Author: Carter McLellan — Published: March 24, 2020 — Updated: June 8, 2022 |

“A network with all kinds of criminal activities really does exist. I maintained regular contacts with the people who made up this network. But the authorities don’t want to look into it.” (2002, VTM Flemish TV station, as quoted by The Guardian – quote of Marc Dutroux; emphasis added)[1]

“I [Michelle Martin] have heard Marc personally telling Lelievre that he should bring a girl for Michel Nihoul. If I haven’t mentioned that before, that is because I’m afraid of that gang, I mean Nihoul, Marc Dutroux and others in Brussels. I mean well-placed individuals who Nihoul knew. The connections of Nihoul made me fear for my children and myself… I was afraid, because Jean-Michel Nihoul, Marc Dutroux and Michel Lelievre were part of a gang that was involved in all kinds of business, like drugs, pills, girls and forged papers [for which Nihoul would later be convicted, including for human trafficking]… Over time I became more and more convinced that Marc Dutroux and Jean-Michel Nihoul did things that couldn’t stand the light of day and which I was not supposed to know about… Marc often told me that he was impressed by the connections Nihoul had.” (2004, Herwig Lerouge, ‘The Nihoul Dossier: The knot in the Dutroux trial’, pp. 60-63; ISGP translation – quote of Michelle Martin, Dutroux’s ex-wife; emphasis added) [2]

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Dutroux timeline
3. Discourse on ties to the Network
4. Conclusion
5. Sources

Introduction

In order to begin understanding the Dutroux affair and its X-dossiers, it is crucial to have a basic timeline of events of the man the former is named after, Marc Dutroux, the central figure of this scandal. The question was whether or not he was associated with a wider network, as he himself claimed, along with his wife Michelle Martin and his lackey Michel Lelievre. This was the reason, they claimed and as many suspected, for the tragically bungled investigation into Dutroux leading up to his final arrest in 1996. 

This article intends to provide a timeline with an overview of the reportedly important connections to Dutroux. Most of the work in this field seems to be done. But, this author hopes to provide a new research tool for this matter going into the decade of the 2020s. This story isn’t over and with this essential information, anyone new to the topic can begin to form their own opinions and theories on the affair. This is intended to be a starting point for people new to these major scandals involving controversy of conspiracy.

Without this author knowing any other language fluently, except for English, I have relied on the work of others to assemble this information. For this, I must thank Joël van der Reijden of ISGP-studies.com, for his excellent work on the Dutroux affair and X-dossiers. This author highly recommends this website and will be referencing it frequently. I also must thank Fritz Springmeier, author of Bloodlines of the Illuminati, for first making me aware of the Dutroux affair, which in turn led to my discovery of ISGP. Thanks also extend out to the many other significant sources. 

The following chapter is a point by point summation of Dutroux’s life in a chronological order. The leads herein will be pursued further in subsequent articles, but, they are briefly overviewed in the latter chapter. For myself, it took getting this timeline in my head, in order to bring the sources of information together and grasp how Dutroux could really have been linked to a Network, of which the man Michel Nihoul had been the key.

Dutroux timeline

What follows is a quick summary of Marc Dutroux’s life in a rough chronological order. (Note: important dates reportedly connected to the Network are in red):

• November 6, 1956: Marc Paul Alain Dutroux [3] was born in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium. [4] His parents were Jeanine Lauwens and Victor Dutroux, who both were teachers. At the time of Dutroux’s birth, Victor was in Burundi, located in Central Africa then under control by the Belgian Congo, where he worked as a teacher. After Dutroux was born, Jeanine took him by plane to Burundi, to be with Victor. According to Victor, he later suspected that Dutroux was his illegitimate son. [5]
• Mid-1962: Parents left Burundi, back to Belgium, after Burundi gained independence from Belgium, on July 1st. They settled in Obaix, near Charleroi. [6] 
• 1962-1970: Growing up in Obaix, since the age of 5 (1962), he had to walk one hour and then ride a train to his school in Charleroi. His parents, especially Victor, were extremely strict, neglectful, inconsiderate and abusive. Marc clearly had a rough youth. [7] After settling in Obaix, Dutroux would become the oldest of five children (Pol, Valérie, Serge and Johan). [8]
• 1965-1970: Already at the age of nine, Dutroux was finding ways to make money. Over the years, the work became increasingly shady and illegal. [9]
  
• 1970-1975: At the age of 14 to 15 (1970-’72), according to journalist Douglas de Coninck, Dutroux met an “old pedophile” at his school in Charleroi, likely a male teacher. Although, Dutroux denies this. Sometime in 1972, Dutroux’s parents separated and Victor left the house. Around the time Dutroux was 15-16, he continued to attend school, likely to narrowly graduate at the age of 18, from 1974-1975, with an A3 electrician diploma. With this, he obtained a job at a business called Glaverbel. However, since his father left the house, Dutroux had sort of filled in the gab as a dictator, making demands of his siblings. His mother, Jeanine, had remarried to a man, who wouldn’t allow Dutroux to bully him out of the house, so Dutroux left for himself, living on his own with his job. [10]  While it isn’t known exactly what happened to Dutroux’s other means of making money, he certainly become an electrician, for some amount of time, after graduating from school. [11]
