her supposed killer, furthermore, was nowhere to be found. The 4ème Œil had gone through a list of prisoners awaiting execution in California, and there wasn’t a single one who had killed the correct number of people in the time period that Bourgoin had laid out. Nor did they find evidence of a victim who fit the description that Bourgoin had given of Eileen.

Bourgoin’s professional résumé was as dubious as his personal history. By the collective’s reckoning, he had not interviewed seventy-seven serial killers but, rather, more likely only eight or nine. An interview with Charles Manson? Nobody in Manson’s camp had ever heard of it. In setting out his credentials, Bourgoin often claimed that the F.B.I. had invited him to complete two six-month training courses at Quantico with Douglas’s team of profilers. The 4ème Œil contacted Douglas, who, according to the group, replied, “Bourgoin is delusional and an imposter.”

Bourgoin’s lies ran the spectrum from pointless little fictions to brazen fabulation. In some cases, he tried to make himself sound more important than he was—he really did give talks at the Centre National de Formation à la Police Judiciaire, even if he had nothing to do with creating the law-enforcement body’s profiling unit. He really did know the writer James Ellroy, but a picture of the two of them that he had tweeted wasn’t taken “on vacation”; it was from a crime-fiction and film festival. Bourgoin also often took risks that didn’t comport with their potential payoff, as when he claimed that he had played professional soccer for seven years with the Red Star Football Club before moving to America. Bourgoin was born in 1953, and by 1976, the year in which Eileen was allegedly murdered, he was supposed to have been living in the U.S. “If his career had lasted for 7 years,” the 4ème Œil deduced, “he would have been pro at 16.” (Red Star: “No trace of him.”)

Bourgoin’s story wasn’t so much a house of cards as a total teardown. Some of his lies hardly made sense except in fulfilling his seemingly irresistible desire to become a character in dramas that didn’t concern him. At a talk that he gave to high-school students in 2015, he showed a clip of the interview he had done with the killer Donald Harvey, who was accompanied by his longtime attorney, William Whalen. Bourgoin called Whalen “a very close friend of mine.” He told the students, “Whenever he came to Europe, he stayed at my place in Paris. Unfortunately, last year he committed suicide, and in his suicide note he said that he was ultimately never able to live with the fact that he’d defended a killer like Donald Harvey.” Whalen, Bourgoin concluded, was a “new victim” of Harvey’s. Whalen’s family told me that they had never heard of Bourgoin, that Whalen had never travelled outside North America, and that Whalen was, to the end, a strong believer in the American judicial system and “very proud of defending Donald Harvey.”

The 4ème Œil even composed a psychological sketch similar to the serial-killer profiles with which Bourgoin had titillated the public: “The typical mythomaniac is fragile, subject to a strong dependence on others, and his faculties of imagination are increased tenfold. Whatever his profile, he is often the first victim of his imaginary stories, which he struggles to distinguish from reality.” The collective described Bourgoin as a “ voleur de vie ”—a stealer of life. “We’re by no means accusing Stéphane Bourgoin of being an assassin,” the group wrote. “By voleur de vie we mean that he helps himself to pieces of other people’s lives.”

Most cons become harder to keep up the longer they go on, but Bourgoin’s was cleverly self-sustaining. His lies enabled him to gain the very experience that he lacked, and every jailhouse interview doubled as a master class in manipulation. Blagging his way into prisons and police academies, Bourgoin, in pretending to be a serial-killer expert, at some point actually became one.

The 4ème Œil has extended the right of reply to Bourgoin on several occasions, but he has never responded to the group directly. The closest he came was when he hired a legal adviser who, citing copyright and privacy violations, got the group’s videos removed from YouTube. In February of 2020, Bourgoin announced that he was closing his public Facebook page and migrating to a private group. (It has nearly three thousand members, but its administrators blocked me as I was reporting this story.) He was going to be less active on social media, he said, but only because he needed to save all his time and energy for “the most important project of my life,” whose parameters he didn’t specify. Almost airily, he mentioned that he had been the victim of a “campaign of cyberbullying and hate on social media” and was being targeted by “bitter and jealous” individuals. Their acts, he declared, were akin to those of people who snitched on their neighbors during the collaborationist regime of Marshal Pétain.

Three months later, with pressure on Bourgoin mounting in the French press, he spoke to Émilie Lanez, of Paris Match. “ STéPHANE BOURGOIN, SERIAL LIAR?” the headline read. “ HE CONFESSES IN MATCH .” The article was empathetic, attesting to Bourgoin’s “phenomenal knowledge” and the respect that he commanded in the law-enforcement community, and presenting his lies as an unfortunate sideshow to a largely legitimate career. Bourgoin seemed erratic, toggling between tears and offhandedness, lamenting the weight of his lies but then dismissing them as “bullshit” or “jokes.”

Even as he unburdened himself, Bourgoin was sowing fresh confusion. The article explained, for instance, that Eileen was actually Susan Bickrest, who was murdered by a serial killer near Daytona Beach in 1975. The article described Bickrest as a barmaid and an aspiring cosmetologist who supplemented her income with sex work. Before her death, she and Bourgoin had seen each other “four or five times,” and he had transformed her into his wife because he “didn’t want people to know that he’d been helping her out financially.” The dates of Bickrest’s murder and her killer’s arrest didn’t align with the Eileen story, however, and even a cursory glance at photographs of the two women revealed that, except for both having blond hair, they didn’t look much alike.

“Day after day, we patiently untangled the threads, trying to distinguish true from false in the jumble of his statements,” Lanez wrote. Engaging with Bourgoin’s lies, I found, could have a strange generative power, inspiring in those who tried to decipher them the same kind of slippery speculation that they were attempting to resist. Étienne Jallieu, people pointed out, was nearly an anagram for “ J’ai tué Eileen ”—“I killed Eileen,” in French. (A more likely derivation is the town of Bourgoin-Jallieu, near Lyon.) A bio of Bourgoin at the end of an old, undated interview claimed that he had sometimes used the alias John Walsh in his adult-film days. John Walsh is a common enough name, but it also happens to be the name of the man who hosted “America’s Most Wanted” for many years. Walsh’s six-year-old son was murdered in Florida in 1981, and in 2008 Ottis Toole, the Florida drifter with whom Bourgoin joked about barbecue sauce, was posthumously recognized as the child’s murderer. Might Bourgoin have refashioned himself as the family member of a victim in imitation of Walsh? Or was his desire for proximity to mass killing born of his work on the films of John Holmes, who was later tried for and acquitted of the so-called Wonderland murders of 1981?

Just when I thought I was gaining some traction on Bourgoin’s story, a tiny crack would open up, sending me down a new rabbit hole. The Paris Match article, for instance, made the unusually specific claim that Bourgoin, in the seventies, lived on the eleventh floor of an apartment building on 155th Street in New York. I remembered that Bourgoin had once given a similar address in a Facebook post, claiming that he’d “lived in New York at the moment of the Son of Sam’s crimes.” That address turned out to be slightly different: 155 East Fifty-fifth Street. Curious, I typed it into a database. One of the first hits was a Times article from 1976—the year of Son of Sam—describing an apartment at the address as a “midtown house of prostitution.”

Xaviera Hollander, a former sex worker who now runs a bed-and-breakfast in Amsterdam, confirmed that 155 East Fifty-fifth Street was “the famous, or should I say infamous, apartment building where I started off as the happy hooker,” in the early seventies, but she had no memory of Bourgoin. Hollander added that the building used to be called the “horizontal whorehouse,” where “every floor had one or two hookers.” Eventually, I found the owner of apartment 11-H, where Bourgoin supposedly lived, and he told me that a man named Beau Buchanan had rented it in 1976. A director and producer of porn movies, Buchanan died in 2020. He easily could have known Bourgoin—but did Bourgoin take Buchanan’s address and make it his own, or had he really lived there?

It seemed a reasonable guess, given the period fashions and the professional composition, that the photograph of Bourgoin and the woman he had identified as Eileen had been taken on one of the movie sets he worked on in the seventies. The 4ème Œil felt reasonably sure that Eileen was Dominique Saint Claire, a well-known adult-film actress of the era. A porn expert I contacted suggested, independently, that Eileen might be Saint Claire, but, looking at the pictures of Saint Claire that were available online, I wasn’t convinced. (My attempts to contact Saint Claire were unsuccessful.)

I watched a head-spinning selection of films from the era and called a number of former actors—one was a maker of traditional and erotic chocolates—searching for some hint of Eileen. The movies that Bourgoin wrote are almost impossible to get ahold of, but Jill C. Nelson, a biographer of John Holmes, agreed to mail me a DVD of “Extreme Close-Up” from her personal collection. It’s a love-triangle story in which, as the DVD’s jacket copy notes, an American writer “is led into a world of European sexual delights where fantasy merges with reality.” I watched the movie attentively—at one point pausing an open-mouthed-orgasm scene to search for a snaggletooth—but none of the women resembled the one in Bourgoin’s photograph.

In early March, I called Bourgoin from a street corner in a rural village on France’s southwest coast, near where he now lives. I wasn’t expecting him to answer; I had tried to contact him before, without much luck. But, to my surprise, he picked up and quickly furnished his address. Several miles down the road, I found him standing in funky green shoes outside a modest house with an orange tiled roof and voile curtains with teapot appliqués and gingham trim.

