Contents of this page:
Profile
| UnSub is a so-called Organised Serial Killer | |
| Egocentric and bearing a general feeling of dislike towards his surroundings. It is possible he will generate some kind of warmth, though only when it pleases him. He is very methodic and knows his acts make a great impression on society. He gets excited when he sees how society is shocked. Because of his lack of self-esteem he wants to get even with society. The time he spends with his victims and method of disposal make it clear he puts some work in it, and that he has a certain pleasure in it. He prepares his crimes and in his fantasy he has committed every act already a number of times. We can say his Modus Operandi is perfect, and the satisfaction on that part has passed. He also has spent quite some time on the treatment of the corpses, so that recently the process of dumping and the observation of his acts has begun. The UnSub's logic is recognisable in every aspect of the crimes. | |
| INDEX | |
| UnSub possesses a vehicle, probably a van or a station wagon. | |
| Since he deposits several bags at a time on the dumpsites we can assume he has access to a vehicle which allows him to load several bags at a time in a rather convenient way so he can dispose of them quickly. Also note that at least one of the presumed victims disappeared in broad daylight so he must have had adequate means of transportation on that occasion as well. The vehicle is equipped with a so-called 'rape-kit', which allows him to gain immediate control of his victims. Because of his methods and personality we can assume and all-terrain-vehicle, it guarantees toroughness and reliability in all situations, and it also forces some kind of respect towards other vehicles on the road. It also requires an accurate maintainance. | |
| INDEX | |
| Unsub probably has a straight monday-to-friday job. | |
|
The victims all disappeared on weekends. Martine Bohn: July 21st, an official holiday, Jacqueline Leclercq and Veronique Leclercq both on a sunday. The deposits of the remains probably happened on saturday and sunday. He can probably 'organise' the work during the weeks, leaving the weekends for the major, and most exciting work; the dumping in plain view. He might be working in shifts though, on the one hand this will leave him quite some free time to wander around unattended, but this also means he doesn't fit the regular entertainment-schedule as it is presented for most nine-to-five jobs. Another possibility is he works as some kind of maintainance-man, or with the phone or electrical company. This type of job will give him a sense of control, where he decides more or less for himself how much time he spends on certain jobs, but he will also have the opportunity to check out places where abductions are possible, and which dumpsites are available. His job doesn't require him to enter homes of people though, otherwise he would certainly have attacked victims in their houses since he would know every detail about how to get in, what the house looks like and what kind of people occupy it. If he would have acces to this kind of knowledge he would definitely go for killing women inside their houses because that's the place where he could get a lot of control with relatively little risk. It would also enforce his feeling of power, attacking the victims in the safety of their own homes. |
|
| INDEX | |
| UnSub lives alone. | |
|
He has a space where he can take the victims, kill them and dismember them. He has facilities to store the victims, probably in freezers since some of the remains were at least 'weeks or even months' old, the exact time of death could not be distinguished. Note that some parts of Bohn's body were found in March 1997, while she was abducted in July 1996 and her torso was found little later. Her head and one foot are still missing. It would be hard to imagine him living with somebody where he has so much privacy and possiblity to dissect the bodies and keep them stored in a safe place for prolonged periods of time. On his premises he probably has the possibility to enter with his vehicle, either a large garage or shed connected to the house, some kind of studio or warehouse. There will be no neighbours in the close proximity which have a direct sight into the entrance, nor will they be able to look inside through any windows. It is a solitary building, or it would be located in an area that isn't very busy on weekends, like an industrial estate. It is not an abandoned building, because he'll want permanent control, and also he wouldn't want to take the risk that someone would drop by unexpectedly, anybody would try to break in, or the power might break down. Also he wants to stay in the close proximity of the bodies. |
|
| INDEX | |
| UnSub has had college education. | |
|
There is no evident trauma on the remains as to identify the method of how he killed them (as far as we know). He takes great care of removing eventual known details, such as tattoos, that could lead to the identification of the victims. This means he knows what he's doing, and it requires a certain ratio. Also the cutting is clean. This has led to the idea of someone with medical training or a butcher, but probably it is just a further step in his process of killing. Everything shows a rational line of thought, so we can view the dissecting in this option, after all you don't need that much medical knowledge, but rather simple logic in the separating of limbs. The methods of disposal are effective, and there's a certain cockyness in dumping the 3 more bags in the immediate vicinity of an area which is swarmed by officials after the discovery of the first 9 bags. He knows his way around, and he also has notions of police-work. The fact that bodies have been dumped at specific locations also lead to some kind of awareness. The dumping of the torso of Martine Bohn in the river Hayne (French for 'hate') is also significant. He has a strong notion of police-work and like the challenge, if he would have left the bags with the regular trash, it would take much longer, if ever, before they would be discovered, and they would be much more difficult to trace. He will have a regular job, which pays well for all his needs, the use of a certain type of vehicle, a rather large house with storage facilities, and regular visits to prostitutes. This means it needs certain skills, on the other hand we can expect it is not some management-function because this would take up too much of his precious time, and would leave little room for his imagination to wander onto darker stuff. If he would be some kind of manager or any other leading function, the stress of organisation, resposibility and so would take up more of his time, he doesn't bear any of these characteristics. |
|
| INDEX | |
| UnSub is a loner. | |
|