• 1976-1979: Reportedly at the age of 19-20, Dutroux married his first wife, an orphan named Françoise Dubois (18 y.o.), with whom he would have two children. Dutroux didn’t treat his children very well and both parents were rather neglectful. Dutroux even quit his job as an electrician and became a scrap dealer. To fuel his trade, at night he would steal car parts, mopeds and gas cylinders. However, if Dutroux wasn’t scrapping car parts, he would go ice-skating, initially in Charleroi and later in Brussels. [12]
• 1979: Dutroux (about 23 years old) received the first in a series of convictions for all kinds of illegal activities as theft, violent muggings, drug-dealing and trade in stolen cars. These criminal activities would allow him to acquire a number of houses. [13]
• Late 1970s: According to victim-witness X1 (Regina Louf), Dutroux could be found at an apartment of a certain Jean-Michel Nihoul, a place her mother, Christiane Louf, had taken her. Others seen there by her (X1) included Antoine “Tony” Van Den Bogaerts, Michel Vander Elst and Annie Bouty. [14]
• 1980-1981: Around this period, Dutroux frequented ice skating rinks, where he often tripped young girls to touch them. He preferred the skating rinks in Vorst and Montignies-sur-Sambre; in 1981, he would also go ice skating in Brussels, where he often went. In Charleroi, he had played on the Okapi ice hockey team, which was rather unusual for someone of his social-economic status. Additionally, on a regular basis, Dutroux would travel to Namur, Valenciennes, Tournai, Bruges and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. [15] 
• Sunday, October 12, 1980: Dutroux was skating during the afternoon at a rink in Charleroi. A man named Armand de Beyn (21) arrived to ice skate with his girlfriend (19), who has already been a victim to the “young man with the mustache”.  As de Beyn and his girlfriend went on to skate, Dutroux repeatedly tripped her and de Beyn made it clear that he knew that it was on purpose and that it needed to stop. After a fourth collision, de Beyn confronted him, resulting in a physical altercation. However, the Charleroi police ended up being called, not by de Beyn, the victim or bystanders, but by Dutroux himself. [16] Although, Dutroux was still banned from the rink as a result of all this, he would win the case.  
• Since early 1980s: According to X1, Dutroux was present at parties, which were organized by Michel Nihoul. Dutroux was largely on the side and brought drugs like cocaine and occasionally brought girls, whom he watched over. [17] At some point X1 met Michelle Martin and Bernard Weinstein. [18] Dutroux liked to play “games” and, on occasion, would bring his two dogs, which were used at these parties. Weinstein would bring snakes sometimes and also liked to bury animals alive. [19]
• 1981-1982: At this point, Dutroux drives around in a van with a mattress in the back. He frequently went to Brussels, where he and his companion Francis H. occasionally worked as supervisors of the National Ice Rink in Vorst, despite Dutroux having been banned from the rink in Charleroi. It was here that Dutroux and Francis spotted the young blonde teacher Michelle Martin (21 y.o.), whom Dutroux got to know. [20] Dutroux would also have an affair with Martin, while he was still married to his first wife Francoise. [21]
• 1983: Dutroux (27 y.o.) and his wife Francoise divorced after she accused him of being abusive. Dutroux would leave his two children with Francoise. [22] 
• June 10, 1983: Dutroux and two others, one of whom was never identified, tortured a 58-year-old woman, Jeanine G. from Haine-Saint-Pierre, for three hours until she told them where her money was kept. Dutroux reportedly put a razor in her vagina, for which he would later be convicted. [23]
• 1983: Dutroux, according to Michelle Martin, visited the Poseidon ice skating rink about every weekend, where a 16 year old girl named Christine Van Hees also went. Dutroux went there alone, apparently because Martin was pregnant, and/or because it was easier for Dutroux to pick up girls. Bernard Weinstein is also said to have visited there. [24]
• February 13, 1984: According to X1, Marc Dutroux was present at the murder of Christine, almost certainly Christine Van Hees, together with Bernard Weinstein, Michel Nihoul, Tony Van Den Bogaert, Annie Bouty, Michel Vander Elst and the parents of Anne, who was a girl in the network. [25] The murder was covered up and later in the late 1990s the reopened investigation was dismantled. [26]
• May 28, 1984: De Beyn, from the 1980 Charleroi ice rink incident with Dutroux, was convicted of deliberate assault and battery against Dutroux. Not only was this ruling rather odd, but the entire trial and judicial system behaved strangely. As a result, De Beyn seemed to feel intimidated to do anything against this. [27]
• May 1985: The Court of Appeal in Bergen partially upheld the conviction of de Beyn. At this point, Dutroux was attempting to gain permanent incapacity for work from a slight bruise on his thumb from the “attack”. A certain Dr. Draux had made a diagnosis of this. However, not only was Dutroux appealing the de Beyn sentence because of the “injury”, but also the public prosecutor of Charleroi. A court appointed doctor (apparently, Dr. Bernard Minet of Gembloux) was tasked with examining Dutroux’s “injuries”. De Beyn’s lawyer thought the whole situation was very strange. [28]
• January 31, 1985: While in a car, Dutroux and one or two accomplices never found by police, abducted Catherine B., 18, from Obaix. A knife was put to her throat and she was raped in the car. Dutroux bragged about this to Van Peteghem, who was in the army at the time. [29]
• March 1985: Dutroux first meets Jean Van Peteghem, who later went to live with him. He had met them through his short time wife Patricia P., who lived in Goutroux, just as the Dutroux family and she babysat Dutroux’s oldest son Frederic. Van Peteghem moved in with Patricia, with whom he had a child, but left after a week. Afterward, he went to live with the Dutroux family. [30] Together they soon committed crimes of theft and soon kidnapping and rape.
