Paris Shocked By Entrepreneur Charged With Murdering His Ex-Wife
Police say François-Xavier Hussherr, co-founder of an AI startup, slashed the throat of his ex-wife, Cécile Hussherr-Poisson. The killing reignited a debate about femicide in France.
Rarely does the tech world in France make big mainstream headlines. But several days ago, an appalling murder thrust a prominent entrepreneur into the spotlight while also highlighting the nation’s ongoing problem with femicide.
On March 22, police arrested François-Xavier Hussherr, 51, and charged him with slashing the throat of his ex-wife, Cécile Hussherr-Poisson, 47. He is co-founder of an educational technology startup called ProfessorBob.ai. She was a university professor specializing in literature.
Police and witnesses say a man dressed as a Deliveroo driver was lurking outside of the building early in the morning. After finally gaining access to the building, he confronted Hussher-Poisson in the hallway outside her apartment and stabbed her to death.
As neighbors rushed into the hall after hearing a woman scream, the assailant walked out the door and briskly down the street. An alert group of nearby construction workers who had noticed the man earlier saw him leaving, and one of them followed him.
In an interview with French media, the construction worker wished to remain anonymous. He explained that he heard his colleagues shouting and saw a woman lying in the hall of the building and lots of blood. Recognizing the man from earlier, he followed him.
“He had been waiting for a while to kill her. He couldn't be let go,” the construction worker said. “I immediately ran after him."
The killer entered nearby Sainte-Marguerite church on rue Saint-Bernard followed by the construction worker who worried he would escape through a back door. Alerted by the construction worker’s team, the police soon arrived and cornered the assailant in the church.
When police seized the man, the construction worker worried that they had the wrong man because he was wearing different clothes, and appeared to be a blonde man in his 50s. Then he realized that the man had brought a change of clothes and had stuffed his delivery disguise in his messenger bag. Police also seized his knife.
Police identified the attacker as Hussherr, a serial entrepreneur. He had apparently been going through a difficult divorce with his ex-wife. Media reports suggested that disputes over the custody of their 3 children had made the divorce proceedings increasingly tense.
A Tragic Tale
As news of the murder spread, former coworkers and friends of both were stunned. Besides being married, the couple had been longtime collaborators.
In 2009, he co-founded Lelivrescolaire.fr, a startup that published digital textbooks and where she oversaw the development of several collections of manuals. The company was sold in 2014.
The company issued a statement that it was in mourning following the death of its co-founder. That statement also noted that as a result of a “disagreement” with two other co-founders, Hussherr was forced to leave the company in 2013, leaving the others in charge. For the past 10 years, he has had no involvement and owns no shares.
Before the digital book startup, Hussherr had been a researcher at MIT University (from 1996 to 1998). He and his wife also co-authored a book, “The New Power of Internet Users.” Focused on reducing the digital divide in France, he also served as president of Rénaissance Numerique, a think tank that advocated for digital transformation in the public and private sectors.
From 2009 to 2018, according to his LinkedIn bio, Hussherr was cofounder and CEO of Gutenberg Technology, another digital education startup. He subsequently founded and created ProfessorBob.ai, in January 2019, to develop a virtual teaching assistant based on Natural Language Processing.
Last September, ProfessorBob raised a $2.5m round of venture capital from venture firms Innovacom and Inco Ventures. The timing proved good as companies that used AI began to experience a new wave of hype. Hussherr appeared on popular business shows on BFMTV and BSMART (both have subsequently taken the videos down but you can see an excerpt here).
Following his arrest, ProfessorBob scrubbed his image from the company’s website.
The company also issued a statement:
“We learned with shock and emotion of the indictment and pre-trial detention for murder of François-Xavier Hussherr, co-founder of ProfessorBob.ai. Our thoughts are first and foremost with the victim, her family and loved ones, especially her children. This tragedy shocks us deeply and affects all Professorbob.ai employees in their values and humanity.”
A Terrible Loss
Hussherr-Poisson taught comparative literature at the Gustave-Eiffel University of Marne-la-Vallée (Seine-et-Marne). She studied myths and their rewriting as well as women's writing in English and French.
One colleague tweeted: “Stupor and pain, anger also on learning of the femicide of one of my colleagues from the university. She was a teacher-researcher in comparative literature and an equality watchdog in college. She was adorable and much loved.”
Police have not disclosed an official motive for the killing. But two years ago, the couple separated and began divorce proceedings.
A few days ago, according to reports, the victim was chased down the street by a man before finding refuge in a nearby medical analysis laboratory. She called the police but declined to file an official complaint.
In an interview earlier this week, a therapist revealed that Hussherr-Poisson had been coming to see her to discuss problems in her marriage that apparently was turning violent…
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