Considered the complexity of his actions we can assume he lives alone, or in a situation where he has little or a very distorted contact with others. Co-habitants or family-members would notice his strange behavior. Also the extended period of time he has been committing his murders would bring along an enormous pression in his daily relations. We for instance could assume he has been married relatively early, but his wife has left him soon after. This situation might have turned the lingering feelings of uneasiness and dissatisfaction into a stress-factor which has triggered the first violent explosion. It would also explain his resentment against women. It could also be possible he lives in the house of his parents who have passed away, he might have lived for a long time with a dominant mother. He will probably be in good condition, athletic figure, he is taller than all of his victims since he can abduct the in broad daylight, this means he has power and control of his body and mind to act quickle and well-determined. He could be involved in sports, but non-competitive sports and definitely no team-sports. More likely would be mountain-climbing, sports that require control, concentration and some kind of muscle-power, which also give a great feeling of satisfaction when a goal is reached; the top of the mountain, the feeling of being above everything, the feeling of his body and his mind which have performed together well to reach this satisfaction. Note that the Belgian Ardennes is a very suitable area for this kind of solitary recreation. |
|
| INDEX | |
| UnSub is aged around 35. | |
|
This is of course a well-known age put forward in the profiling of serial killers, but it will fit our UnSub well. Some presumed victims have disappeared, or dismembered bodies have been found as early as 1994, which means his actions are long in the process, and he's had plenty of time to work out his scenarios. His victims all belong to this same category, it doesn't happen frequently that killers will kill older victims, unless they are much older, and more helpless. His victims will bear some kind of power of defense. Maybe there's also the idea of identification, his wife would have had the same age. The Modus Operandi is worked out well since he's been quite unnoticed since at least 1994, and there's a well defined signature in all the finds and dumpings like the distinctive method of closing the trashbags. Younger criminals would not show the same kind of hatred in their actions, and the whole process would be more chaotic. The first murder could have occured in the process of a rape which has run out of hand, but even then the evolution into the cutting and precise dumping of the bodies would take several years. Before that time he will probably have committed lesser crimes like exhibitionism, peeping, stealing and breaking in. Maybe he's had an arrest for minor things like shoplifting, or exhibitionism but no serious crimes like rape. It's obvious he knows his way around with prostitutes so there's little necessity to satisfy his needs by the use of rape. Also a previously convicted criminal will do anything to avoid going back to jail, and would unlikely draw attention by the heroic act of dumping more bags in the immediate vicinity of a police investigation-team. These crimes are about power and dominance, not about sex. |
|
| INDEX | |
| Catching the UnSub. | |
|
It is almost certain that he lives in the area of Mons. The choice of the dumpsites and the fact that quite a few of the victims disappeared there show that he knows his way around very well. It might be worth to check around with prostitutes and describe this type of person. He will be the type of person who wants some kind of control in his contacts with prostitutes as well, he might have gone into some kind of violent behaviour with anyone there as well, but he's probably aware of the risk and manages to control his compulsion in certain situations. When he encounters Bohn, he finds out she's only arrived from France for a couple of months, and concludes she's an easy target since nobody will enquire about here immediately. She will have changed appearance and hasn't been in close contact with friends or relatives. The fact she's a transsexual adds up to her isolation. The same goes for the other victims, who seemingly, would have been involved in the prostitution-scene of Mons. The recent find of a head as led to beliefs that this was a failure and very unlikely for a serial killer, but it is also sound to say that he's pressing his control to the limit. We can expect the head to belong to one of the victims mentioned before, who have been related to the finds anyway, and whose disappearences haven't shed any light on the case either. We can assume that in the near future the first written words of the UnSub will be discovered, written in block letters on regular lined paper, in an envelope dropped into a letterbox with just written the name of a newspaper and no address or stamp. |
|
| INDEX | |
| Most recent developments. | |
|
It is obvious the UnSub is in a state of high anxiety, since the dumping is rising in frequency. This could be a 'natural' rise of temperament, fed by the stir his activities are causing, but there could also be a more plausible reason for the erratic activity; he has to move spaces. The parts dumped start to show signs of decomposition, where the first findings were indeterminable regarding time of death and of deposition. He could just have had bad luck and his freezer broke down, or the remote building discussed earlier suffers some other deficiency which forces him to get rid of stored bodies and parts. It's possible his lease for the place has ended, or the place has to be cleared for some reason. More news should be available in the next days, also check "the facts" for most recent news. Since the identification of Nathalie Godart, who is to be situated in the marginal community of homeless people around the Mons railway-station, we may assume the UnSub has a certain connection or approach to this area. Martine Bohn is known to have frequented this area as well, so we can be sure there is a connection here. At the moment we have to guess what his relation here might be; he could have some kind of professional connection, or he could be a frequent visitor to the bars, probably both. He has a way of knowing which people are kind of vulnerable, or who won't be missed by relatives or friends. Again this could be a professional approach, he could be involved in some kind of social security, unemployment department or housing project, but also we know he's around for a while, so it could also be a natural 'talent' or feeling towards the emotional situation of the victims. Another point of consideration is the 'Man with a Mission', the type of victim and the connotation of the names of the dumping sites could fit in some kind of conspiracy-type setup. The victims are 'dumped' from society one the one hand, on the other they themselves 'hate' society for what's happened to them, the whole situation is one of 'anxiety'. He could be the one who's mission is to make things clear, maybe he's part of this situation himself, but only remotely because he's lived in a secured situation all the time, and this situation has changed, which has initially triggered his rampage. As discussed earlier, he might be left by his wife, or left alone after a protecting mother passed away. |
