Heating up storytelling this Summer, National Geographic (DStv 181, Starsat 220) will be premiering the true-crime series KILLER LIES: CHASING A TRUE CRIME CON MAN on Sundays at 21:00 from 6 October 2024.The three-part series tracks the rise and fall of serial killer expert Stéphane Bourgoin whose dark lies are exposed by sleuthing fans.
Produced by The New Yorker Studios and Left/Right and based on Lauren Collins’s 2022 New Yorker exposé “Murder, He Wrote,” KILLER LIES: CHASING A TRUE CRIME CON MAN expands on Collins’s investigation into the rise and fall of a provocative French serial killer expert, Stéphane Bourgoin, who became famous for his extraordinary resume of jailhouse interviews with serial killers as well as his personality quirks, and his morbid encounters. Bourgoin cited the violent and horrifying 1976 slaying of his wife by a serial killer as motivation for his relentless interest in the minds of murderers. After 40 years and 40 books, he becomes the target of a group of online sleuths, known as 4ème Oeil Corporation (4th Eye), who try to untangle his web of lies and unearth the truth.
The three-part series, directed by Emmy®-nominated filmmaker Ben Selkow, fully reveals the online group’s dogged investigation and the shocking extent of Bourgoin’s deception. It features exclusive access to 4th Eye members speaking for the first time on camera in a documentary, along with material from Bourgoin’s own films and past television appearances and forensically reexamined archival footage. Viewers will hear from those closest to Bourgoin for an intimate peek inside a pathological liar’s mind as well as hear from Bourgoin himself in his most comprehensive sit-down interview discussing his motives for fabricating such grandiose lies.
Combined with the investigative journalism of Collins, each episode will delve deeper to discover where the truth ends and lies begin:
- “MURDER HE WROTE”
Stéphane Bourgoin’s success as a world-renowned serial killer expert progressed alongside the rise of serial killers in America and the explosive growth of the lucrative true-crime industry. But when the 4th Eye, a collective of vigilante online sleuths, embarks on an investigation into his life and work, they discover his career was based on a series of dark lies.
- “THE EYE IS ALWAYS WATCHING”
Anchored by reporting from The New Yorker’s Lauren Collins, we follow the dramatic twists and turns of Stéphane Bourgoin’s story. As his career continues to flourish, the 4th Eye’s hunt for the truth reveals that something far darker lies beneath the surface of his fame. The online sleuths work to stop him before more damage is done.
- “THE RECKONING”
As the mysteries of Bourgoin’s past reveal the seeds of his dark obsessions, Lauren Collins continues investigating many alarming unanswered questions. We hear from the victims in this story and delve into the larger themes and questions raised about our insatiable appetite for true crime and the strange compulsions of the human psyche.
KILLER LIES is a poignant exploration of human nature and cultural psychology and a captivating meta-commentary on the global entertainment industry of true-crime. It is a true-crime story within a true-crime story. Ultimately, it was avid true-crime fans who brought Bourgoin down, launching their own investigation of the master who had taught them not to underestimate humanity’s capacity for deceit and evil.
KILLER LIES: CHASING A TRUE CRIME CON MAN is produced by The New Yorker Studios and Left/Right for National Geographic. Banks Tarver, Ken Druckerman and Anneka Jones executive produce for Left/Right. For The New Yorker Studios, the executive producers are Helen Estabrook, Sarah Amos, Lexy Altman, and Lauren Collins. Ben Selkow is showrunner plus directs and executive produces the series. For National Geographic, Betsy Forhan serves as executive producer.