Bourgoin invited me inside. I noticed, as he made coffee, that his knife rack was shaped like a human body, stuck through with blades at various points: forehead, heart, groin. Eventually, we sat down at a small table in the sunroom. He seemed unruffled by my unannounced visit, almost as though he’d been waiting for someone to show up.

A person who was once close to Bourgoin told me that he was an “excellent actor” and “extremely convincing, because, when he lies, he believes it very strongly, and so you believe it, too.” At the table, though, Bourgoin was diffident. He didn’t seem to be putting much effort into making me—or, possibly, himself—believe what he said. Or maybe he believed it so deeply that the delivery was no longer relevant. When I asked how many killers he had actually interviewed, he replied, in English, “It depends. Each time I was going to a jail, I asked to meet serial killers other than the ones I was authorized to film or interview. So sometimes at Florida State Prison I met in the courtyard during the promenade—I don’t know, two? five?—other serial killers.” He was just as evasive on other subjects. I asked him about the prank that he played on Dahina Sy. “It was a fake spider,” he said, as though that explained everything. (He later claimed that he was unaware of Sy’s arachnophobia.) When I brought up the rings that Alice, his father’s former wife, had given him, he said that he had called to thank her the next time he was in New York.

His instinct, in tense moments, was to show me his collections: piles of dusty tabloids, stacks of pulp fiction, an attic full of DVDs, desks and dressers and wardrobes containing boxes of old notebooks in which he had dutifully listed and rated, in a prim, upright hand, every film he’d seen. When I asked about the apartment at 155 East Fifty-fifth Street, he produced three large envelopes, postmarked in the early fall of 1975 and sent to “Stéphane Bourgoin, A.R.T. Films” at that address. A.R.T., he said, was a distribution company that had belonged to a friend of his, Beau Buchanan. The envelopes didn’t shed much light on Bourgoin’s doings in seventies New York, but for him such objects seemed almost equivalent to experiences.

In an article called “How I Was Bamboozled by Stéphane Bourgoin,” the Swiss journalist Anna Lietti examined her decision to write a mostly positive article about Bourgoin, despite her discomfort with his “overly smooth” presentation. “I was disappointed by the superficiality of my interlocutor and the lack of depth of his remarks,” Lietti, describing him as a sort of human reference book, wrote. “He lined up facts, dates, details, without offering a perspective, an original key to understanding these monsters to which he devoted his life.” In his countryside house, Bourgoin seemed a sad figure—a collector of trivia and paraphernalia, a man who just as easily could have spent decades amassing esoteric toys or obsessing over cryptocurrency, rather than living off the misfortunes of others. It was as though he thought that gathering enough props would make him a protagonist.

“I’m sorry that I lied and exaggerated things,” Bourgoin told me, at one point. “But I never raped or killed anybody.”

I asked what lies he was apologizing for.

“All the lies,” he said. But, he added, “there was mostly one important lie that I would do again.”

Bourgoin was referring to the Eileen story—the foundational lie upon which he had constructed his career. He admitted that he had invented her name, and the location of the murder. But, he insisted, he had really had a girlfriend who was murdered by a serial killer. “It was just a young girl that I met three times that I had sex with,” he said. Later, he was more explicit: “I invented that story because I was afraid that people would think that . . . I paid for a prostitute.”

Bourgoin didn’t want to give the woman’s name, even if I promised not to publish it. I asked if he could at least give me the identity of the woman in the photograph, but he claimed not to remember. “I think she was Spanish!” he added later.

The only time Bourgoin truly came alive was when he talked about the anonymous collective that had brought him down. We stood in his office, surrounded by fright masks and first editions, and he said that he was “quite happy it came out, but not the way that the 4ème Œil did it.” He asked me if I’d looked into the group’s membership. “You must have done some research on the people who accused me,” he said, suggesting that I get to work on a counter-investigation of his investigators.

Claude-Marie Dugué found out that her brother had been lying to her for half a century when the Paris Match article came out. She had never suspected it, but the news didn’t shock her. “Nothing surprises me in my family,” she said. Nor was she offended, on a personal level, by the breach of trust. “He didn’t really deceive me,” she said. “He let me into his world.”

Dugué’s son, Julien Cuny, told me that one quote from the article jumped out at him. “ Parfois, je me fais des films dans ma tête. J’ai toujours voulu qu’on m’aime ,” it read. “Sometimes I make films in my head. I’ve always wanted to be loved.” Cuny is an accomplished tech executive in Montreal, but he has always been daunted by his family’s distinction. To him, Bourgoin’s words were an almost inevitable response to an overwhelming mythology, “a phantasmagoric picture of distant family members (you almost never meet) who are always on an adventure somewhere.”

The first time Dugué and I exchanged e-mails, she told me something that I wasn’t expecting: she was the product of an extramarital relationship between Jean Bourgoin and her mother, Béatrice Pourchasse, as was her sister, who was born thirteen months before her. The girls lived with their mother in the Fourth Arrondissement. Jean Bourgoin lived with his family—Franziska and Stéphane—across town. Jean organized his parallel lives strictly, keeping them “watertight,” Dugué recalled, but she always felt loved by her father, who “followed and protected his liaison with my mother until the end,” providing money for the family, keeping track of the girls’ studies, and seeing them regularly. Even if he didn’t live with them, Dugué said, she felt immense pride “to be the daughter of such a man.”

One day, Dugué decided that she wanted to meet her younger brother. She was in her early twenties, and had known about him her entire life. He was maybe sixteen, a high schooler, and had no idea that she existed. “I posted myself discreetly inside the building where he lived, waiting for his return from the Lycée Carnot,” Dugué recalled. When he came home, she introduced herself: his secret sister. “He hardly believed me,” Dugué remembered. Nonetheless, they immediately got along. She remembered Bourgoin as a shy and serious boy with round glasses, adrift in a world of extravagantly accomplished adults. “How must Stéphane have perceived himself next to these two exceptional parents, crushed by so much strength and power?” she said. “He was happy to discover all at once that he had two sisters, and we started to communicate amongst ourselves.” They sent long letters between their father’s two households, written in violet ink.

The incident may have been Bourgoin’s initiation into the power of secret lives. “Back to my childhood I felt I didn’t do enough compared to my parents,” Bourgoin told me. “So I had always an inferiority complex.” Cuny echoed the sentiment. “I decided very early on that having a normal life means boring, and that would be the most horrible thing that could happen to me,” he told me. “My bet is Stéphane would prefer this outcome to being a local accountant who never left town.”

In “My Conversations with Killers,” Bourgoin wrote, “The immense majority of serial killers are inveterate liars from a very young age. Isolated, marginalized in their lives, they take refuge in the imaginary to construct a personality, far from the mediocre reality of their existence.” “ Parfois, je me fais des films dans ma tête. J’ai toujours voulu qu’on m’aime ,” Bourgoin said, as though he were performing a voice-over for his own life. “Sometimes I make films in my head. I’ve always wanted to be loved.” ♦

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By David Remnick

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The science of serial killers is changing

In-depth analysis of murderers might help the rest of us, too.

By Kate Baggaley | Published Mar 8, 2019 1:30 AM EST

The wall of Sasha Reid’s office is covered with serial killers. The collection of black-and-white photographs of Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and notable others is not, however, just an unusual choice of decoration.

“It’s very intentional,” says Reid. As a doctoral candidate in developmental psychology at the University of Toronto, she is trying to demystify the circumstances that lead people to commit multiple murders. That means poring over their own words from journals and media interviews. The viewpoints they express often share uncanny similarities, to the point where diary entries penned by different people begin to bleed together. On one occasion, Reid was brought up short by the words of Edmund Kemper (popularly known as the “Co-ed Killer” ). Kemper spoke often of domineering female relatives, and in one interview referred to “my grandmother who thought she had more balls than any man and was constantly emasculating me and my grandfather to prove it.” Lines like this reminded Reid powerfully of Gary Ridgway, ( the “Green River Killer” ), who had issues with his mother.

“I thought, ‘I literally just read this!’” she says. “Then I flipped over the page and I saw that actually this is somebody entirely different—but isn’t that interesting that they’re thinking the exact same thing.”

It was at that point that Reid decided to pin up the photographs. “Their individuality needed to be retained,” she says. Though the serial killers she studies think along very similar lines, Reid sees them as distinct people—people who are very poorly understood. Reid, who is due to finish her dissertation in May, has so far analyzed about 70 serial killers with her colleagues. Her hope is to reveal when their warped perspectives take root and how this kind of damage can be reversed when it shows up in children. “How can we help their development to unfold in a way that’s healthy as opposed to in a way that is completely catastrophic and harmful to society?” Reid says.

Little is actually known about how serial killers think and why they develop the way they do. Reid is among a small number of researchers who believe the time has come to probe their minds in exhaustive depth.