• May 1985: After a few thefts together, according to Van Peteghem, he and Dutroux kidnapped two girls from Molanwelz, both of whom have never been identified by police. [31] 
• June 7, 1985: Dutroux and Van Peteghem abducted Sylvie D., who was 11 years old, apparently after an impulse of Dutroux, using Martin’s car. They put tape over her eyes and mouth. Dutroux raped the girl and threatened her with death in a garage in Roux. Dutroux took a photograph with a Polaroid and told the girl it was intended for an American magazine. Dutroux and Van Peteghem apparently tried to mislead the girl as to their nationality by speaking French with an “American accent”. They later left her at Gosselies hospital. Van Peteghem felt that she was too young, but did it because he felt that he owed something to Dutroux. [32]
• October 17, 1985: Dutroux and two others abducted Maria V., 19, from Peronnes-lez-Binche. Maria identified a third man, who appeared in his fifties and was involved in her abduction, but the man was never found. Dutroux told Van Peteghem that he raped the girl. [33]
• December 14-15, 1985: An 18, Axelle D., was kidnapped by a gang of three in a dirty white van. At least two men in the back tried to ease her and claimed they would demand a ransom from her parents, claiming a friend needed a vascular disease related surgery in the USA. Axelle’s eyes were taped and she was taken to a house, the main house owned by Dutroux. Axelle was raped by two men at the house. One rapist, seemingly Dutroux, spoke of his courses in law and explained how pre-trial detention worked in Belgium. The second rapist, seemingly Van Peteghem, told he that “he was part of a gang” led by two gang leaders, “an Italian and a crazy stupid one.” They essentially tried to make the victim believe they were part of a gang of five. He claimed to be an ex-paramilitary and good at martial arts. Martin drove the van according to Van Peteghem’s later admissions. This may have been when Dutroux spoke of “Maryline”, an alleged ex-girlfriend that had been hit by a truck. The following day, the two men dropped her off near her parents’ home, having stole 3,000 francs and Axelle’s pencil, which eventually got Van Peteghem caught. [34]
• December 18, 1985: Dutroux, Van Peteghem and Martin, as the driver of a van, abducted Elisabeth G., 15, in Pont-à-Celles. Dutroux went to the store to get something to make video film of the victim. Dutroux, who raped her, also took a photograph(s) of her with the Poleroid. Elisabeth was told that she was raped in revenge against her father. The same day, the kidnappers dropped her off near her house and left her 500 francs to go see a doctor for a note for school. [35]
• February 3-6, 1986-1989: After having been caught, Van Peteghem confessed to the police that he was one of the three who abducted Axelle. Dutroux was also arrested in this month. Van Peteghem continues to cooperate with police during interrogation, [36] While in jail at Jamioulx, Dutroux insists that he is innocent and gets fired up at anyone that believed the contrary. At some point in this period, a prisoner named Daniel Dejasse spent two months as a cellmate with Dutroux. Dejasse recalled that Dutroux spoke about how they kidnapped the girls and talked about his sexual exploits. At some point, Dejasse believes he jokingly suggested building basements to lock the girls up preventing them from telling police. Dutroux, who was serious about it, asked if Dejasse would help him, to which he refused. As a result, Dutroux with his contacts in the prison, was able to arrange for Dejasse’s cell transfer. [37] 
• 1986-1992: While in prison, Dutroux took extensive classes in physics, mathematics and electricity. During this period, Dutroux was already plotting how to construct dungeons under his properties, after he gets out. He studied the effects of certain drugs, even testing them on other prisoners. In 1988, Dutroux and Martin would get married, with the plan of boosting income. After prison, they would have three children. Over the years, Dutroux would act like an excellent and improving prisoner. [38]
• November 1988: Dutroux was convicted of kidnapping, photographing, torturing and raping five girls between ages 11-19. Dutroux declared himself to be incompetent as there were issues about which court should hold the Dutroux case. The Charleroi public prosecutor wanted to bring him to the Assize Court, which was preoccupied with Borinage gang trial, which Jean Deprêtre was falsely trying to pin on the Gang of Nijvel. As a result, the Dutroux case was sent to the criminal court of Bergen. [39] 
• 1989: After Dutroux denied a series of lawyers, it was Didier de Quévy of Brussels whom Dutroux had ultimately chosen. Even with a lawyer, Dutroux still insisted that he was innocent. [40]
• April 26, 1989: Martin, Dutroux and Van Peteghem were sentenced by the Court of Appeal in Bergen. Dutroux received 13.5 years, Van Peteghem 6.5 years and Martin 5 years. The political rights of Dutroux and Van Peteghem were stripped for 5 years. Initially they had been sentenced to 3 years in prison because they appeared before a correctional court with professional magistrates, instead of a public court where citizens would co-decide the sentence. [41]