|
| INDEX | |
| A suspect arrested. | |
| About the recently arrested 'gypsy'. This 33-year-old Leopold lives in a caravan in Jemappes, a small town near Mons, and used to frequent the station area, where all the victims disappeared. He also supposedly had a grudge against women and often carried knives. We know that our UnSub makes a specific knot how he ties the bags, he then carefully cuts off the ends of the knot with scissors. Alone this fact makes a gypsy, living in a caravan, very unlikely. Witnesses have been saying he definitely had no access to any vehicle, and at the time of his arrest he had no fixed place to stay. The cutting of the knots shows a certain meticular behavior, it is an expression of extreme tidiness and obstinacy, the UnSub very probably has tidy cut nails and a cropped or neatly styled haircut, just like a control-type personality would suggest. Then there's the storing of the bodies, kind of unefficient and place-consuming when living in a caravan, the cutting up of the bodies, again a quite unefficient job to perform in a caravan. The bags found so far have all been dumped on weekends, again unlikely for an unemployed man with enough time on his hands to pick less specific moments. And finally, the name-connotations of the dump-sites, if there isn't any connection between them, this case is the queen of coincidence. | |
| INDEX | |
| A Trap? | |
| An explication for the arrest of Leopold could be found in the investigation-methods of the Belgian police. In the Dutroux-case the press was fed regularly with details about the investigation, while they were digging at the old mine-sites in Jumet. Later it turned out this whole setup only served to keep a locked-up pedophile talk to his cell-mate how the police were searching at the wrong place, and that at least 10 victims of pedophile killers could be found on the site. The whole scheme collapsed when a newspaper reported about the setup, and the pedophile kept his mouth shut. Anyway, the new developments in this case, the arrest of a very unlikely suspect, could be a similar scheme; the police are 'grilling' a suspect, in hope the real killer will become jealous of the attention, and resentful for the wrong route that is followed. This will most surely get him frustrated, and he might be forced to dump something, as to prove his superiority, and claim his copyright. It is sure that all streets with any cryptic names and references will be watched by detectives, catching the UnSub redhanded whilst dumping new bags will be the only definite possibility. | |
| INDEX | |
| A new start. | |
|
As of Friday 9 May 1997, Leopold Bogaert has been released from prison. He has maintained his innocence, and all the charges he was accused of have been withdrawn. He had been involved in a fight in the Mons station-area, and chose to stay away for a while and also decided to change his looks; he cut his hair and shaved his stubbly beard. Blood found on an object of clothing was traced to an injury he suffered in the fight. Clothes belonging to Nathalie Godart had been burned because he had stopped seeing her, and didn't want to have anything reminding him, besides he had ample space to live in his caravan. As discussed before it was quite clear Leopold never fit the profile of the involved serial killer, this was mentioned in the press as well as soon as his identity and coordinates were known. Why it took investigators over 2 weeks to clear him of the charges remains a mystery. Either their police-work is as ever handled in primitive ways, or the 'Trash Bag Murders' task force is just like 3 people or so. We can only hold the attempt to lure the real killer into a trap as an ample benefit of this preposterous procedure. The UnSub on the other hand has totally proven his superiority, we now know he has total control over his excitation, he hasn't been upset about the false arrest and hasn't been trapped by the game the investigators played. Remember that he killed Martine Bohn in July 1996, and dumped the parts both then in 1996 and recently in March 1997, a clear indication of his power to control. The recent rise in frequency could be an outward positioning of his mystery, which keeps feeding on events like the arrest of Leopold, but it could also mean he will lay low for a while regarding the dumping, he's got ridden of most of his trophies, so it could be the time for new stalking and hunting. |
|
| INDEX | |
| Tips for the coppers. | |
|
Because all of the above profiling is done simply on information which can be found in newspapers, radio and television-reports, it is in the end quite superficial. What we actually need to sharpen the profile is the majority of information which is undoubtedly available on the corpses and trash bags. For instance the question of medical precision and/or the UnSub belonging to the trade of butchers. We know he cuts the bodies with a hacksaw, a hacksaw will leave traces when used to cut something, if the cuts show signs of any other debris, apart from bone-traces and eventually small fragments of paint (which is used to define various types of hacksaw-blades), the origin of these can be traced. If the cuts show signs of any other metal, like steel, copper, aluminium it means the UnSub has hacksaws ready for use, because he'll use them, either professionally or for a certain action, if traces of rust can be found, he'll just use it now and then, and the workshop where he uses it is something that's been there for a longer time, which could lead us to the assumption he's still living in the house of his parents, and the workshop belonged to his father. This again can lead to a certain type of housing, the architecture of houses with workshops, built like in the 50's can be found on the edges of the main centre, because the kind of trades they used to house were related to activities in the city itself. The rise of small industrial sites, with more modern workshops is something which only surfaced in the 70's and boomed in the 80's. The fact that his workshop would be located near the centre of town would also explain his connection and knowledge about the station-area as a place for drop-outs, and will give him a certain feeling of connection, he will also have a very good view upon which kind