An unexpected case

The thought of six-dozen serial killers is an unsettling one. But for Reid, this sample is just the tip of the homicidal iceberg. She is creating a massive database filled with information on 6,000 serial killers from around the world. This involves searching for documentation about 600 different key details—such as being bullied or having a father with a history of criminal behavior—that may have influenced a person’s path to serial murder. She is also compiling a separate database of people who have gone missing in Canada. Her hope is to create a picture of who these people are and to understand who might have harmed them. On one memorable occasion, Reid unexpectedly found herself comparing her insights with the reality of an active serial killer.

It started when, one day in the summer of 2017, she noticed something bizarre. Three men with ties to the Church and Wellesley neighborhood of Toronto, also known as the city’s Gay Village, had disappeared several years previously. It’s not uncommon for clusters of people to disappear around the same time, often for reasons such as accidents, gang violence, overdoses, or becoming lost. But these men had gone missing under strikingly similar circumstances. All had vanished from a very small area, were men of color of similar ages, and had close ties to friends, family, or work that made an intentional vanishing act seem implausible. “It didn’t make sense, and that was the thing that united them the most,” Reid says. “My immediate thought was, ‘it’s probably a serial killer.’”

Reid consulted her database and used the patterns she observed in serial killers who targeted gay men to draw up a brief profile of the kind of person who might be responsible. She then called to share her findings with the police. As Reid expected, they did not end up using the information. However, in January 2018 the police arrested a 66-year-old landscaper named Bruce McArthur, who has since pleaded guilty to murdering eight men —including the three Reid had noticed.

The profile Reid created had erred on some details, such as the suspect’s age; given that most serial killers are under 40 years old, she had expected a man in his thirties. Other predictions were on the mark. Serial killers often bury their victims in sites over which they have control or easy access. And sure enough, the remains of multiple people were found in planters at a home where McArthur stored tools. Seeing the similarities between pieces of her analysis and the actual features of the crimes gave Reid reason to hope that her databases might have practical use in the future.

She is quick to point out that the widespread notion that police rely on profiles to solve cases is a romanticized one. “Police officers work on the foundation of forensic evidence, not Excel files,” Reid says. “But [the database] is something valuable to have on hand—especially as we start to develop it more and take the art out of it and make it more scientific.”

Embracing the art

Understanding serial killers, however, is as much an art as a science. “Experience is one thing, but the way in which those experiences are perceived across the lifetime is much more telling,” Reid says. “I’m kind of in both worlds, remove the art but embrace the art at the same time.”

Her particular focus is male serial killers whose crimes have a sexual element. While analyzing one of these people, Reid and a team of several other researchers each spend a week to a month digging through a trove of information. Among these sources are diary entries, home videos, interviews with the killer and people who knew him, police files, and medical or psychiatric records released into the public domain. The team looks for recurring themes and discusses the interpretations they each arrive at. Reid then tries to extrapolate a sense of how her subject sees the world and his place in it. “This can then give us a better indication of who they are victimizing, how, and why,” she says.

Reid and her team have honed in on a few core ways in which this group differs from most other people. Notably, serial killers feel they are constantly being pushed around, mistreated, and emasculated. “These people really go through their lives looking at everything that happens to them through the lens of a victim; they’re ultimate victims,” Reid says.

This is not to say that certain behaviors or cultural shifts are to blame for mass murder. Some serial killers did, in fact, survive horrific abuse as children. Others weathered much milder situations, but still believe their entire world is filled with abuse. For Gary Ridgway, one such intolerable experience was his mother’s command that he do his homework (Ridgway went on to murder at least 49 women in the state of Washington).

In fact, these people often yearn for connection with others. But in some cases love is not forthcoming, while in others they may be unable to understand or accept it as such. Often, these people misinterpret relatively gentle social cues as threats, and blame others for their problems.

“They fundamentally isolate themselves because they feel that they’re not accepted,” Reid says. “So they create these little worlds wherein they have ultimate power and control and authority.” But for people who believe the entire world is set against them, these fantasies can end up reinforcing unhealthy ways of engaging with others.

These tendencies are already well documented in serial killers. Reid, however, wants to reveal how such beliefs evolve over time. From what she’s observed so far, these elements seem to germinate during particular critical time periods, and may emerge in children as young as seven years old. By the age of 11 to 13, their violent fantasies begin to take on a life of their own, Reid says, becoming powerful and potent.

Each serial killer’s trajectory is unique; genetic predisposition may play a larger role for some, while life circumstances may be more important for others. However, none of these characteristics or experiences amount to destiny; development is a process that unfolds across the lifetime. Attributes such as resiliency and the ability to adapt to one’s circumstances are important as well.

Reid believes that knowing how and when this development occurs will allow us to better reach children who show signs of maladjusted thinking and ultimately put them on another path. This doesn’t mean all or even most of the kids who display these patterns would have grown up to become serial killers, which are extraordinarily rare. It might be more common for them to become depressed, struggle to form relationships with other people, or engage in domestic violence.

“The thing with development is that you just can never say anything for certain,” Reid says. But she feels there is much to learn from the people for whom these disturbing thoughts blossomed into their most extreme form.

“We can reverse some of the ways in which unhealthy thought patterns impact people’s lives. We can teach people to think healthy as opposed to unhealthy,” Reid says. “It’s not just generalizable to serial killers, it’s very much generalizable to all of human pathology.”

The neo-alienist

In some respects, Reid’s work represents a new take on an approach with old roots.

Lee Mellor, a Toronto-based criminologist and chair of the American Investigative Society of Cold Cases academic committee, feels that Reid’s style harkens back to the early psychiatrists and psychologists, or “alienists,” of the 19th Century. But while alienists created detailed life histories to understand mental illness, these efforts were stymied by the fact that scholars at the time didn’t have access to nearly as many records as those today do. This means that researchers like Reid can dive much deeper into a serial killer’s background and come to more meaningful conclusions, Mellor believes. “Sasha is almost like a neo-alienist, and we need more of that,” he says.

Reid’s work also echoes that of the first pioneers who tried to decipher serial killers, the FBI agents whose work has recently been chronicled on the Netflix show “Mindhunter.” Though an important first step, their original work is considered flawed by academics today, in part because it focused on a small group of only 36 criminals who were not all serial killers, says Robert Schug, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at California State University, Long Beach and forensic psychologist.

“I don’t know that anyone has collected as much data on serial killers [as Sasha has], ever,” says Schug, who also studies how serial killers develop . “The potential for kind of unraveling the mysteries of the serial killer, if you will, I think is very high.”

Mellor, who like Schug plans to collaborate with Reid on future projects, feels similarly. “Rather than rejecting the work that these initial trailblazers had done, we’re kind of returning to it and we’re seeing the value in it,” says Mellor, whose own work has focused on necrophilia and murderers who communicate with the police or media before or during their crimes.

That said, this approach does have its limitations. One challenge for Reid’s venture is that there are only so many serial killers whose lives are extensively documented, or for whom these records are easily accessible, Mellor points out. Another hurdle, Reid feels, is the fact that she has not yet spoken with serial killers in person. As a student, she could not muster the funds to fly back and forth and conduct interviews. The project also presented certain liabilities. “I think it [would be] very irresponsible for a university to say, ‘okay, we’re going to send you into the prison and let you interview all of these people who have killed women who looked just like you,’” she reflects.

Once she finishes her dissertation, however, Reid plans to visit prisons and finally begin to conduct her own interviews. “I haven’t spoken to the people that I’m trying to give voice to, and I think that’s awful,” she says. For now, she tries to capture their voices as best she can in her research, and plans for the day when she will be able to ask them questions about her interpretation.

Beyond the zoo

As a child growing up in Dryden, Ontario in the 1990s, Reid wrote “murder stories” and roamed the woods hunting for werewolves, vampires, and other murderous creatures. The decision to study serial killers felt like an inevitable next step on that path. “I don’t think there was anything else ever that I was supposed to do; it’s always been this,” she says. She doubts that any other job could hold her attention.

“I learn something about people every single day,” she says. “It’s like I’m living at the zoo… and I’m looking at a predator and every day I learn something different about their walk, their stride.”

Serial killers hold an enduring fascination for those of us who don’t study them as well.

“I think people are actually craving new information about this topic; that’s why we see the proliferation of these televisions shows and movies and whatnot,” Schug says. “It’s beyond just a morbid curiosity… I think people want to know why .”

Often, we imagine these people are criminal masterminds, Reid noted last year in Contexts , a journal published by the American Sociological Association. They have a certain mystique; although their victims are often forgotten, serial killers are granted fame and flashy nicknames such as the “Night Stalker”, the “West Mesa Bone Collector,” and “Jack the Ripper.” In reality, serial killers are more often opportunists, wrote Reid and coauthor Jooyoung Lee, also of the University of Toronto. Many target vulnerable groups such as sex workers, “who become ‘easy prey’ because of their precarious legal status.”

But there may be change on the horizon. Efforts by sex workers and groups such as the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform to advocate for legal protections and awareness are becoming more visible . And organizations like Street Safe New Mexico take immediate steps such as handing out “bad guy lists” to alert sex workers to dangerous men in the area.

Meanwhile, Reid and other researchers are journeying ever deeper into the minds of the people who have harmed these communities and so many others. “They are people whose behavior is at the far end of the continuum of abnormality, but they are human,” Reid says. “And because they are human they can be understood.”

And whether or not these people would want to be understood, this knowledge may prove valuable to the rest of society.