• 1990-1992: Dutroux has behaved well in prison over the years. At some point, he gets granted penitentiary leave to take care of his grandmother in Jemeppe-sur-Sambre, along with another helper. Dutroux  then had a big clean up project, for which he gets granted a few more times for unaccompanied leave. Around 1992, Dutroux has served about half of his sentence, so he applied for parole. He is set to be followed by the 70-year-old Dr. Emile Dumont of Uccle. [42]
• Mid-1991-: Dutroux begins buying up properties around Charleroi. Where the money came from is a mystery. [43]
• 6 April 1992: PSC Minister of Justice Melchior Wathelet approved a probationary release of Dutroux from prison, despite the objections of others. Dutroux’s own mother reportedly advised against the 1992 release of her son. Upon release, because of advise to Wathelet from the Observation and Treatment Unit (OBE) of the Bergen prison, he was expected to get a job and be followed by Dr. Emile Dumont. Apparently, it was common in Belgium for good behaving prisoners to serve just a third of their sentence. [44]
• April 9-, 1992: Psychiatrist Dr. Emile Dumont declared Dutroux to be 66% disabled due to “nervousness”, unfit for work. Dumont, who had previously been contacted by Michelle Martin, would prescribes loads of drugs to them. Dutroux’s disabled status would also allow him to receive money from the state (800 euros per month, or, 9,600 euros per year). Additionally, Dutroux would buy drugs like Rohypnol from Dr. Dumont. Once again with the goal of more money, Dutroux and Martin divorced on paper, so she could live in one of his houses with their children and also receive a pension of about 800 euros per month. This amount would get them about 19,200 euros by early 1993, close to the amount of 20,000 euros Dutroux needed to pay the victims; seemingly a total of 100,000 euros. On top of this, Dutroux managed to obtain up to seven houses. [45] 
• 1992-1995: In July, 1993, one of Dutroux’s tenants, Claude Thirault, whom he had met in ‘92, informed the Charleroi gendarmerie that Dutroux was planning to kidnap girls and sell them into a prostitution network. Thirault would continue to inform the gendarmerie for the next two years. At some point, three witnesses came forward to confirm Thirault’s testimony. [46] Also, in the year of 1993, a mentally handicapped brother of Dutroux committed suicide. [47] It is clear, that in the period between 1992-1995, Dutroux began building a dungeon  in at least one house, would abandon this one, then complete the project in his main house in Marcinelle. 
• December 1993: Dutroux’s houses are searched, officially for suspicions of car theft. The police officers noticed the modified basement, in one of the homes, but did not find anything else. [48]
• June 1994: Houses of Dutroux were searched, it appeared to police that he had stopped working on the basement in question. [49]
• July 13 and 34, 1994: Dutroux abused a Slovakian girl, Eva Mackova, in Sars-la-Buissière. [50] This means that he may have already been travelling to Slovakia. 
• Late 1994- early 1995: Testimonies differ on when Dutroux met Michel Lelievre. Late 1994-early 1995 seems to be the latest. According to X1, sometime in the 1980s, at the earliest. In March, 1995, Lelievre stayed for a couple days at a place of Annie Bouty and met Michel Nihoul. Lelievre became a partner-in-crime with Nihoul in trafficking stolen cars and drugs, with Nihoul directing Lelievre. At some point, Lelievre would “introduce” Dutroux to Nihoul. It seems Dutroux would then work closely with Nihoul in kidnapping girls. [51]
• 1995-1996: Marc Dutroux would go with Michel Lelievre and Mikhael Diakostavrianos (who sold car parts and tires; knew a certain Bruno Tagliaferro) to Yugoslavia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to get young girls, either for their own use or to be placed into Belgian prostitution through connections of Nihoul. [52]
• April 2, 1995: Jean-Pol Taminiau, former military turned criminal involved in the trade of stolen cars who used to own a bar/brothel visited by Charleroi high society, disappeared. One day before, a friend had met with him and learned that Taminiau was afraid of something and that the police was giving him trouble. At some point, Taminiau had rented a gun and told friends that he possessed important information. He had also rented a garage to an accomplice of Dutroux, which was located right across from a garage owned by Dutroux. In 1996, a fisherman retrieved a foot of Jean-Pol, but his body was never found. [53] 
• June 4, 1995: Dutroux raped the Slovakian Henrietta Palusova in Prasice. [54]
• June, 1995: Dutroux was sued for having illegally widened an opening of his basement, to be able to fit a vent or an air tube through. [55]
• June 24-, 1995: Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, both 8 years old, disappeared in Grace-Hollogne. [56] Examining magistrate Martine Doutrewe became head of the ‘Julie and Melissa cell’, tasked with locating the girls, yet in a matter of days went on vacation to Italy, until 9 August. According to Claude Thirault, he went back to the gendarmerie to remind them of Dutroux, in late June. However, the gendarmerie says that instead they had contacted him several months later in October. Either way, several days later after contact, the police felt that there needed to be more evidence if Dutroux’s houses were to be searched. [57] Nevertheless, in this period, witnesses contacted the police that they had seen Julie and Melissa in Knokke (North Belgium), Blankenberge (North Belgium), Switzerland (South of Belgium and Luxembourg), prostitution bars in Charleroi and in the case of Francoise Reyskens, who died before going to testify, saw the girls at a bar in Maastricht, Netherlands (east of Charleroi) and had spoken to them. [58]  Michelle Martin (and Dutroux) would later claim that Dutroux and Lelievre kidnapped Julie and Melissa for Jean-Michel Nihoul. [59]