of people are vulnerable and thus easy prey. It is quite unlikely that the workshop is from a more recent date for other reasons as well; someone who has a small company or who requires a workshop for any other reason, and has it built like less than 20 years ago, is probably still in some kind of expansion, he'd have to spend to much time, and too much of his worries in keeping the company fit before he can degenerate into murder and mutilation. If the used hacksaw appears to be new, and only used for the cutting up of the bodies, this adds to his organization-skills. It means he has thought out how to cut up the bodies, he had to go to a DIY-store and buy the equipment, and eventually organize the workshop for the job. All these require high control and help us to determine his intellectual level. The place where the cutting is done will also leave traces, if the cutting is done on a table, it can be determined whether that is a wooden table and what kind of wood it is made of, if it was painted or if it was bare wood, eventually oiled, what kind of oil did he use? If the table is used for any other activity, traces can be found; particles of dust, paint, liquids. The general activity of the workshop will leave traces, if you ever use spray paint in a space almost any object in that space will carry traces of it, then the spray paint could come from a can or a gun, different types of thinners will be used. The bags, he used different kinds of bags, some were trash bags, some were shopping bags. Have these bags been used to carry anything else, if you ever carry groceries in a bag, traces will remain virtually forever, or did he wash the bags before he used them? If he carried the bags in his car they will bear traces of the carpeting of his car, or otherwise traces of dirt left in his trunk/loading space by other stuff he usually carries around. The parts, are the bodies clean, like are they washed of any blood after he cuts them up, or were the victims washed before they died? If before -their hair and nails will be clean, their teeth might be brushed- it means he wants them clean before he engages in sexual or other acts, or he shows some warped kind of compassion, he wants to care for them. Is there any food present in the stomach, like did he prepare them some food, what kind of food? Traces of sperm have been found, were they on the body, or were there traces of intercourse, did he use a condom, any lubrication, are there other signs of sexual interference, bite marks, any special types of injuries, where are these, how were they inflicted? Are there any injuries to the face, especially the eyes, are there traces of tape, marks of ropes or any other restraining devices like handcuffs, are these marks only on the wrists or also on ankles, or anywhere else? As you can see we lack a whole bunch of details to make an extensive profile of the involved UnSub. In so far, we will continue our work based upon public reports and add stuff here as soon as it becomes available. |
|
| INDEX | |
| Low Level Additions. (august 1997) | |
|
Not so much new developments have surfaced in this case in the last months, there are now 4 acknowledged victims, covering a time-span of more than one year, the earliest being Carmelina Russo, disappeared on 4 January 1996. Another interesting development is the discovery that all the bags dumped between 22 march and 22 april have been dumped around the same time. This has been found out due to investigation of the soil underneath the bags. It also acclaims for the state of decomposition in which the last remains have been found. More important for us is that this clearly indicates a very strong point of excitement and/or stress with the UnSub, and that investigations towards identification should be drawn in this direction. He has kept the remains for a certain period of time in a freezer, and suddenly decides to get rid of them all, again we cannot other than understand he had a problem at this point. What the problem would be has been discussed earlier; a failure of his freezer would be the most dumb, a forced change of location, maybe another brush with the law, or a confrontation with someone in his vicinity who might interfere with his actions. We still would be interested by further investigation of useful information. |
|
| INDEX | |
| Most recent stuff. | |
|
Some very interesting development in this case has surfaced only now (21 August 1997). Patrick Moriau, who is a member of the parliamentary commission in the Dutroux-case and also major of the city of Chapelle-lez-Herlaimont, has received 3 anonymous postcards in the mail, presumably sent by the UnSub as early as 26 May 1997. As we can tell from the postcard, which is postmarked on that day in Leuze-en-Hainaut. You will surely remember we have written earlier about the UnSub sending messages as to prove his superiority (see 'Catching the Unsub' above). We have also stated that he would write in block letters, and yes, he did. From his writing we can make up a military type of style, he wants his message to be very clear. In the addressing the style is most extreme. He starts with putting Hotel de Ville (Town hall) at the top, he already adds [CLH] to it, as to make sure from the start it goes to Chapelle-lez-Herlaimont. This kind of code-type addition is frequently seen in the military service. He does the same on the second line, adding [PS] (Parti Socialiste) to the name of Patrick Moriau. The political rank of Moriau is of no value at all in the address, but he prefers to mention it, so there must be a reason for it. We believe he is a strong catholic, or has been under the influence of ruthless catholicism. He has made strong references to catholicism in choosing his locations of dump sites (Saint-Symphorien). There always has been a strong contradiction between catholicism and socialism in Belgium, where socialism has become more widespread in the french part. These feelings although date from quite some time ago, which again refers to his age of 30 to 35 at least. He then continues with Patrick Moriau's rank of major, but he doesn't mention an address, just the city and post code. This indicates a strong feeling of hierarchy, where he believes it is only necessary to mention someone's status, and assume his whereabouts are known to everybody. Again this has relations to the military, where in the course of a battle there would of course be no mentioning of an address, but just the rank and name of the person to be contacted, and everybody would know who the message is aimed to, and could be located at any time, in whatever circumstances. This relation to the military adds to our profile of the control-type personality, more veering towards control and power, rather than lust and sex. The last assumed victim, Begonia Valencia, was completely down and out, and can