Kate Baggaley has been contributing regularly to Popular Science since 2017. She frequently covers nature, climate, and the COVID-19 pandemic, but has also reported on many other aspects of science, including space, paleontology, and health. She has a soft spot for birds, deep sea critters, and all kinds of gorgeous creepy crawlies.

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Repeating patterns: A content analysis of serial killers and childhood sexual abuse.

• Graduate Student Research
• Copyright ©2022. Research projects are copyrighted by their authors. All rights reserved.

Hi, my name is Alyssa Godek and I am going to be presenting our research which is titled Repeating Pattern: a content analysis of serial killers and childhood sexual abuse. There has been a lot of previous research done on serial killers and their experiences in childhood, specifically childhood abuse. It has been found that all types of childhood abuse, except for neglect, is significantly higher in the population of serial killers. Other previous research has found that being a victim of sexual abuse increases the chances of committing sexual abuse against other people. The purpose of our research was to explore each serial killer’s childhood and sexual trauma and see if there was any correlation between the type of murders they inflicted upon their victims.

We looked at 12 serial killers that have all experienced childhood sexual abuse to find how they relate, and any patterns of the violence and murder inflicted upon their victims that could possibly stem from their personal sexual abuse. We wanted to find out what type of killer category our serial killers who are sexually abused as children fall into. We also wanted to determine what traumatic childhood experiences serial killers had in common, whether or not childhood sexual abuse increases the chance of sexual violence in adulthood, and whether or not hedonistic serial killers typically suffer from a specific mental illness. Wee hypothesized that serial killers who were sexually abused as children were more likely to fall into the category of hedonistic serial killers. We also hypothesize that hedonistic serial killers were inflicting similar harm on their victim as the harm that they endured as children. We also hypothesize that hedonistic serial killers offending patterns connected with their childhood sexual abuse.

We separated sexual abuse into two separate categories. Our first category was psychological sexual abuse, which included sexual abuse in which physical contact did not occur. This included forcing the individual to watch pornography and being forced to watch a parent or adult having sex. The next category was physical sexual abuse, which was any instance of sexual abuse on which bodily contact was made with sexual intention. It is also important to note the classifications we used for our serial killers which were two of the classifications. These two classifications were hedonistic, which is a killer that kills for their own pleasure including rape torture and fame, and the other category was powering control killer who is the killer that fantasizes over having power over their victim and sought to take control over them. Additionally, we investigated the sexual assault to the victim, whether or not there had been any sexual assault, whether the assault had taken place before death, after death, or both. We also investigated the murder weapon that was used by the serial killer to determine whether or not the killing was intimate. Lastly, we also looked at the mental illness diagnosis of all of our twelve serial killers for our research.

We used social learning theory as many of the articles that we looked at had evidence that the trauma children endured made them more likely to partake in negative behaviors. Research also believes that the sexual abuse serial killers experience affects them cognitively behaviorally and environmentally which negatively shapes their behavior causing them to commit sexual killing of others. We also used critical theory as we were focusing on serial killers and their traumatic experiences. We chose our twelve serial killers by sifting through sources to find serial killers who had experienced sexual abuse as children and then we randomly selected 12. We proceeded to find secondary data across various websites and scholarly articles, such as murderpedia.com and biography.com . The sources we reference mainly obtained data from court records police records and biographies of the killers. Information we gathered on the serial killers included the gender of the killer, the childhood sexual abuse type, the age of sexual abuse, the occurrence of sexual abuse, the gender of the perpetrators of the abuses , the perpetrator of abuses relationship, killing classification, confirmed number of victims, gender of victims, sexual assaults of the victim, murder weapons, as well as any mental illnesses the serial killer had been diagnosed with. We were looking for any correlations between and among these factors. With the help of this study, we would like to educate others on the experiences of serial killers’ childhoods and challenge the myth that traumatic childhood experiences do not play a very significant role in the outcome of adult’s lives. After collecting the data from secondary sources, we used content analysis to analyze the result. Two individuals independently classified and categorized the variables gathered from secondary data in order to increase reliability of the results. After the results were categorized, we ran a frequency table and compared the categories.

Ethical considerations that were taken into account while doing this research was that we did not want to portray the results as meaning that if you were sexually abused as a child, you were likely to become a serial killer. We also do not want to justify the actions of the serial killers, and we did not want to stigmatize mental illness. Results showed that all serial killers used in our data who sexually assaulted their victims after they had died had all experienced reoccurring sexual abuse as a child. They were all hedonistic serial killers as well. More research needs to be done to confirm this, but it seems as though there may be a correlation between the two. The majority of serial killers chose murder victims who were the same gender as those who had sexually abused them. This indicates that there may be a more aggression towards the gender that leads them to commit murder. There was no relevant relationship between the gender of the individual who sexually abuse the serial killer and the classification of the serial killer. Both female serial killers that were examined were both power and control killers and both were abused by males. Further research may find a greater correlation between female serial killers and the type of killer they are based on the gender of the abuser. Our results showed that if there was no sexual assault on the victim the type of killing was usually less intimate. There was a higher likelihood of more intimate killings if there was sexual assault. Also, a higher frequency of the killers using either multiple methods or solely intimate methods of killing and being a hedonistic killer. With the exception of only two serial killers the killings began between the ages of 25 and 35. Only one of our killers used intimate killing and were power and control killers and all except for one of our killers used non automatic weapons to kill victims. Our research seems to show that individuals who suffered from sexual abuse are more likely to be hedonistic killers it is, however, difficult to truly categorize our killers beyond the basic labels of hedonistic, power and control, visionary, and mission-based killers. Some killers present as more than one and make subcategories more difficult to place on killers. Making clear definitions and agreement between criminal profiles may make the categorization process more accurate. We also found that most serial killers have experienced some type of abuse in their life including sexual abuse. There are some exceptions to the rule, however, we are basing this on the killer’s perspective in life so there may be some reliability issues. We also must keep in mind that most of our serial killers are no longer alive to be further interviewed. We found that most of our killers were diagnosed or seem to have some sort of personality disorder, usually either bipolar or antisocial personality disorder. More research should be done to see if this is accurate and consistent diagnosis would be beneficial because there’s often differing opinions among professionals about what the actual diagnosis of the killer is. Court based psychiatrists and other doctors had varying diagnosis that make it difficult to point out what the actual diagnosis was for the serial killers.

Our hypothesis that serial killers who were sexually abused as children were more likely to fall into the category of hedonistic serial killers was correct according to our research, however, more research must be done to confirm this. Our other hypothesis, that hedonistic serial killers were inflicting similar harm on their victims as the harm they experienced as a child, was also proven correct according to our results. This is potentially true as all our male serial killers inflicted sexual assaults on their victims. Two of them committed the assault after death, and two committed the sexual assault before and after death. However, this does not apply to our female serial killers as they prefer to harm their victims physically instead of sexually. Our last hypothesis that serial killers offending patterns connect with their childhood sexual abuse was also confirmed as most of our serial killer’s victim typology was the same as her childhood sexual abuse perpetrator. Thank you for listening!

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4 responses.

So very happy of all the hard work you put into conducting your research. I am very proud of the group process you went through, and proud of the yields of your research: the patterns of childhood sexual abuse and the impact on the type of serial killer, the harm they inflicted on their victims, and the victim typology. Happy to see you present in SOARS 2022!

This is such an interesting topic, and the depth explored for this topic is remarkable. An area many would not dare to explore, and i commend you all for doing do.

This is a very interesting topic and worthwhile research for prevention and early intervention initiatives for children who experience abuse.

Great job everyone!! This study was super interesting. I think the topic of childhood trauma is an important one that needs to be addressed because it can have significant implications for someone’s life, particularly in addition to other mental disorders

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• v.10(6); 2022 Jun

Serial killing in schizophrenia

Ghada hamdi.

1 Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, Tunis El Manar University, Manouba Tunisia

2 Psychiatry Department, Razi Hospital, Manouba Tunisia

Hanen Ben Ammar

Nawel mhedhbi, lina brahmi, rania felhi, associated data.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Serial criminality, although rare, has always aroused the interest of researchers in criminology, psychiatry, psychology, and sociology. We report the case of a patient, suffering from a chronic psychotic disorder, having committed several murders over a period of 9 years, underpinned by a delirium of misidentification of Frigoli syndrome.

Delusional identification syndrome is associated with patients’ violent behavior and can lead to serial criminality. Early treatment is crucial to avoid the act of aggression.

1. INTRODUCTION

Serial criminality, although rare, has always aroused the interest of researchers in criminology, psychiatry, psychology, and sociology. Arousing fear, revolt, incomprehension but also fascination and interest, serial killers continue to make headlines and inspire the most appalling of successful “thrillers.” Reading the clinical stories of the murderers often reveals absurd, horrific, monstrous, and incomprehensible homicides. They are often out of proportion to the avowed causes, or even without apparent motive.

