Kriti Mehrotra
If there’s one thing nobody can deny, owing to all the details about Stéphane Bourgoin to have come to light in the past few years, it’s that he took a lot of liberties with his tales for his career. In fact, as explored in Hulu’s ‘Killer Lies: Chasing A True Crime Con Man,’ they date all the way back to the 1970s — before he had even started presenting himself as a true crime/serial killer expert. However, the most significant of them was the fact he always claimed he first got wrapped up in this field upon losing a loved one to a serial killer in one of the most atrociously horrific ways.
Stéphane Bourgoin Concocted Eileen From the Ground Up
While Stéphane did assert he lost someone close to him named Eileen to a serial killer while he was living in Los Angeles, California, in 1976, every chance he got throughout his career, some details never made sense. After all, he often fluctuated between calling her his friend, his girlfriend, or his wife without ever giving any explanations — and then there’s the fact he only ever brandished around one photo of her, as seen below. However, as the years passed and people began noticing these discrepancies, they began looking deeper and found that maybe his truth wasn’t what he claimed it to be.
It ultimately came to light Stéphane had actually made her up from scratch — nobody named Eileen ever existed in his life in this close of a capacity; the woman he painted simply didn’t exist. As for the beautiful woman in the photograph, journalist Lauren Collins has since confirmed she is a former Spanish actress who had no idea her likeness was being used in such a sordid manner. It’s imperative to note this self-proclaimed true crime expert recently took responsibility for this lie, yet he did also assert he would do it all over again if he had to, as it is part of what kickstarted his career.
Stéphane Bourgoin’s Claims Regarding Eileen Still Contradict
Stéphane confidently stated in the aforementioned production that while he did often lie or exaggerate, he did actually lose someone he once knew to a serial killer down in California in the 1970s. However, he has also stated otherwise. Per his own accounts in the original, a woman he had met in Los Angeles had become a friend – one with whom he slept on three different occasions and whom he also sometimes helped out with money. Yet, he refused to give her name so as to supposedly not tarnish her memory or have people speculate she was a prostitute owing to her financial situation, only to then add she was the origin of the Eileen story. He expressed he had tried to reconnect with her upon returning to France, only to find out she had unfortunately been horrifically mutilated by a serial killer inside her own home.
Nevertheless, according to reports, Stéphane gave a different account back in 2020, divulging that Eileen, as well as his entire backstory, were just lies — fictional tales that would open doors as well as give him sympathy in the industry. He even said he drew inspiration from the case of Susan Bickrest, who had been murdered at age 24 in 1975 by serial killer Gerald Stano — it is believed Gerald had at least 88 victims. That’s because he knew having such a personal touch would naturally improve his credibility, which only grew with each book he released, documentaries he produced, or shows he featured in. But alas, these lies also became his downfall as no one now believes a word he says or attempts to write.
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