hardly be seen as victim in a sex-type crime due to her looks and general condition. I have also stated that the sudden high rate of dumping must have had a clear reason, especially now that we know that all the bags have been deposited more or less at the same time. It is clear that there has been a stress-situation in which the UnSub had to get rid of the bodies rather fast. Since it is also clear his actions cover a time-span of at least a year, it should be obvious that the major action of dumping was not to be the end of the case. He has kept some of the parts for more than six months so there has to be a necrophilic interest on his behalf. It also shows how far he has gotten into his game, and how far he is prepared to go. On the other hand it is obvious he is continuing his game, and presumably is again starting a new collection of bodies because he needs them. He has a need to kill a certain type of person, and he likes to care for them, eventually still while they're alive, but even when they're dead. Of course the state the bodies were in when they were found will definitely tell whether he cared for them while alive, but until now no forensic details are available (to us at least). |
|
| INDEX | |
| Renewed Anxiety. | |
|
It seems that the UnSub has in one way or another reached a new state of anxiety. He probably has made his move to his new quarters and can now resume his work. We are quite certain his new quarters are an improvement, and perhaps he is now ready to go all the way. The addition of sending mail to Patrick Moriau is a sign he is looking for respect or wants to find an ally. The sending of the book "36 proofs for the existence of the devil" is a clear proof that the UnSub considers himself as the Man-with-a-Mission type murderer and that he will definitely find companion in people he estimates high. He is the cleaning man who will do away with society's trash, like Patrick Moriau supposedly has been doing away with the irregularities in the Dutroux-commission by revealing certain facts in his book, which were to remain in closed chambers. Again, we want to emphasize the fact that this type of personality, combined with his knowledge of the surroundings of the Mons station marginal community, his strong catholic references, and recently his knowledge considering the connection of the victims with the psychiatric institution of Chêne-aux-Haies, must be trackable quite easy by regular means. |
|
| INDEX | |
| The conspiracy theory. | |
|
A Brussels psychiatrist, Marc Reisinger, has taken a private investigation into the case and has concluded that we are not dealing with a serial killer. Instead the case has to be seen as a conspiracy which is motivated by the urge to create a state of terror and fear. The chronology of the case, he said, follows exactly the periods of high-level discussions into the reforms of the police and state-police in Belgium. 3 identified victims have disappeared at the height of the investigations of the Dutroux-commission, and the bags have been dumped while the commission was discussion its final report. His private investigation has also led him to find several witnesses who have stated that they saw at least 2 people on the dumpsites at the time of the findings of the trash bags with remains. Reisinger further states that there are no known cases where serial killers have reached this state of 'exposé', where the public appearance is a means to itself rather than just part of the game of hide and seek with investigators. We're afraid we have to counter Mr. Reisinger here by the cases of the 1968 Zodiac murderer and the 1977 Hillside Stranglers, both in California, USA. The Zodiac remains unidentified until today and has claimed at least 5 but possibly 39 victims. He killed both men and women, single and double events, with firearms and knives. He has written several messages to the LAPD and newspapers, and eventually sent a cyphered statement which supposedly would reveal his identity. The statement was deciphered by a retired navy-code-specialist and proved to contain ramblings about the murderer being a hunter, and society his game. To prove his identity and power he included a torn, bloodstained piece of shirt from one of his victims. The Hillside Stranglers (they were two cousins, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono) raped and strangled about 10 women, their goal was power and sex, but then they left the corpses laying on lawns in the hillside area of Los Angeles, one body was left nude and spread-eagled facing City Hall, as making an abscene and defiant gesture toward the city. And then finally we could draw your attention to the greatest icon in serial killing: Jack, the Ripper, who obviously left all of his victims in plain sight as to shock society at its most, and who even posted a kidney of one of his victims to the police inspector as to prove his superiority. We don't have to remember that also Jack hasn't been identified positively until this date. There are other reasons why this story is very unlikely. A group out to destabilize society would definitely not shy away from gruesome crimes that would shock society. But they would engage in a more brutal attack-type of crime, where innocent and respective people would be involved, regular people living in a quiet and respectable neighbourhood, people who go shopping in fashionable malls or watching movies in mega-movie-theatres. Picking on worn-out dropouts in the Mons station-area might not even cause some people to rise their eyebrows. Then there's the cutting up of the bodies. We think you could easily recruit a few people to engage in a brutal crime where innocent people are brutally slaughtered. The group would build up their anger beforehand and enter a kind of merciless rage, capable of about anything. But the UnSub carefully picked a certain type of victim, took them home, kept them around for a while, killed them, cut them to pieces in a distinctive manner, again kept them around for a while and then dumped them at specific sites. Killing someone in a rage is one thing, but then cutting the body up is another thing, especially when your aim is only to shock society. We doubt that even the most enraged individual, engaged in a specific mission, would have the nerves to cut up a body in such manner, and not only once, but several times in a time-span of almost a year. |
|
| INDEX | |
| No new developments. | |
|