• July 4, 1995: Alexandre Gosselin, a neighbor of Bernard Weinstein and suspect in the Dutroux affair, mysteriously died. [60]
• July 14-19, 1995: Three weeks after the disappearance of Julie and Melissa, the parents hired a local detective, who in-turn hired criminal profiler Carine Hutsebaut to assist with the case. After visiting the location of the disappearance, she began to put together a profile of suspected perpetrators. She managed to narrow down to a profile that matched closely to Dutroux, who had a criminal record already for child kidnappings. On July 19, Hutsebaut sent the criminal profile to police, telling them that Dutroux needed to be arrested very soon, or he would do it again. Despite the warning, nothing was done. [61] 
• July 26, 1995: Francois Reyskens, a 28-year-old drug addict and possible drug dealer, was found dead on a railroad track the day he was to give information about the kidnapping of Melissa Russo to the gendarme officer Melon. According to Carine Russo, Reyskens had noticed the children (Julie and Melissa) in a bar in Maastricht, Netherlands and had spoken to them. [62]
• August 10, 1995: Mainly on the basis of Thirault’s testimony, a group of BOB officers headed by Rene Michaux began Operation Othello, the purpose was to monitor movements of Dutroux. A time lapse video camera was used, operations ended at 10 o’clock each evening and Dutroux would only be shadowed six times in two months, pathetic watch time. [63]
• August 22, 1995: An Marchal, 17, and Eefje Lambrecks, 19, disappeared in Blankenberge on the northern coast of Belgium. The last thing the girl had done was visit a show of the magician Rasti Rostelli, in which they were hypnotized. Police did not take the case seriously when their friends informed them. According to one witness, Nihoul had been seen with Dutroux and Lelievre in Oostend shortly before the kidnapping of An and Eefje. [64]
• August 23, 1995: Lead Grace-Hollogne Gendarme officer, Guy Goebels, in the case of the disappearance of Julie and Melissa, decided to expand the investigation. [65]
• August 25, 1995: Eefje managed to grab her clothes, crawl out of the bathroom window and shout for help. She was pulled back in by Dutroux within seconds and the observers never noticed a thing. [66] Also, on August 25, 1995, Guy Goebels was found dead next to his gun, leading to the official explanation of suicide. His family and the parents didn’t believe the official explanation. [67]
• August-September 1995: Dutroux murdered An and Eefje after taking them out of the house unnoticed. [68]
• September 4, 1995, Dutroux’s mother Jeanine, who advised against the 1992 release of her son, anonymously informed Rene Michaux, that neighbors of Dutroux were very suspicious about his activities. Blackened windows, noises from the basement, used car tires in the garden and the two girls “of 16 or 18 years old” spotted recently in the garden. This information somehow did not reach anyone working on the case of An and Eefje. [69]
• September 15, 1995, Nihoul went to gendarme officer Gerard Vanesse with Michel Lelievre, who was wanted at the time. Nihoul convinced Vanesse, to whom he was an informant, not to arrest Lelievre. At the same time Nihoul was an informant to police commissioner Albert Toch, whom he knew from The Dolo. [70]
• From 1995 to 1996, Nihoul, Dutroux and Lelievre were in continuous phone contact. [71]
• September 25, 1995, Dutroux and Weinstein stole a truck, which they hid in a storage building rented by Dutroux. The owner of the storage building was Gerard Pinon, a police informant. Inspector George Zicot was informed by Gerard that Dutroux seemed to be running a small gang of car thieves. But Zicot did nothing, apparently waiting for the truck to be picked up again. [72] 
• October, 1995: According to police, it was in this month that Claude Thirault contacted the police to remind them about Dutroux, regarding the Julie and Melissa case. [73]
• November 1995, a Gendarme officer from Charleroi reported that Dutroux was the perpetrator behind the Julie and Melissa kidnapping. Despite this claim deriving from multiple sources, nothing was done. [74] 
• November 5, 1995, Bruno Tagliaferro died after being poisoned and predicting his own death because he knew too much. Tagliaferro was the owner of a junk yard and knew Mikhael Diakostavrianos, an accomplice of Dutroux and Lelievre in kidnapping. According to a certain Thierry, an accomplice of Dutroux and Nihoul, Dutroux was looking for a hitman to kill Tagliaferro and his wife and had offered Thierry the job, to which he refused. But when Tagliaferro did die, it was labeled a heart attack. His wife claimed that he was poisoned and was proven right later in 1996, after Tagliaferro’s body had been dug up. [75] 
• December 6, 1995: around the time Bernard Weinstein went missing and later found 5m under the ground, beneath the bodies of Julie and Melissa, in the backyard of one Dutroux owned houses, Dutroux was arrested for having been involved in stealing a truck and kidnapping and torturing three teenagers he suspected of having re-stolen the vehicle (one teenager escaped and informed the police). [76] 
