The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science [Hardcover]

Douglas Starr (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 5, 2010

A riveting true crime story that vividly recounts the birth of modern forensics.

At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known and feared as “The Killer of Little Shepherds,” terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years—until he ran up against prosecutor Emile Fourquet and Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the era’s most renowned criminologist. The two men—intelligent and bold—typified the Belle Époque, a period of immense scientific achievement and fascination with science’s promise to reveal the secrets of the human condition.

With high drama and stunning detail, Douglas Starr revisits Vacher’s infamous crime wave, interweaving the story of how Lacassagne and his colleagues were developing forensic science as we know it. We see one of the earliest uses of criminal profiling, as Fourquet painstakingly collects eyewitness accounts and constructs a map of Vacher’s crimes. We follow the tense and exciting events leading to the murderer’s arrest. And we witness the twists and turns of the trial, celebrated in its day. In an attempt to disprove Vacher’s defense by reason of insanity, Fourquet recruits Lacassagne, who in the previous decades had revolutionized criminal science by refining the use of blood-spatter evidence, systematizing the autopsy, and doing groundbreaking research in psychology. Lacassagne’s efforts lead to a gripping courtroom denouement.

The Killer of Little Shepherds is an important contribution to the history of criminal justice, impressively researched and thrillingly told.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starr (Blood) eloquently juxtaposes the crimes of French serial killer Joseph Vacher and the achievements of famed criminologist Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne during France's belle époque. From 1894 to 1897, Vacher is thought to have raped, killed, and mutilated at least 25 people, though he would confess to only 11 murders. Lacassagne, who headed the department of legal medicine at the university in Lyon, was a pioneer in crime scene analysis, body decomposition, and early profiling, and investigated suspicious deaths, all in an era when rural autopsies were often performed on the victim's dinner table. Lacassagne's contributions to the burgeoning field of forensic science, as well as the persistence of investigating magistrate Émile Fourquet, who connected crimes while crisscrossing the French countryside, eventually brought Vacher to justice. Vacher claimed insanity, which then (as now) was a vexed legal issue. Lacassagne proved the "systematic nature" of the crimes. Starr, codirector of Boston University's Center for Science and Medical Journalism, creates tension worthy of a thriller; in Lacassagne, he portrays a man determined to understand the "how" behind some of humanity's most depraved and perhaps take us one step closer to the "why." 16 pages of photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Douglas Starr is an old pro at reporting and writing science history, which puts The Killer of Little Shepherds squarely in his wheelhouse. The author ably tells two stories—of the serial killer Vacher’s lust for murder and of the developing science that finally caught up with him—and there are enough fascinating details here to keep even the most jaded forensics fans entertained. More popular journalism than a failed “quest to understand evil” (New York Times), Starr’s compelling history can be added to the growing library of books (Devil in the White City, The Lost City of Z, The Ghost Map) that brings to life forgotten or neglected events by playing on a reader’s sense of adventure and the unknown, as well as the satisfaction of witnessing a confounding puzzle well solved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; First Edition edition (October 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307266192
• ISBN-13: 978-0307266194
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Douglas Starr is the codirector of the Center for Science and Medical Journalism and a professor of journalism at Boston University. His book, Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce won the 1998 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and became a PBS-TV documentary special. A veteran science, medical and environmental reporter, he has contributed to many national publications, including Smithsonian, Audubon, National Wildlife, Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Time, and he has served as a science editor for PBS-TV. He lives near Boston.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The psycopath and the professor September 10, 2010