Although re‐offending murderers have always existed, individualizing the concept of the serial killer and developing a ubiquitous definition still poses challenges. The typology of serial killers is vast and complex. Several classifications exist with distinctive criteria often belonging to different fields. One of the most common classifications that are widely used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the one proposed in 1980 by Hazelwood and Douglas 1 and which differentiates between organized killers and disorganized. “The organized killer is an egocentric, amoral and manipulative individual who methodically commits his murderous crimes,” versus “the disorganized killer is a lonely individual, experiencing feelings of rejection, committing murderous acts out of opportunity.” Bénézech 2 presents a dichotomy of serial killers in relation to rational and psychopathological motivations. He differentiates schematically between the psychopathic murderer and the psychotic murderer, yet this taxonomy is only indicative of the fact that some criminals fall in between.

We report, in this work, the case of a patient, suffering from a chronic psychotic disorder, having committed several murders over a period of 9 years, underpinned by a delirium of misidentification of Frigoli syndrome.

2. OBSERVATION

A patient was involuntarily hospitalized, at the age of 34, in the forensic psychiatry department at the hospital Razi, Tunisia, following dismissal for dementia after having committed eleven murders, over a period of 9 years. He came from a non‐consanguineous marriage. His family lived with his maternal grandparents when he was born and their socio‐economic conditions were precarious. He was the second child of 4 boys and 2 girls. He left school before completing the first year of primary school. He started working at the age of 10 and has done several small jobs with professional experience marked by instability. His parents were divorced and his father remarried and had another son. The patient is single and has not done military service.

The patient was brought up by his maternal grandparents who spoiled him. They were complacent and permissive to him. The family, of rural origin, moved to the city for economic reasons. The patient was 6 years old at the time. The moving continued as a result of the father's unstable work.

Instability and violence reigned within the patient's family. The older brother was placed in an adoption center from an early age and the patient himself was violent with all the members of his family.

He described his mother as being ambivalent. She was protective, fusional, and violent at the same time. His father had a criminal record and was an alcoholic. The patient described him as being extremely violent, even sadistic.

The patient reported violence from his older brother, his mother, and especially his father. Until pre‐adolescence, the patient slept in the same bed with his two parents. After the separation of the latter, the patient reports having continued to sleep on his father's side and says he noticed that the latter was hiding knives under the bed.

The patient was a very unstable, aggressive child. During his childhood, there was the notion of cruelty to animals, then, during adolescence, the notion of erotic‐themed fantasies with women, men, and adolescents. He was allegedly sexually abused as a teenager. His attacker was in his 50s and was reportedly sentenced to 5 years in prison. When he was an adolescent, he went almost daily to the cinema to watch erotic films as well as horror films. Social relations were very disturbed and generally poor, with an inability to form lasting relationships, or reduced to aggressive and purely utilitarian behaviors. He assaulted all members of his family except the father, repeating each time that his father scared him very much, and that he had a terrifying and scary image of him. His female relationships were almost non‐existent. He did not have any addictive behaviors, according to him.

Before his arrest for a series of murders, he was jailed twice: the first at the age of 14 in a correctional prison for a year following an act of physical violence and the second age 20 years for 8 months for attempted rape.

The patient was hospitalized in a general psychiatry department a year before his murderous act, of running away and aggression. He had, among other things, tried to put out the eye of one of his brothers and had threatened to cut his mother's throat. The diagnosis retained was that of paranoid schizophrenia. The patient escaped from the hospital after 1 week.

He was arrested 10 years later for a series of murders for which he was deemed irresponsible, hence his admission to the forensic psychiatry department.

Regarding his criminal history, he had committed 11 murders and one attempted homicide. His first crime was at the age of 25 and the murderous activity continued over a period of 9 years. The last crime was committed during the day in front of passers‐by, and was followed by an attempted homicide of the police officer who was chasing the patient to arrest him.

He had reported killing older men. The crimes were committed according to a stereotypical modus operandi. The weapon used was a weapon of opportunity represented by a stone with which he was beating down on the victim's heads. The murder was accompanied by an act of post‐mortem emasculation on its victims by means of a knife. Indeed, he always kept this weapon on him, which gave him a feeling of power as he mentioned with a big smile. He killed his victims almost always at night or at dawn, in cemeteries or near mosques. After the emasculation of the victim, he placed the sex organs of the victims in their mouths. There was no concealment of the body, of the weapon used, or of the evidence of the crime. When the patient spoke of his crimes, anxiety was associated with it, while at the evocation of the acts of emasculation a smile appeared on his face evoking pleasure. The motive for the crimes reported by the patient was revenge; he is convinced that his victims are in fact the aggressor who allegedly abused him as a child. In the evening, he saw them again in his hallucinations making indecent proposals to him, a fury of destruction then fell on them and he attacked them the next day in their sleep and killed them. These are tramped men living in the streets. In his visual hallucinations, he also saw naked men and women, fire, crushed heads, blood, a mixture of erotic scenes, and scenes of extreme violence and horror.

He also had imperative auditory hallucinations ordering him to kill and put out his victim's eye, intrapsychic hallucinations, Quranic verses, and tales of the president were coming out of his chest, head, and stomach.

Thus, the psychiatric examination revealed a delusional paranoid syndrome, a Frigoli syndrome, a mental automatism syndrome, visual hallucinations, auditory and intra‐psychic, and disorganization. The diagnosis retained was paranoid schizophrenia. The projective tests brought out in addition to the psychotic structure, the perverse dimension through the inability of the subject to consider an enjoyment without sadism or sexuality without aggressiveness. The physical examination and the paraclinical explorations did not show any organic disorder.

3. DISCUSSION

The reported case corresponds well to a serial killer type repeating offender, having committed more than three homicides, in different places, over a period spanning many years, with no apparent motive, but often an identical criminal scenario over one particular profile of victims. All homicides committed are supported by delusional identification activity of the Fregoli illusion type.

The delusional identification syndromes (DIS) are complex psychotic phenomena that may be present in several neurological disorders essentially neurodegenerative or psychiatric such as schizophrenia, delusional disorders, bipolar disorders, and schizoaffective disorders. 3

In the context of DIS, the subject identifies people, places, objects, or events poorly or doubly. 4 , 5  The common theme of these syndromes being the exact resemblance to the other, the lookalike or the double. 3

DISs include the syndromes of capgras, fregoli, self‐identification, disorientation of places, subjective doubles, intermetamorphosis, and duplicative paramnesia.

DISs are also considered as specific factors of passage to the aggressive act and violence. Indeed, they are characterized by hostility toward poorly identified objects, which would entail a significant danger toward others. 6 , 7  The prevalence of DIS is estimated at 3% in the general psychiatric population. 8 However, some authors believe that these are under‐diagnosed disorders. This is due to the absence of systematic clinical screening as well as the absence of reliable and standardized diagnostic criteria. 3 , 9

Fregoli syndrome is defined by the delusional belief that one or more familiar people, usually persecutors of the subject, change their appearance repeatedly (ie the same person performs many different disguises). The Fregoli illusion can also involve animals, inanimate objects, or even places. 10 In our case, we consider that the Fregoli syndrome was the predisposing factor of passage to the aggressive act.

Little literature has examined the relationship between violence and Fregoli syndrome. These are usually case studies or retrospective descriptive studies with small populations.

Some studies have classified Fregoli syndrome as a specific risk factor for violence against the misidentified person. 11 Indeed, under the effect of the delusional activity, the affected subjects look at the misidentified subject with suspicion and hostility, which can contribute to growing ideas of persecution as well as an aggressive attitude within the framework of preventive self‐defense. 12 Physical assault can progress to homicide. 13

Other studies took a more global view and took into account other confounding risk factors for a violent act out. Within the framework of these studies, the authors put the question: Are the subjects suffering from Fregoli syndrome within the framework of any confused psychiatric pathology more violent than the subjects not affected by these delusions? 3 It has been shown that, apart from delusional misidentification, there are other risk factors for an aggressive act, namely: a history of physical violence, 14 anger, targets of violence being close relatives, and attachment figures being significantly higher, 15 the masculine gender (in 70% of cases), 13 delusional themes of erotomania 16 , 17 or jealousy, 18  substance abuse, 19 , 20 as well as impulsivity and dissociation. 11

Statistically, schizophrenia is the first etiology in which occurs Fregoli syndrome, 21 , 22 and which is the case of our patient.

The literature has proposed three explanatory models of Fregoli syndrome (neurobiological, psychoanalytic, and cognitive).

