Un tueur peut en cacher un autre
There was Petiot and Landru... Then Michel Fourniret, Émile Louis, Guy George, Patrice Alègre… and today, the mysterious killer of the A6 highway. How many crimes have been committed in the past decades and remained unpunished even though the police knew who the killers were?
In reality, the serial killer is not a hero. He has nothing in common with the exceptional and fascinating men portrayed on cinema screens, in the media and by so called specialists. The killer is a nobody. You may have crossed his path: he maybe was this driver who smiled at you, sitting in the car next to yours. In effect, it is on the road that you are most likely to see him: moving around is his best means of ensuring his own impunity.
This book is the result of years of inquest and field study. Corinne Herrmann takes her readers along with her on the tracks of the killers. In particular, she explores the territory of the mysterious killer still at large on the A6 highway. She gets us on board the white pick up, deep into the world of mentally sick and sexually defective men.
Herrmann is trained as a lawyer and as a criminologist and offers us a specialist’s point of view, as well as that of a woman. At the same time, her approach debunks a number of clichés: the serial killer is not necessarily of superior intelligence, and does not always act alone. Hermann asks taboo questions, and her answers are not always on the side of political correctness. How do killers escape the vigilance of the specialised police? What is the responsibility of the political, judiciary and administrative institutions in this? Are there instances of complicit silence? Corinne Herrmann does not hesitate to make waves: as the Michel Fourniret trial is about to begin, she concludes her book with a highly controversial discussion of the affair.
Corinne Herrmann is 45 year old. She is a lawyer, working in Didier Seban’s practice in Paris. Since 1995, she has been involved in the major cases of serial killing (Heaulme, Chanal, Émile Louis, Fourniret…). She is the author, with Philippe Jeanne, of a study on the Émile Louis affair entitled Les Disparues d’Auxerre (Ramsay, 2001).
Petiot, Landru autrefois… Puis Michel Fourniret, Émile Louis, Guy George, Patrice Alègre… et aujourd’hui, le mystérieux « tueur de l’autoroute A6 »… Combien de crimes commis durant des dizaines d’années, en toute impunité, alors que la plupart de leurs auteurs étaient connus des services de police ?
Pourtant, le serial killer n’est pas un héros, cet être exceptionnel et fascinant que nous décrivent le cinéma, les médias ou les pseudo-spécialistes. Non, ce tueur est monsieur Tout-le-Monde. Vous l’avez peut-être croisé, c’était peut-être ce conducteur dans le véhicule d’à côté et qui vous a souri au volant. Car c’est bien sur la route que vous avez le plus de chances de le voir : pour assurer son impunité, il se déplace. Juriste et criminologue, Corinne Herrmann nous livre son regard de spécialiste, mais aussi de femme. Tout en mettant à mal certaines idées reçues – non, le serial killer n’est pas supérieurement intelligent ; non, il n’agit pas toujours seul ; non, on n’a jamais identifié un tueur grâce au profilage –, elle pose des questions souvent taboues, et apporte ses réponses, pas toujours politiquement correctes. Comment les tueurs en série échappent-ils à la vigilance des services de police ? Qu’est-ce qui dysfonctionne à ce point pour qu’on en arrive là ? Quelle est la responsabilité des institutions politiques, judiciaires et administratives dans de tels manquements ? Existe-t-il des complicités silencieuses, une volonté délibérée d’étouffer certaines vérités ?