• December 13, 1995: Rene Michaux led the searches of Dutroux’s homes. Michaux and the locksmith went into the basement of Dutroux’s main house in Marcinelle, where they heard the voices of Julie and Melissa. Michaux decided that these voices must have come from outside and left. Also, Michaux found vaginal cream, chloroform, a speculum and chains, which to him caused no alarm. Michaux found a number of video tapes, which contained Dutroux constructing the cellar, but Michaux never watched them and gave them back to Michelle Martin. [77] 
• Afternoon of December 13, 1995: Rene Michaux met with police officer Christian Dubois, both were working on a case involving white Mercedesses photographing school girls. Dubois informed Michaux that he had an informant who stated that the white Mercedesses belonged to a pedophile network surrounding a company called Achats Services Commerces (ASCo). ASCo was founded in July 2, 1991, primarily by Jean-Louis Delamotte (a friend and regular business partner of Michel Nihoul, who both went to the Dolo and Les Atrebates), Michel Forgeot (founder & owner of The Dolo and Les Atrebates, knew Nihoul) and Marleen De Cokere (met Nihoul at Les Atrebates). When the company went bankrupt in 1994, five mattresses and some baby milk were found inside the company’s headquarters. Delmotte’s company Soparauto, registered at the same address, owned 5 white Mercedesses, all with French license plates, as had been reported. Delmotte would also later be pointed out as a thug who intimidated X-witnesses, including the person who had initially looked after Nathalie W., Marie-Francis Botte. [78] 
• Late 1995: BOB (Belgian FBI/Gendarmerie) had largely ceased to investigate the case. However, the disappearance of An and Eefje remained prominent because a foundation had been set up several years earlier called Marc & Corinne, which was named after two teenagers brutally murdered, that used its limited funds to spread posters of the girls’ faces all over Belgium and the Netherlands. Unfortunately, it made no difference, the girls weren’t found or those responsible. [79] 
• Late December, 1996: Three young burglars broke into Dutroux’s home and stole his computer and several videotapes. One of them heard a sound coming from the basement, which this person thought was a door closing, so they fled. Unfortunately, they later put a new hard-disk in Dutroux’s computer and taped cartoons for their children over the unknown content of Dutroux’s tapes. [80]
• January 1996: Operation Othello was shut down because Dutroux was in jail and it would never be reactivated. [81]
• February 21, 1996: While working during night service alone at the police station, Simon Poncelet, was shot and died as a result of his wound(s). Oddly, it was forbidden for anyone on night duty to open doors, unless he knew the person trying to enter. Additionally, the cameras weren’t working, so it will never be known what exactly happened. Poncelet’s father, an attorney general in Doornik, suspects his son was murdered for stumbling onto evidence of a child kidnapping and abuse network, which was something the Justice Department clearly did not want to hear about. During the 1990s, Poncelet had been working extensively on cases dealing with international trade in stolen cars, which was closely related to Nihoul and Dutroux. [82]
• March 20, 1996: Dutroux was released unusually early on “humanitarian reasons” because his wife was about to have a baby. Operation Othello was not revived after his release. Lelievre asked Dutroux who did the orders while he was gone, to which Dutroux replied that someone else did them and that he certainly wasn’t the only one. At some point, from 1995-1996, Dutroux was spotted visiting Comique’art, a place Nihoul had been working at. [83] 
• May 28, 1996: Sabine Dardenne, 12, disappeared and again the BOB was unable to find the kidnappers and the girl. People became increasingly worried for their children with every kidnapping. Confidence in the police and judiciary plummeted with it already having been low. Sometime in May, 1996, Lelievre and Dutroux went to Nihoul to buy XTC, which Nihoul had stashed away (with approval of gendarmerie) after exposing one of his partners. Lelievre received 1,000 XTC pills from Nihoul, which he expected to sell for 4 euros a pill (a probable lie from Nihoul and Lelievre, because the street value was 12 per pill). Nihoul would never come up with a fitting explanation for this payment in XTC pills to Lelievre (and Dutroux, in whose house XTC pills were also found), leaving Michel Bourlet and others with the impression that these pills were a payment for the later kidnapping of Laetitia. As an excuse, Nihoul would even claim that as an informant, he was infiltrating the drug network, which Dutroux and Lelievre were involved with. However, there are a whole list of reasons why this claim is ridiculous. According to Michelle Martin, Nihoul had been frequently calling to her house trying to contact Dutroux in this period. [84] 
• Early June, 1996: One witness claimed to have seen Dutroux and Martin come out of The Dolo nightclub. Although Dutroux and Martin may not have visited the Dolo, people there did know his techniques to render girls unconscious and then rape them. The Dolo was owned by Michel Forgeot and Dolores Bara; it was visited by aforementioned individuals as Michel Nihoul, Michel Vander Elst, Jean-Louis Delamotte, others as Achille Haemers and possibly Paul Vanden Boeynants, also allegedly Tony Van Den Bogaert and Bernard Weinstein. [85]