Chief Pilette of the 'Corpus' taskforce has recently declared that about 700 people have been questioned in this case, and some 600 indications of by the public have been traced. None of them has shed any light on the identity of the UnSub. It seems they are starting to acknowledge the fact that some of the other victims, found in Piringen and France are related to the same person. Indications as towards modes of cutting, locations of dump-sites, types of victims and the general signature of the UnSub should make this clear. There is still the hint towards several perpetrators, although the connection of these different cases should enforce the idea of the individual killer because we can see that in the earliest crimes he has set up his modus operandi, he has made efforts to get rid of the bodies, although he must have had some pleasure in cutting them to pieces, and keeping several parts as trophies. Later on he has improved his modus, and also his whereabouts. He has kept the bodies for a longer period of time, and he has picked up victims in quicker succession. I am still quite sure that some tragic, unforeseen event has forced him to dump most of his 'stockpile' at once, albeit on several carefully chosen sites (there are speculations that all the bags might be dumped on the same time, but just not discovered then, so the idea of a pattern in dumping wouldn't really apply). But even then there still are several pieces missing, and it would definitely be interesting which parts these are specific, they could shed some more light in his interests in human anatomy and/or certain parts of the female body. Cannibalism definitely is an idea we have to bear in mind, but this option is doubtful for several reasons; the missing of (probably) thighs, breasts, buttocks would surely be noticed and leaked somehow to the press. The type of victims -think of skinny, worn-out Nathalie Godart- doesn't fit the cannibalist-type killer who'd prefer young fleshy women, or even children. I'm keeping up to my above profile of the UnSub and wonder if the 'Corpus' taskforce has just been cruising around to check out some of the locations we have described, or if they have one of their eight investigators checking out the registry of people who have moved in and out the area of Mons for the last year, and perhaps taking a look at several of those locations. Also the obituaries might bring up an interesting list of elderly widows with one in-living son who have passed away some time in the last two years. |
|
| INDEX | |
| A new suspect. | |
|
A new suspect has been identified in the case. A 20-year-old man has pointed his father as the Trash Bag Murderer. Already on 15 April, he has contacted the Mons investigators, saying his father resembled one of the identikit pictures which were released early in the investigation. These pictures had been drawn from witnesses, describing suspects who had been noticed in the near vicinity of the dump-sites prior to the deposition of the bags containing human remains. The young man hasn't been in touch with his father for about eight years, since the divorce of his parents. The suspect lives in Knokke-Heist. It was in Retranchement, a place near Knokke-Heist that on Wednesday, 6 July 1994, the headless body of a woman was found. The parts were packed in a 'La Dernière Heure' newspaper and trash bags. The first parts that were discovered in Mons, were packed in trash bags with the Knokke-Heist city logo printed on them (due to a printer's error, these bags were also available in the Mons region as well). During his youth, the family took regular trips to the Mons region, and the son remembers the names of some of the locations where parts have been dumped last March and April. During that time the suspect worked as a truckdriver and frequently drove through the region. Afterhours he worked in the meat industry, usually as a delivery man, but sometimes also helping at the slaughterhouse. The suspect is said to be well acquainted with the world of prostitution in several Belgian cities. And finally he drives a light-grey all-terrain vehicle. Since about two weeks, the young man has seen his father again, he supposedly stalked the house, and tried to break in. Also his girlfriend has been followed when walking to the busstop in the morning. The father has tight links to police-investigators, since his brother is a high officer in a police force in a Flemish city. This would explain, according to the son, that his complaints and testimony have been either misled or banalized by the investigating officers, both the ones involved in his initial statements in August, when he informed the Mons police department of his suspicions, and again by the local officers when complaining about the burglary and stalking. Since these events he got a telephone-line installed, with a private number, but nonetheless he keeps getting bizarre calls, where the person at the other end just hangs up upon answering. Of course we don't have to point out the resemblance of this suspect to the UnSub profiled here above, as far as his basic situation is outlined. He lives alone for quite some time, divorced in 1989, when his son was 12 years old, the son was to live with his mother, which was settled in court. We see there must have been some kind of argument leading towards the divorce, we can assume the man didn't really agree with it, since he case was settled in court. He knows the Mons region well, and also seems to connect with some other facts, which are not officially linked to the case, like the body found in Retranchement, and the mystery of the Knokke-Heist trash bags. He has a straight job, though with a certain amount of freedom, since he drives a truck as a deliveryman throughout the country. Maybe he often makes deliveries in the Mons region. This would leave him ample time to scout for suitable locations, and also allow him to get back in the vicinity afterwards without causing suspicion. His private vehicle is an all-terrain jeep, which will give him the reliability he wants from it. He knows his way around in police investigations because his brother is a high-ranked officer in a city police-force, he probably uses this knowledge to determine dump-sites, and to make sure the case covers several jurisdictions as to cause many misunderstandings and severe loss of time before all the facts reach any conclusion. Another important aspect is that he has moved houses during the time of the murders and dumping of the remains. He has officially moved out of Knokke-Heist on 3 December 1996, but has been re-registered again, about six months later, on 8 August 1997. In this period, which covers the Trash Bag Murders from the disappearance of Jacqueline Leclercq on 22 December 1996 and Begonia Valencia who was last seen in July 1997, he had no official address. Also in 1994, the man has been without a fixed address for a couple of months. And it was on 6 July 1994 that a female torso was found in Retranchement, a village in the near vicinity of Knokke-Heist. The facts given to us, are of course all circumstancial, and don't offer us any insight in the psychological profile of the subject, nor do we know anything about his social background, his ideas about religion, society, and his connections with or interest in the marginal society of the Mons station area. |