By Tracy Hodson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

From 1894 until 1897, the quiet French countryside became the hunting ground of Joseph Vacher, a murderous psychopath known as "The Killer of Little Shepherds" who, like Ted Bundy a century later, would begin his life's work after being rejected by the woman with whom he was obsessed. Author Douglas Starr has written a riveting book of enormous scope, masterfully detailing both Vacher's case and the concurrent first "golden age of forensic discovery." He focuses primarily on Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, France's leading expert in the field of legal medicine and professor at the University of Lyon, who played a crucial role in bringing Vacher to justice, and who mentored and inspired countless other scientists and students to pursue a wide variety of disciplines in the burgeoning field of forensics. Many important investigative techniques emerged during this time--the use of body measurements to identify and track captured criminals and suspects, the identification of bullets through the unique rifling marks made by individual firearms, the microscopic examination of hairs, fibers, and blood types, the analysis of wound and blood-spatter patterns--all of which form the basis of modern forensics. In addition to such purely scientific advances, the nature, cause, and appropriate treatment of insane persons in general and insane criminals in particular was being passionately debated all over Europe and in the United States. What to do about, and with, a violent offender who was deemed insane was at the forefront of jurisprudence, as was the question of what determines legal insanity--the court's answer to which would ultimately decide Vacher's fate. In alternating chapters, Mr.... Starr reveals the life histories of his two main protagonists, illuminating the horrific crimes of the one and the crime-solving genius of the other, until Vacher is caught and the two men's careers intersect, impacting the lives of both.

This comprehensive, elegantly written book covers not just Vacher's crimes, but other interesting cases which challenged the expertise, talent, and instincts of Laccasagne. It sets the scene with plenty of background, from the explosion of crime rates in France (and elsewhere in Europe) as Industrial Revolution technologies displaced laborers, creating a wave of vagabonds who migrated from one area to another in search of work and charity, to the difficulties created by the lack of an organized rural police force to meet the challenges of this onslaught of "undesirables." As rural France tried to cope with these huge numbers of "wild men," those who tended to criminality often evaded capture or prosecution--Vacher was able to evade detection for three years, despite often daily interaction with the citizenry. During those years he walked nearly from one end of France to the other, killing as he went. Rural doctors, too, were fighting an uphill battle--often inadequately educated and working in conditions that made even a high degree of competence moot, the probability of getting reliable information about the state of a body from either the crime scene or the postmortem was regularly compromised. In an attempt to combat this problem Lacassagne prepared and distributed a step-by-step protocol for forensic autopsy, but the ability to follow these steps was often destroyed by those very conditions his protocol was meant to counteract (one important autopsy done on one of Vacher's victims was performed at night, by lamplight, in the middle of a misty field).

Mr. Starr traveled to the remote areas where Vacher's crimes were committed, saw many of the exhibits he describes, spoke with descendants of Dr. Lacassagne, and observed many, rather grim, forensic autopsies. His prose is so rich with detail that the reader is immersed in the experiences of the protagonists--this is not a book researched from the author's computer or armchair. There are many interesting sidebars, including an amusing debate about a skull allegedly belonging to guillotined assassin Charlotte Corday and the significance of its physical characteristics, as well as a lively discussion by the scientists of the day about the methods of the fictional, and wildly popular detective, Sherlock Holmes. A detailed description of of Lacassagne's Criminal Museum is illuminated by several pages of photos and drawings of its exhibits, and pages from the newly emerging penny press (the start of the "yellow journalism" that continues to wreak havoc with investigations and trials today) are reproduced. All of this attention to the mise-en-scène in which Laccasagne and his colleagues worked brings events, as well as time and place, vividly to life. Throughout, Mr. Starr evinces real feeling for his subjects, even the violent and self-aggrandizing Vacher. This is a book filled with strongly drawn characters--criminals and investigators alike--whom Mr. Starr never forgets were real people, especially those whom Vacher killed. In many such accounts the victims of such violent deaths remain mere ciphers, but in "The Killer of Little Shepherds," those little shepherds are clothed in real flesh, and their dignity remains intact. Read more ›

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting Story of Earlier Serial Killer and Forensics Methods September 19, 2010

By Burgmicester VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

The Killer of Little Shepherds is a very engaging blend of early forensics methodology and the story of one of the worst serial killers in history. Although admitting to eleven gruesome and grisly murders, nearly twenty-five murders were attributed to Joseph Vacher of France. The governmental establishment, due to idiosyncrasies and communication breakdowns, allowed Vacher to be released from an asylum and even from a jail cell because they had no idea who (or maybe what) they had captured. Vacher thanked God (as he believed that God was watching over him) and went out and killed again and again.