• June 22 – August 1, 1996: Dutroux abused the Slovakian girl Yancka Mackova. [86] 
• August 8, 1996: Dutroux and Nihoul were spotted in Bertrix together by at least 8 witnesses. It was also acknowledged by Lelievre that he and Dutroux went there for surveillance. [87] 
• August 9, 1996: Laetitia Delhez, 14, disappeared in Bertrix, located in the district of Neufchateau, near the border of France and Luxemburg. During Laetitia’s captivity in Dutroux’s home, she would hear the names “Jean-Michel” and “Mich”. Michelle Martin would later testify that Nihoul frequently called to her house trying to contact Dutroux during this latter period. [88] 
• Afternoon, August 13, 1996: A number of individuals were arrested on suspicions that they had been responsible for a wave of kidnappings. But of all of these it was the arrest of Marc Dutroux, caught by prosecutor of the King in Neufchateau Michel Bourlet and Neufchateau examining magistrate Jean-Marc Connerotte, along with some of Dutroux’s associates that would lead to the biggest scandal in Belgian history. Letters written by Sabine were found hidden under Dutroux’s carpet. Michel Bourlet would later criticize Rene Michaux in the 2004 trial for having failed to find them during the botched search. But what is vitally important is that when Dutroux, Martin and Lelievre were initially arrested, they acknowledged that they constituted a gang, which included Michel Nihoul, whom would be arrested on August 16, but later released. [89]
• 1996-January 2003: Julien Pierre became the lawyer of Marc Dutroux. Pierre worked with Jean-Paul Dumont, who also had worked with Dutroux’s lawyer in the 1980s, Didier de Quevy. [90] 
• August 16, 1996: Michel Nihoul was arrested as his connections to Dutroux and Lelievre were revealed. However, he would later be released. [91] 
• August 16, 1996: Partly because of revelations from Lelievre, Dutroux pointed the detectives to one of his houses, which Sabine and Laetitia were kept. [92] 
• August 17, 1996: after hints from Dutroux, the bodies of Julie and Melissa, and Bernard Weinstein, who was located beneath them, were found in the garden of one of Dutroux’s houses. [93] 
• August 18, 1996: Dutroux and Lelievre admitted to the kidnapping of Julie and Melissa. [94] 
• August 19, 1996: Michel Lelievre states that Dutroux talked to him about kidnapping girls for order. [95] 
• August 29, 1996: Lelievre says he is afraid for his life to say what he knows about Nihoul, because he was apparently threatened by Nihoul. That same day Michelle Martin told how she knew that Dutroux would go to Brussels and that Dutroux, Lelievre and Nihoul constituted a gang involved in “drugs, pills, girls and forged papers”. She stated that Dutroux was in close contact with Nihoul. [96]
• Late 1996: Speculation would circulate that 300 to 5,000 videos with prominent people were confiscated, but in the end it appears less than 100 actually were, and only a portion appear to show Dutroux abusing unknown girls. [97] 
• August 22, 1996: Michel Binon, an old accomplice of Dutroux, died by suicide. [98] 
• August-September, 1996: Baron Benoît de Bonvoisin began to interfere with the Dutroux investigation, certainly because he had gotten wind of the X-witnesses implicating him in child abuse, torture networks and child hunts. At some point, BdB invited a number of Dutroux-Nihoul investigators to his castle. During this meeting BdB called up Michel Bourlet to make an appointment, which was scheduled for the next day, but Bourlet never showed. [99] 
• September 3, 1996: Bodies of An and Eefje were found on land owned by Weinstein. [100]
• September 5, 1996: Annie Bouty was arrested, after her close connections to Nihoul and Lelievre were discovered. Bouty was subsequently interrogated. [101]
• October 9, 1996: Michelle Martin spoke about Dutroux going to Brussels and meeting people in light of his activities with Michel Nihoul. That Nihoul had helped Lelievre with his money problems. She also said that Dutroux told Lelievre that they needed to get a girl for Nihoul. She also said that Dutroux often told her that he was impressed by the connections of Nihoul. [102] 
• October 20, 1996: Annie Bouty is released after having been interrogated a few times. [103]
• December 5, 1996: Michel Piro was murdered after speaking about being threatened by a number of armed men. His spouse, whom he apparently regularly battered, is said to have ordered his murder, but the real killers have never been found. Piro frequented the same clubs as Michel Nihoul and wanted to organize a dinner in remembrance of Julie and Melissa, while also informing the parents of the things he knew. [104]
• Late 1996: Anna Konjevoda called Connerotte’s green line wanting to give information about the business of Dutroux, Lelievre and Weinstein in eastern Europe. [105]
• January 1997: Theo Vandyck, the interviewer of Nathalie W. and the only person she really trusted, suffered a stroke. He was replaced by new interviewers, loyal to Commandant Duterme and began sabotaging the investigation. [106] 
• First half of 1997: The Obelix Cell was set up and coordinated meetings of the Dutroux affair. Some of those present at these meetings included Benoit Dejemeppe, Andre Vandoren, Patrick Duinslaeger, Jean-Claude Van Espen, Michel Bourlet, Jean Soenen, Nicole De Rouck, Paul Somers, Jacques Langois, a number of gendarme officers, leaders of the investigating teams, judicial police officers and criminal analysts. [107] 