|
| INDEX | |
| Some doubts and criticism. | |
|
The introduction of the new suspect is of course an important development in this case, and we acknowledge the strong suspicions, and even the similarities with the profile we have presented here. But, some facts could be easily interpreted as contra-indications as well. Our suspect didn't have a fixed address during the time he wasn't officially registered at Knokke-Heist. This period falls within the highest range of activities as performed by the Trash Bag Murderer, that is; if we consider the December 1996 abduction of Jacqueline Leclercq as the start of this period, and some time after the dumping as the end. If so, where does Martine Bohn, disapperared in July 1996, fit in? And let's not forget that all the parts found had been stocked in a deep-freezer for some time, which is quite unlikely for someone with no fixed living quarters. A killing spree to this extent is something which isn't carefully planned, as much as many people will believe in the general brightness and intelligence of most serial killers, it it usually a cunning extent of their twisted psychology, and is directly related to their actions, where the evolution is clearly linked to the crimes and their aftermath. Patrick Moriau has gone so far as to launch the idea of protection, an idea which is getting kind of fashionable in Belgium when an investigation doesn't fit in the route certain people feel it should follow. As in the Dutroux-case, and some other celebrity cases, the protection-issue has proved a welcome and easy means to steer investigations off the path into a misty maze of exciting offsprings, at the best spiced with the involvement of politicians or high-ranked police-officers, judges or magistrates. At a time where most investigators complain about a lack of workforce, and the public is outraged nearly every day about the outbreak of new scandals, of corruption, linked to any imaginable crimes, mostly unsolved or in frozen state of investigation, it is hardly a step forward to create another highly complex conspiracy/protection scheme. As far as we're concerned, we believe in straight police-work, databases, file-reports, interviews, scientific reports, forensic pathology, and yes, profiling. No serial killer has been tracked down by just one of these means, it's the openness of each issue against another, the combination of facts until a match is found, and only once the match will be the right one. No protection or conspiracy scheme can prevent this match to surface sooner or later, and if even present, it will surface throughout the investigation anyway, and add to the extend of its prosecution towards a final solution. |
|
| INDEX | |
| The Missing Magician. | |
|
Some more info has been released on Joseph Casamias, a French magician, now aged 47. His charred body was recovered from his burned down house in Narbonne, France on 13 February 1993. The police have only assumed it was his body, since his girlfriend was not able to identify him. Two years after the explosion in his house, a headless skeleton was found in another house he used to occupy, in Bruxerolles near Poitiers, France. It turned out to be his 20-year-old girlfriend Djamila Bouaroudi, who lived with him at the time of his supposed death. The police re-opened their files, especially when Veronique Videau disappeared in Saintes after meeting 'Jean-Louis Artaud', one of Casamias' alter egos, through an advertisement in a newspaper. He also uses the alias Jean-Paul Leroy. Until 1992 Casamias has been working in the Mons area, using his powers to attract women with low-resistance into his spiderweb. He has been reported on numerous locations in France, usually linked to suspicious disappearances and abductions. Let us remind though that the UnSub is quite well organised, hence the use of a certain type of vehicle, the facility to store bodies in freezers for 6 months or more, the capability and interest in cutting up the bodies, and his fascination with specific dumpsites. One could easily attach the weird and demonic factors to the magic appearance of Casamias, especially in view of the recent uprise regarding networks of pedophiles and satanist cults and networks. No story seems to be too weird to make it into a murder-investigation. But let us not forget that this killer clearly has a fascination with cutting, he didn't just cut up Martine Bohn to pack her away for further use, he did the same thing with his last known victims, whom he didn't keep around for so long, so he must have his reasons for it. It might also not be that easy for a man, already assumed dead, to work out this kind of complex setup on the one hand, and also it is quite unlikely he would draw attention onto himself like the UnSub did. If Casamias has led an undiscovered life in secrecy since 1993, there is no reason for him to start a campaign like this, and even if the killing and cutting would be some kind of ritual, the blatancy in dumping and exposing his crimes would come in quite ungainly for him. Also a man like Casamias would certainly draw attention to himself setting up as a full-fledged serial killer in just 4 years time in a complete new neighbourhood. And it is also kind of strange that he would know about the specific locations of the dumpsites, and the connotations to them. Corpus, the Trash Bag Murder task-force from the Mons investigators have recently been in close contact with the French police, so we may expect more news in the coming days |
|
| INDEX | |
| G the Butcher. | |
|
A new suspect has been found by our dear friends from the 'Corpus' task force! Again it's someone who's missing for quite a while. G. comes into the story via Leopold Bogaert aka 'The Gypsy' (see above). They were involved in a fight at victim Nathalie Godart's house, just before she disappeared. In the fight, G. had been beaten up by Leopold, who was later arrested as a suspect because of blood on his clothes and his weird statements regarding the last days. Two days later Leopold Bogaert left the house to buy chips, and found Godart disappeared upon his return. G. had threatened to return to the house sooner or later to seek revenge. Through Leopold's story, G. has already been questioned by 'Corpus', but released. Then he was seen by Leopold, wearing a shirt, supposedly worn by Godart when she disappeared. Wanted for questioning again, he turned out to have disappeared. It seems like 'Corpus' is a bit running in circles, small circles. We are now 100% sure that Carmelino Russo, who disappeared in 1996, is the Trash Bag Murderer's first known victim. In July of the same year, Martine Bohn, in december Jacqueline Leclerc, and only in March 1997, Nathalie Godart is to be his fourth known victim. It is quite clear the UnSub has by then reached a full state of mind, and has gained total control over his actions. Even when, as we know, serial killers are often triggered by conflicting situations, which lead to a new stage of trolling, hunting, deciding and killing. At this point of his career, the UnSub would most definitely act out his anger towards a secondary victim, and never onto his primary target, like Godart, for the time being. Furthermore, let us not forget he has killed his first three victims, and kept parts of their bodies for some time, so why would he now kill a victim, to which he can be connected very easy, and dump the parts kind of right away? Also there is no reason to connect him to any of the other victims, so we must conclude it's the next empty bag offered to us by the 'Corpus' task force. |