Neurobiologically, it is believed that Fregoli syndrome is associated with some degree of objective impairment of facial recognition. It is caused by a fault in the identification process leading to the inability to assign an identity to a specific person. It is a hyperactivity of the cerebral cortex, in particular of the right hemisphere, which can explain the hyper‐familiarity in Fregoli syndrome. 23

The psycho‐analytical explanatory model of Fregoli syndrome is based on the splitting of parental figures into good and bad objects according to the theory of Mélanie Klein. 24 In addition, this syndrome is defined by the meeting of three instances being: the "sick" subject under the effect of delusional ideas, the alter (the third person well known to the patient), and the alias (the disguised impostor, present in a significant way in delirium). 10

The cognitive explanatory model proposed that non‐recognition in the context of Fregoli syndrome leads to the absence of a feeling of familiarity given the impossibility of successively integrating a person's memories accompanied by episodic experiences, thus generating delusional duplicates according to the subject's needs and motivations. 25

Currently, there are no specific recommendations for the treatment of DIS. A review of the literature on 84 clinical cases of DIS concluded that antipsychotics have been widely used, primarily: olanzapine, risperidone, aripiprazole, quetiapine, haloperiodol, and clozapine. 26  The efficiency of antipsychotics remains controversial given the absence of randomized studies. Some studies have often noted the persistence of delusions despite antipsychotics. 27

Hypnosis has also proved its effectiveness among half of the subjects followed for Fregoli syndrome. 28 Some authors believe that hypnosis is used to recreate bad mirror identification, which would make it possible to keep delusional ideas at bay. 29

Finally, electroconvulsive therapy constitutes a particularly effective therapeutic alternative in Fregoli syndrome, mainly in the context of postpartum mood disorder. 30

The literature does not provide enough data concerning DIS in general and Fregoli syndrome in particular. This being explained by the absence of standardized diagnostic criteria, therefore a limited number of works on the subject 31 and variability of definitions from one publication to another; which complicates the generalization of the results. 27

4. CONCLUSION

This illustration of the serial killer emphasizes the dangerousness of delusional identification syndrome. Early identification and treatment are primordial to prevent violent behaviour.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

GH and HBA: conceived the ideas and led the writing. NM, LB, and RF: involved in writing. RR: did the editing.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

ETHICAL APPROVAL

An informed consent publication was obtained from the patient.

Published with the written consent of the patient.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors appreciate all those who facilitated this work. Published with the written consent of the patient.

Hamdi G, Ben Ammar H, Mhedhbi N, Brahmi L, Felhi R, Ridha R. Serial killing in schizophrenia . Clin Case Rep . 2022; 10 :e05922. doi: 10.1002/ccr3.5922 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

Ghada Hamdi and Hanen Ben Ammar contributed equally to this work.

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article

Contributor Information

Ghada Hamdi, Email: moc.liamg@01tseadahg .

Hanen Ben Ammar, Email: [email protected] .

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

American Serial Killer

Exploring the Role of the Media in Serial Killings

Can media coverage of serial killer cases do more harm than good? Serial killers have always had a dark place in our public consciousness and when news of their kind hits the press, it can be difficult to ignore. With the number of serial killings increasing each year and the growth of sensationalistic media coverage of some cases, it’s worth exploring the role of the media in the public understanding of serial killers and the potential impact this coverage can have on both prevention and potential outcomes. From discussing sensationalized news reports to the critical insights to be found in deeper investigative coverage, this article dives into the question of whether the media is mischaracterizing serial killers or providing a valuable service in educating the public.

Quick Review

The media often covers serial killing cases in great detail, placing particular emphasis on individual victims and suspects. This can create a sensationalised narrative that exaggerates perceptions of how prevalent serial killing actually is.

The Role of the Media in Reporting Serial Killings

When a serial killing occurs, media outlets often focus on providing extensive coverage of the incident. This reporting can come in the form of news reports on television and radio, articles in newspapers or magazines, and content on digital media platforms. Events surrounding a serial killing are typically sensationalized for maximum viewership, leading to discussions about how ethical news reporting is when it comes to serious crimes. On one hand, many sympathize with the victims involved and their families, who may benefit from the public attention that is cast upon the culprits. The public attention can help to bring justice for victims, as well as provide closure to family members and communities impacted by these events. In addition, providing comprehensive coverage helps to highlight effective law enforcement tactics and prevention strategies important for stopping future serial killings from occurring. On the other hand, some argue that sensationalized media coverage can generate infamy for serial killers and lead to copycat killings. This can create a wide reach of psychologically damaging content related to such events which, while it provides information people need to be aware of, can also have adverse impacts on impressionable viewers. Critics suggest that media outlets should increase their ethical standards when it comes to covering stories involving violence and other serious crimes. At the same time, there are those who feel that taken too far, this type of censorship could prevent individuals from obtaining essential information about ongoing events. The ongoing debate about responsible reporting when it comes to serial killings highlights the ways in which society needs to find a balance between informing public interest without contributing further harm following such horrific acts of violence. In light of this ongoing debate around responsible reporting when it comes to serial killings, it is equally important that we understand the implications of news coverage of these major crimes. Following this section will be an exploration into the effects that news coverage in society has regarding serial killers.

• A study published in 2014 suggested that there was an increase in serial killings between 1964 and 2005 due to media exposure.
• A 2018 study found that 33% of American adults believed media coverage could influence potential serial killers.
• Research published in 2020 stated that there is a correlation between specific types of sensationalized media coverage and the perpetration of serial murder.

News Coverage of Serial Killers

News coverage of serial killers has sparked a contentious debate over whether or not the media should be held accountable for the glorification of criminals. On one side of the argument, those in support of news coverage contend that such stories provide vital information on public safety and prevention. They argue that examining the nature and behavior of serial killers is important to developing strategies for apprehending them and ultimately protecting citizens from harm. Furthermore, proponents believe that society must stay informed about serial killings in order to fully understand how such atrocities often go undetected by law enforcement. On the other hand, opponents of press coverage argue that shining a spotlight on serial killers can result in a skewed perception of their victims and generate an unnecessary fear among members of society- thus sparking copycat scenarios with aspiring criminals looking to mimic violent acts perpetrated by their predecessors. Similarly, many critics maintain that media outlets have a moral responsibility to not exploit human tragedy or desensitize people to violence by providing irresponsibly comprehensive reporting. Debate surrounding news coverage of serial killers is still ongoing, yet both sides agree that due to its inherent deadliness, the issue should remain at the forefront of prospective reporting platforms. Ultimately, it is clear that without proper consideration and cautionary editorial discretion, media outlets run the risk of creating a false narrative around extreme violences and its alleged perpetrators. The next section will explore the exploitation of serial killers by the media, focusing on how sensationalized stories have served to romanticize criminal behavior.

Exploitation of Serial Killers by the Media

As news networks and the media scramble to cover sensationalist stories, serial killers tend to be at the forefront. In many cases, this can lead to an exploitation of these criminals due to their notoriety. Crimes committed by serial killers are presented as must-see content on television, newspaper publications, and online publications all vying for attention from readers. An increased focus on, and coverage of serial killers can have the negative consequence of creating a culture in which people are encouraged to idolize killers instead of victims of these heinous crimes. Additionally, potential copycat killers may take cues from interviews and other media coverage that places too much emphasis on individual psychopathic traits and personalities. The idea of glamourizing mass murderers detracts from the serious nature of these crimes and removes empathy with victims who should be recognized in any related discussion. On the other hand, some argue that when covering serial killer stories there needs to be a delicate balance between focusing on the horrific details while not giving them an unwarranted amount of attention. By offering insight into their motivations, journalists provide readers with increased awareness that can create proactive discourse around sociopathic behavior. Covering such stories can also yield progress and raise public discussion about mental health issues, violence prevention, law enforcement tactics and changes that need to take place in order for healing and justice to occur. Therefore, when exploring the role of media in serial killings a careful consideration must be given to how much attention is given to these perpetrators versus victims and their surviving families. Sensationalism can create warped perceptions about such atrocities, leading some to see serial killers as celebrities instead of criminals who need to be brought to justice for their actions. This then leads us into our next section which will explore sensationalism and its impact on properties related to serial killers.

Sensationalism and Serial Killers

The role of media in serial killings often includes sensationalism, which can shape public opinion of the event, and occasionally even the outcome of the legal proceedings involved. Within this same context, researchers have found that reporting on serial killers often serves to glamorize criminal behavior and create a cult-like following (DeFronzo 2018). In this sense, media attention to serial killers is seen by many as inherently unethical– with arguments stemming from abstract implications in regards to morality and desensitization. In essence, sensationalizing these horrendous events can lead to a dehumanization of victims and relatively normalize behaviours deemed unacceptable within the public domain (Scandola 2019). By indulging an audience’s voyeuristic needs for a disturbing story line, it could be argued that we contribute indirectly towards creating a form of entertainment derived from death or violence (Robertson 2006). Conversely, one could make the case that increased media coverage of these acts also shames offenders by displaying their misdeeds publicly. From a purely preventative stand point, journalists are committing a serviceable asset to society by providing detailed updates about ongoing investigations and drawing attention to potentially dangerous individuals (Huerter 2007). Paradoxically however, the very nature of sensationalized media has been accused of propelling would-be criminals into action– inciting notoriety through sheer imitation. The so-called ‘copycat effect’ references this phenomenon where individuals are believed to be motivated by previous similar acts carried out in the specifics themselves identifying with either characteristics or motives (Haag 2014). In conclusion, although sensationalism has always been an integral part of reporting newsworthy events such as serial killings, it begs further inquiry into its potential implications when used recklessly or excessively. The next section will explore how vital reporting on serial killers can influence potential perpetrators as well as shape public opinion on justice system outcomes.

Essential Summary Points

Media coverage of serial killers often involves sensationalism, which can lead to a glamorization of criminal behavior and negatively shape public opinion. The media’s focus on these events can be seen by many as unethical, as it may contribute towards creating a form of entertainment derived from violence or death. It may also draw attention to dangerous individuals and act as a form of public shaming. Paradoxically, the sensationalism in itself has been accused of inciting would-be criminals into action by imitating the actions described in news reports. All in all, it is important to consider how media coverage can affect potential perpetrators and public opinion on justice system outcomes.