Douglas Starr nicely mixes in the advances in the field of forensics (called Criminal Anthropology at the time) as it pertained to the investigation of Joseph Vacher and other murderers at that time. Doctor Alexandre Lacassangne was Vacher's arch enemy and continued to advance forensics from a police department of bullies beating and torturing their captives into a confession to a more scientific based discovery. There are explanations and examples of how the police would accuse a suspect of a crime with absolutely no evidence at all. Dr. Lacassagne's efforts were to find the scientific methods that would allow a non-emotional examination of the facts leading to a suspect. The case of Joseph Vacher was Dr. Lacassagne's showcase.

I was impressed with the author's ability to carry the story of Vacher as he interwove the science and psychological breakthroughs in that era. It was amazing to learn about the French leaders in forensic science. This book brings a look at just how many stellar performers in that era were French.

The last sections of the book concentrate on the discussion of when a person is actually responsible for his/her actions - criminally insane.... Joseph Vacher insisted that he was insane and that he was not responsible for his crimes. Again, the Vacher case was perfect for this discussion and Starr presents the case without any agenda.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that is interested in history of forensic science and how it related to one of the greatest trials of one of the worst serial killers of all time. Starr is extremely well researched and writes with absolutely no preconceived conclusions or any agenda. The concepts in this book are controversial (death penalty, criminally insane, preconditioned criminal dispositions, etc.) and were handled with expert skill. Read more ›

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Science and crime solving in the 19th century September 10, 2010

By Nancy O VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Set in 1890s France, The Killer of Little Shepherds contains two simultaneously-told stories. First, there's the account of Joseph Vacher, who roamed the countryside of France and left only gruesome death in his wake. The second story is that of Alexandre Lacassagne, head of the department of legal medicine at the University of Lyon, who pioneered many forensic techniques in the areas of crime-scene and post-mortem analysis, and was what we would now call a criminal profiler.

Starr begins his story with army Sergeant Joseph Vacher's full-on obsession with a young woman named Louise Barant, a housemaid. After only one dinner, Vacher proposed marriage, and then later told her that if she ever betrayed him, he would kill her. She tried to avoid him and put up every reasonable excuse for not seeing him, but it didn't help. On a four-month leave from the army, Vacher came after her, she refused him, and he shot both Louise and himself. Both survived, and Vacher was put into two different asylums for a total of ten months, then released. With really nowhere to go, Vacher became a vagabond. As he wandered the countryside, he committed the most heinous crimes, with young shepherd boys and young women favorite targets. Because he would wander from department to department, by the time the crimes were discovered, he would have been long gone, thus avoiding detection.

Starr then interweaves his account of Vacher with the story of Alexandre Lacassagne, who was a pioneer in the study of forensic methodologies, including criminal profiling. He also discusses others in the field of criminology including Alphonse Bertillon and Cesare Lombroso, and explains developments in science and psychology that aided in the advancements of legal medicine and crime detection.... He also examines the phenomenon of "vagabondage," noting the correlation between unemployment, the increase of people on the move, and the correlating upswing in crime.

Both strands of this book come together when Vacher is caught, imprisoned, and sent to trial, leading to some pretty major questions. For example, was Vacher insane at the time he killed, or was he perfectly rational? And what exactly legally constituted insanity? Is there any way to know if insanity is based on physical causes? What type of punishment is suitable if a murderer is found to be insane? Many of these questions sparked international debates, but they also led to further developments in the field of psychology, which was growing rapidly, as was the gap between medical science and legal codes. And when a person is known to be a "monster," even if he is insane, how can the legal system justify putting him in an asylum where, if he's crafty enough, he'd fake being well and be let out to kill all over again?

Starr expertly catches the era surrounding the crimes of Vacher and the work of Lacassagne and others. He acknowledges work being done in other countries around the same time period, such as Italy, the United States and Great Britain so as to broaden the scope of developments in the science of criminology. He also examines other crimes as well as the limitations of the local rural police departments in the capture of criminals.

I got very caught up in Vacher's story, and I liked the book. The early efforts focused on forensics and criminal profiling are really interesting, and if you're into this kind of thing, you'll be rewarded. It's quite obvious that Starr contributed immense amounts of original research to the production of this work. The stories of Vacher's victims are also lurid enough so that if you're not interested in the field of forensic study, you'll still find something in the book that will interest you. I do think he could have done without the "postscript" chapter and gone right to the epilogue, but that's nit picky on my part. Overall, it's a good book that will keep you reading. Read more ›