|
| INDEX | |
| A new stage. | |
|
With the discovery of the remains of Valencia Begonia, in the Chemin de Bethléem in Hyon during works in late april 1998, a new stage of the Trash Bag Murderer case is set in. Valencia disappeared in august 1997, that leaves us with a gap of nine months, in which she has remained with the UnSub and/or partly buried in Hyon. First of all we can notice the fact that the head was buried, and not as has happened before, left in trash bags. Yet there still is the significant name of the burial location, Chemin de Bethléem (Bethlehem Road). Also note that only the head of Valencia was recovered, and an identification was made by dental records. The rest of the body has not been found yet. We also remember that Valencia had a quite bad looking face, due to malnourishment, disease and poor health: her face was covered with blotches and sores. The burial could be an indication that the UnSub did not want to be confronted with the head all the time. The blotches and sores could also have speeded up the decay process, whereby his usual means of preservation failed. We know he has kept most of the heads, apart from his two last victims. Nathalie Godart's head was also found, along with some other parts. We are now quite sure that our UnSub is still in the running, and that all of the vigorous activity from the corpus task-force has failed to shed any light on his identification. On the contrary, he has kept going, and amidst all the commotion seized a new victim, managed to keep her out of sight for several months, and also in spite of the task-force's watch on specific locations, has buried her head on a definitely specific location. Chemin de Bethléem again makes a clear connection to his catholic upbringing, and it should provide the investigators with another piece of the puzzle. Extensive pathological investigation should also be able to provide us with some details about the UnSub's relation with and handling of the victims. It should't be too much of a problem to find out how long the head has been buried there, which would tell us how long he has kept Begonia around his place. Has the head also been kept in a freezer? Have there been found any other traces on the head, like soap, shampoo or other cleaning liquids? Was the head packed or wrapped in anything? Were there any other significant findings in the area, or in the direct vicinity of the head? Witnesses? If the head was found during groundworks, what was the reason for these works, and when was the order for the digging given exactly. The UnSub has chosen before to bring out some of his work in the open, so this opportunity should be investigated here as well. How about a profile of the geographical schedule of the burial sites? And it could be worthwile to put some religious-historical researcher on the case. It is clear that the UnSub is not just a killer who's prowling on women, he aims towards a certain type of women, they all frequented the same specific area, a number of them are in one way or another connected to the same psychiatric hospital, and they all have been cut up and dumped at specific locations, all referring to religious and/or social issues. There is a clear signature, and perhaps a message in the UnSub's behavior, which has become undeniable by now. Yet none of these aspects of the case have been discussed in the open, at least they have not been released by the corpus task-force, nor have any journalists or other taken notice of this aspect. It seems for now all we can do is for another trash bag or buried head to show up and provide us with still more clues. |
|
| INDEX | |
| The beginning of the end. | |
|
With the withdrawal of all external officers off the corpus task-force, the beginning of the end of the Trash Bag Murder case has set in. The arrest - and subsequent release - of another member of the marginal Mons station area, in september 1998, has marked the course of the investigation again in a significant way: spiralling down. Again the investigations have led only inward the small circle of dropouts frequenting the victim's area. It is unbelievable that this line of thought still lives on in this investigation, where it is quite clear we are dealing with a 'high end' offender. The specific selection of victims, the explicit method of disposing of the bodies and the unequivocal choice of dumping-grounds are clearly directing us to a specific type of murderer, known as the 'organised' serial killer. The facts are clear and they fit certain patterns we expect murder-investigators to know. The corpus task-force has had expert help from FBI-profilers, they have sent at least two of their investigators to Quantico, and yet more than a year later they haven't grown out of the small Mons station area community. Unless the rapid actions by the UnSub last year were connected to a string of events in his personal life that needed to be cleared out in favour of other developments, such as a move abroad, a short prison-term, or other well-defined moves, we must assume that he is continuing his work, that he has redirected his old premises for the storage of bodies, or has been in the process of moving to a new base. Both possibilities however will clearly lead, sooner or later, to the continuation of his actions. Maybe they will again include the dumping of parts, but more predictable is his need for mustering and collecting. We could expect a further development in storage facilities like freezers, but eventually interests in other methods of preservation might be considered. Whichever way the investigation leads, it is quite sure a lot of interesting material is still to surface, either leading to or erupting from the capture of the UnSub. |
|
| INDEX | |
Subscribe to the dépeceur/versnijder mailing list for update-information about these pages:
pathophiliac@deathsdoor.com
'UN SUB', an Occasional Paper in Facsimili has been published as a printed version of this profile.
D-1997-7040-1 edited by C. Straetling with mugshots by H. Obst. --32.3/236.68.78.