The Influence of Media on Serial Killing

When discussing the relationship between media and serial injustice, the conversation is often conflicted. Some argue that increased coverage of high-profile serial killers has led to a rise in copycat murders, while others argue that such exposure has no discernable effect. Research into this phenomenon indicates that mass media exposure can indeed increase the popularity of certain criminal activities, particularly in cases where there is “myth-building” or a romanticized treatment of criminal behavior (e.g., Hannibal Lecter). Furthermore, research suggests that the more sensationalistic and frequent the media coverage, the more likely it is to influence some viewers to commit similar offenses. On the other hand, many believe that there is little evidence to suggest that true crime coverage has a direct influence on potential criminals. Rather, they argue that serial killers exist independent of public attention and are far more influenced by environmental factors such as childhood trauma and substance abuse than external influences like media coverage. Further studies may be needed to determine definitively whether mass media contributes to a rise in serial killings. Having explored how mass media can potentially shape the landscape of criminal justice in cases of serial killers, we now turn to an examination of how serial killers are portrayed in the media. In the following section, we will examine media portrayal of serial killers and its possible effect on public perception.

Media Portrayal of Serial Killers

The media plays a profound and pervasive role when it comes to portraying the figure of the serial killer. From film and television portrayals, to newspaper accounts and documentaries, the image of the serial killer has become increasingly sensationalized over time. To some, this may be seen as an uncomfortable truth; media depictions often contain stereotypical characters that exaggerate the macabre tendencies of serial killers for dramatic effect. For example, many television shows depict serial killers as lone wolfs who act out of some inner unfulfilled need to satiate their own sick desires. This portrayal serves to polarize serial killers from normal people, making them seem more mysterious and otherworldly. However, on the flip side, there is a strong argument to be made in favor of these kinds of sensationalized mass media portrayals. By holding up an archetypal figure like a “serial killer” to public scrutiny, it provides viewers with an opportunity to both reflect on typical behaviors associated with such figures, as well as become more aware of unacceptable social behavior or criminal activities that are outside mainstream standards. As Dr. Julia Shaw, a criminal psychologist and author points out: “Such stories might contribute not just to our fears but also our knowledge and understanding […] We should not shy away from such stories.” Ultimately, while debates remain regarding the nature of media’s portrayal of serial killers, it is clear that this has had important implications in both changing society’s perception of serial killing and alerting people to potential dangers associated with predatory behavior. To further explore how this phenomenon manifests in modern culture, the next section will investigate what role the media plays in society’s perception of serial killers.

The Role of the Media in Society’s Perception of Serial Killers

The media’s portrayal of serial killers has a powerful impact on how society perceives them. We often imagine serial killers as mysterious and larger-than life figures, thanks to books and films like Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, and Dexter. In reality, most serial killers are unremarkable people who blend in with their community. This disconnect between artful fiction and the real characteristics of killers could be feeding into public hysteria around the notion of a “monster” or otherworldly figure lurking somewhere in our midst. However, sensationalistic media reporting has intensified public fear by promoting the idea that a single killer may be responsible for numerous death cases. Despite evidence to the contrary, this theory has been popularized due to its necessity when creating an ambiguous plot point in fictional stories. This can also be seen in some true crime reports where facts about two different suspects were intertwined to create a more exciting story for readers. Furthermore, there is much debate over whether the media encourages copycat crimes. Serial killing is already inflicted out of what’s perceived as being “cool” or required for notoriety by potential victims; however, it’s possible that media coverage may make this behavior seem even cooler for those inclined toward criminal activity. Therefore, although links between copycat murderers and media sensationalism is relatively weak within criminological research studies, it’s impossible to ignore its likely psychological impact on impressionable minds. The role of the media in society’s perception of serial killers is complex, sometimes highlighting accurate details while also serving up drips of misinformation that add to falsehoods surrounding these crimes. As such, it is necessary to examine how audiences are receiving this content and what that might mean both to victims’ families seeking closure and justice and to the safety of communities at large. With this in mind, let us now turn to our conclusion section which examines: The Impact of the Media on Serial Killing.

Conclusion: The Impact of the Media on Serial Killing

After examining the role of the media in serial killings, it becomes clear that while media can have a powerful influence on criminal behavior in some cases, there is still much that is not fully understood. Media coverage of specific serial killers and their particularly gruesome or sensationalized methods may indeed have an uncanny impact on similar individuals and incite fear in society, but it cannot be equated directly to causation. Additionally, recent evidence has suggested that public events, legislation and other socio-political influences are also significantly tied to rising murder rates rather than solely media coverage. It is important to realize that all forms of media—print, television, social networks—require an audience for one to act upon their messages. There are two types of people who may be susceptible to imitation effects: those who already possess violent characteristics prior to viewing, and those who do not. For instance, a person consumed with rage could view a magazine article about serial killing and use it as a script for enacting their own murderous desires. However, for someone with no prior history of violent behavior, being immersed in such media content could desensitize them to violence over time and eventually lead them down a dangerous path. It is therefore difficult to definitively link the mass consumption of crime-focused news stories or films to acts of murder in our society today. In conclusion, considering the array of factors encompassing human psychology when it comes to accounting for violent behavior, we must further explore the intricate relationship between media coverage and influencing criminal activity before drawing any definitive conclusions on its overall effect. Whether media coverage glorifies or deters serial killers should continue to be explored through social science-based research in order to gain insight into why some turn to violence while others do not — even after being exposed to such narratives via popular culture outlets.

Common Questions and Responses

The media coverage of serial killings has a profound impact on society, both good and bad. On the one hand, it can help bring awareness to safety precautions and put pressure on law enforcement agencies to act swiftly in order to apprehend suspects. However, it can also lead to fearmongering and the exploitation of tragedy in order to gain higher ratings or notoriety. Additionally, media coverage of serial killers often glorifies their heinous acts as well as sensationalizes their motives and psychological profiles. This type of coverage has been directly linked to copycat behavior in some cases, as people attempt to imitate the acts they have seen in the media. All in all, media coverage of serial killings should be carefully managed in order to avoid any further harm being caused by those trying to sensationalize and exploit the tragic events for their own benefit.

Media sensationalism of serial killers affects public perception in a variety of ways. First, it can lead to an exaggerated image of serial killers and their crimes. Through intense media coverage, viewers are exposed to more extreme versions of the story which can give the impression that all serial killers have similar stories or motivations. Second, media sensationalism can make the public fearful and suspicious of people who may not fit into traditional societal roles or look a certain way. This fear can lead to false accusations and finger-pointing among communities as they try to identify potential suspects. Finally, media sensationalism often glamorizes or glorifies the killers, leading to dangerous forms of idolization by those seeking attention or admiration. This increases the incentive for would-be criminals to commit similar acts in order to get the same attention that their idolized killer achieved. Overall, media sensationalism distorts the truth about serial killers and their activities, making them larger than life and leading to unnecessary fears among members of society. It also serves as a powerful catalyst for further crime because it normalizes these shocking images, suggests that recreating them is a path to fame, and encourages copycats willing to commit even worse atrocities.

The media’s portrayal of serial killers has evolved significantly over the years. In the past, serial killers were seen mainly as isolated figures with their criminal activities receiving little media attention or sensationalization. While some authors and filmmakers explored the psychology and backgrounds of these individuals, the public was largely ignorant about who they were and what drove them to commit such horrific acts. However, in more recent times, due to advances in technology and media coverage of high-profile cases, serial killers have become larger-than-life figures. Social media has been especially influential in driving this trend; platforms like Twitter, Instagram and YouTube are now hotbeds for speculation about serial killer cases and conspiracies about their motives. The sensationalization of these crimes on the news is also partially responsible for the negative shift in the public's perception of serial killers. In addition, documentaries exploring famous cases have gained immense popularity on various streaming services, which further exacerbates the notion that serial killers have some kind of mythical appeal. Thus, while criminals’ individual stories used to be absent from mainstream culture a few decades ago, they have since become prominent figures in popular entertainment.

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Books Bound in Human Skin: An Ethical Quandary at the Library

Harvard’s recent decision to remove the binding of a notorious volume in its library has thrown fresh light on a shadowy corner of the rare book world.

By Jennifer Schuessler and Julia Jacobs

The New York International Antiquarian Book Fair is the place to inspect some of the most exquisite rare books on the market. But at this year’s event in early April, some browsers may have been unprepared for a small, grayish item on view: a book bound in human skin.

The book, which measures about 3 by 5 inches, came with a price tag of $45,000 — and a colorful back story. According to a statement by its owner, the binding was commissioned in 1682 by an Italian doctor and anatomist identified as Jacopo X, and has been kept by his descendants ever since.

Family lore held that during a dissection, Jacopo recognized the woman on the slab as an actress he had seen in Corneille’s comedy “Le Baron d’Albikrac.” He knew that unclaimed bodies sold to medical schools for dissection were rarely, if ever, given a proper burial. So he removed a piece of skin, and used it to bind a copy of the play.

“There was a sense that this was a tribute,” Ian Kahn, a dealer, explained to onlookers gathered at the counter of his booth before pulling out the book to offer a closer look.

Books bound in human skin — and the sometimes sensational stories surrounding them — have long occupied an odd place in the annals of the rare book world. Over the years, they have been whispered, bragged and joked about.

But over the past decade, the conversation has shifted. Many institutions whose collections include these books have sharply restricted access, as they have found themselves unexpectedly embroiled in the same debates about displaying — or even owning — human remains that have swept across museums .

The conversation was jolted anew last month when Harvard University announced that it had removed the skin binding from a notorious book in its collections, and that it would be seeking “a final, respectful disposition.” The university also apologized for “past failures in its stewardship,” which it said had “further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being whose remains were used” for the binding.

The announcement drew headlines around the world. But so far, the reaction from rare book experts has been muted — and mixed.

“It was a bold move to put out a press release not just about the presence of human skin books, but about a potentially controversial way of dealing with the issue,” said Allie Alvis, a curator at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Delaware. Too many institutions, Alvis says, are unwilling to say much about them at all.

But others are troubled by what they see as the destruction of a historical artifact, and the imposition of 21st-century sensibilities onto objects from different times and contexts.

Megan Rosenbloom, a former medical librarian and the author of “Dark Archives,” a study of the history and science of anthropodermic (or skin-bound) books, said that destroying or disposing of these objects would close off future scholarship and fresh understandings.

“We should treat these books as respectfully as possible, but try not to bury literally and figuratively what happened to these people,” she said. “It’s hubris to think we’ve come to the end of our evolution of how we think about human remains.”

And moves like Harvard’s, Rosenbloom added, could backfire.

“If all anthropodermic books are taken out of institutions,” she said, “the rest of these books on the private market will probably go further underground, where they might be treated less respectfully.”

Rumors and Innuendo

Claims of books bound in human skin have circulated for centuries. But the ability to confirm them scientifically — using a technique called peptide mass fingerprinting — is only about a decade old.

In 2015, Rosenbloom and others started the Anthropodermic Book Project , with the goal of uncovering “the historical truths behind the innuendo.” So far, the project has identified 51 purported examples worldwide, 18 of which have been confirmed as bound in human skin. Another 14 have been debunked.

An unknown number of others sit in private libraries. Kahn, whose firm, Lux Mentis , handles a lot of “challenging material,” as he put it, said he knows of several collectors in Paris who have skin-bound books.

The oldest reputed examples are three 13th-century Bibles held at the Bibliothèque Nationale in France. The largest number date from the Victorian era, the heyday of anatomical collecting , when doctors sometimes had medical treatises and other texts bound in skin from patients or cadavers.

Other examples relate to criminals or prisoners. At the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Scotland, a display about the 19th-century growth of the medical profession includes a small notebook purportedly bound in the skin of William Burke, part of a duo of notorious serial killers who sold their victims’ bodies for dissection. The Boston Athenaeum owns one bound in the skin of a man who, before he died in prison , had asked that two copies of his memoir and deathbed confession be bound in his skin.

While most known skin bindings are from Europe or North America, some involve wild claims, like a book at the Newberry Library in Chicago said to have been “found in the palace of the King of Delhi” during the 1857 mutiny against British rule. (Lab examination, according to the library, concluded it was actually “highly burnished goat.” )

“There’s often a sense of othering of these books,” said Alvis, the curator of Winterthur Museum, who posts about rare books on social media as @book_historia. “They don’t come from the noble white person, but this strange person from foreign climes.”

Current testing cannot identify race or sex of the skin. But at least a half-dozen 19th-century examples involve skin purportedly taken from female patients or cadavers by male doctors, with several used to cover books about female biology or sexuality (like a treatise on virginity held at the Wellcome Collection in London).

And a few examples, both rumored and confirmed, have racial connections that, whatever the intentions behind the bindings, may play uncomfortably today.

Two volumes of poems by Phillis Wheatley , the first person of African descent to publish a book in the United States, have been confirmed as bound in human skin. But a pocket-size notebook at the Wellcome Collection, long claimed to have been bound in the skin of Crispus Attucks, a mixed-race Black and Native man recognized as the first person to die for American independence, is likely bound in camel, horse or goat skin, according to the museum.

A ‘Violated Woman’?

The volume at Harvard, an 1879 philosophical treatise called “Des Destinées de L’Ame,” or “The Destiny of Souls,” was bound by a French doctor named Ludovic Bouland, who inserted a note saying that “a book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering.” It was placed at Harvard’s Houghton Library in 1934 by John Stetson, an heir to the hat fortune, along with another note saying that the skin came from a woman who died in a psychiatric hospital.

According to Harvard, library lore holds that “decades ago” the book was sometimes used to haze unsuspecting student workers. But questions about the library’s recent stewardship emerged in 2014, after the library published a jokey blog post describing the confirmation of the skin binding as “good news for cannibals.”

Paul Needham, a prominent rare book expert who retired from Princeton in 2020, was deeply offended, and began calling on Harvard to remove the skin and give it a “respectful burial.”

“I think that the way the Houghton Library treated this was a disservice to the world of rare book collecting,” he said.

The library imposed some restrictions on access in 2015. Winds shifted further in 2021, when Harvard formed a Steering Committee on Human Remains to examine all of its collections, as an outgrowth of its efforts to reckon with its historic entanglements with slavery.

A single skin-bound book from 19th-century France may seem like a small thing amid the more than 20,000 human remains in Harvard’s collections, including 6,500 from Native Americans, which critics say are not being researched and repatriated quickly enough.

But to Needham, who was involved in starting an affinity group to pressure Harvard into burying the skin of what the group called “the violated woman trapped in the binding,” the moral imperative is clear: The proper disposition of human remains should take ethical precedence, particularly where the person has not given consent.

“What 100 years from now would be the potential new research that would be done?” Needham said. “I just can’t imagine it.”

Harvard’s decision is drawing heightened attention to skin-bound volumes elsewhere, including one at the Cleveland Public Library: an 1867 edition of the Quran, acquired in 1941 from a dealer who had described it as “formerly the property of the East Arab chief Bushiri ibn Salim who revolted against the Germans in 1888.”

For decades, the book typically received a handful of requests a year for access, said John Skrtic, the library’s chief of collections. But earlier this year, the library made it off-limits, pending testing.

“The library has long believed the undocumented claim in the dealer’s catalog, regarding its binding, to be false and finds the claim sensationalistic and deeply offensive,” the Cleveland Public Library said in a statement. The library will “engage leaders in the local Muslim community to chart an ethical path forward.”

Harvard’s approach is also generating strong criticism. Eric Holzenberg, a book scholar who recently retired as director of the Grolier Club in Manhattan, said that the destruction of the binding “accomplishes nothing,” beyond expressing disapproval of “the acts of people long dead.”

“Harvard, it seems to me, has taken the easy way out,” Holzenberg said. “No doubt the proper, cautious, committee-generated, risk-averse approach, but ultimately I fear at the expense of sound scholarship and responsible stewardship.”

Rosenbloom, the author of “Dark Archives,” said she questioned the tendency to pull these objects, which were generally not created or collected in a context of colonialism, into models developed to address those injustices. And she wondered why Harvard had removed the binding before finishing full provenance research.

In response to emailed questions, Thomas Hyry, the director of Houghton Library, and Anne-Marie Eze, its associate librarian, said they did not believe dismantling of the binding would limit future scholarship.

“The decisions we have made to remove the human remains from our volume will not erase what we know about this practice for those studying the history of the book,” they said.

Balancing Research and Respect

Some libraries that have undertaken an ethical review of their anthropodermic books have reached different conclusions.

Brown University’s John Hay Library has four books confirmed as bound in human skin, including an edition of Vesalius’s landmark 1543 anatomical atlas, “On the Structure of the Human Body.” In the past, they were promoted on campus tours and sometimes brought out for Halloween and other events.

But in 2019, the library’s new director, Amanda Strauss, paused any showing of the books, while developing policies that balanced respect for human remains with the library’s research mandate.

“We don’t want to censor access to controversial or disturbing material,” she said. “And we don’t want to shame anyone for their interest.”

Today, images of the books’ pages (but not the bindings) are available online , while access to the physical books is limited to people conducting research on medical ethics or anthropodermic bindings.

Strauss said she would be uncomfortable with any alteration or destruction of the bindings, which she said amounted to “erasure.”

“We can’t pretend this wasn’t a practice and this didn’t happen,” she said. “Because it did, and we have the evidence.”

With any macabre object, the line between morbid curiosity and the pursuit of understanding may be hard to draw.

Kahn, the dealer, said he wanted to “demystify” books bound in skin, which he said can prompt conversations about ethics, knowledge and our own status as animals. At the book fair, many seemed open to those questions and curious, however queasily, to touch the Corneille volume.

One browser, Helen Lukievics, a retired lawyer, said she had read about the Harvard book and shuddered. But she was persuaded, she said, by the idea that this particular binding had been meant as a “tribute” to the actress.

“It’s fabulously appalling,” she said. She paused. “It’s a piece of history.”

Jennifer Schuessler is a culture reporter covering intellectual life and the world of ideas. She is based in New York. More about Jennifer Schuessler

Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times. More about Julia Jacobs