• January 20, 1997: Nihoul is released, despite Dutroux often claiming that Nihoul was one of his contacts and a key player in a big international trafficking network. It is also known that unknown men had visited Dutroux while he had girls in his house, one of whom is suspected to have been Nihoul. [108]
• February 25, 1997: Jean-Marc Houdmont, a man into pedophile videos and a filmmaker, died in a traffic accident while on his way to testify about the kidnapping of a girl named Elisabeth Brichet. [109]
• February, 1997: The Anonymous mother of the family that had spotted Nihoul with Dutroux at the Bertrix’s swimming pool the day before Laetitia’s kidnapping, almost was struck by a car in February 1997 and around the time the family received numerous anonymous phone calls. The right-hand man of accused child abusing police commissioner Georges Marnette failed to support the family. [110]
• March 5, 1997: a priest named Joseph Toussaint, whom Michelle Martin used to confess her sins, died of a heart attack. [111] 
• May 7, 1997: Christian Coenraets, said to have been a pedophile who knew Bernard Weinstein, died of suicide. Coenraets had been imprisoned in Brussels and managed to escape during a transfer, one day before he was to be questioned about his ties to Bernard Weinstein. One month later Coenraets was found dead in a Brussels suburb. [112] 
• April 25, 1997: Jose Steppe, a citizen of Charleroi who had many contacts in his neighborhood and occasionally worked as an informant to a journalist. Several months after Dutroux’s arrest, he contacted the journalist in a panic, claiming he had important information on Dutroux. The journalist did not immediately schedule an interview and soon after, Steppe was found dead in his home while a Rohypnol tablet, often used by Dutroux, was found in his raspatory. The Justice department never investigated Steppe’s death. [113] 
• July 2, 1997: Virginie Pinon, an almost-victim of Dutroux, died of mucoviscidose. [114] 
• November 16, 1997: Gerard Vannesse, Gendarme officer and one of the runners of Nihoul, died of trombose. [115] 
• April 5, 1998: Brigitte Jenart, the former girlfriend of Juan Borges, a partner in crime of Nihoul and Bouty, died officially of suicide. [116]
• April 8, 1998: Anna Konjevoda, who wanted to provide information about the business of Dutroux, Lelievre and Weinstein in eastern Europe, was beaten, strangled and thrown into the Maas river. Konjevoda had called Connerotte’s green line in late 1996. [117] 

• April 32, 1998: Dutroux managed to overpower (armed) gendarme guards and escaped Neufchateau. Dutroux was caught about three hours later, but coincidentally, during these hours the pimp of X1 (Regina Louf), Antoine “Tony” Van Den Bogaert, confirmed that he had sex with X1 since she was 12. Besides De Morgen, no newspaper did a prominent report on this breakthrough in the X1 case. [118] 

• December 18, 1998: Fabienne Jaupart, a widow of Bruno Tagliaferro and about to testify about the Dutroux gang, died in a fire in a clear murder. Sometime after Dutroux’s arrest, Bruno Tagliaferro’s wife had wanted to tell everything she knew about Dutroux and his gang. On December 18, 1998, several days before she was to be interviewed, she was found dead, partially burned next to her bed) by her 14-year-old son. Evidence had pointed that she had tried to escape while someone else broke into the house. Nonetheless, her death was labeled either a suicide or an accident. [119]
• July 13, 1999: Hurbert Massa shot himself, but it is not known why, as Michel Bourlet described him as a very “balanced magistrate”, and chief prosecuting attorney of the Dutroux investigation. [120] 
• November 4, 1999: Sandra Ckaeys, a former girlfriend of Michel Lelievre, officially committed suicide. [121] 
• November 16, 2000: Klaus Bahr died in a traffic accident. Bahr was an important porn dealer who was set to testify about the disappearance of Julie and Melissa. [122] 
• March 1, 2001: Jean-Jacques Feront died of a heart attack. Feront was a pedophile hunter who became involved in the Dutroux affair. [123]
• March 28, 2001: Nadege Renard, an ex-girlfriend of Jean-Pol Taminiau, died in a traffic accident. [124] 
• January 2003: Dutroux’s lawyer Julien Pierre was fired. [125] 
• 2003: Xavier Magnee became lawyer of Dutroux. Magnee was a member of the Cercle des Nations and Cercle Gaulois. Magnee put Philippe Rozenberg in contact with the Russian mafia as Rozenberg’s staff holder and Brussels balie. Rozenberg’s lawyers were Clement de Clety and Virginia Baranyanka, who also ran defense for Michel Nihoul in the Dutroux dossier. [126]
• 2004: Marc Dutroux was sentenced to life in jail for abducting and raping six girls in 1995-1996 and for the deaths of four of them. Two of his victims were murdered and two others died of hunger while kept in the dungeon. A psychiatrist described Dutroux as one of the worst psychopaths he had met. Also, in 2004, Magnee spread disinformation claiming that the Satanic Abrasax cult had not been investigated adequately. [127]
• 2012-2020: Dutroux’s ex-wife Michelle Martin, whom was sentenced to 30 years, was paroled in 2012, serving less than nine years. In December of 2012, Martin was spotted shopping in Knokke, which was met with criticism from the Mayor Count Leopold Lippens. In 2015, she was given accommodations at the house of a former judge after she spent time in a convent. I case against Martin, filed by the father of Eefje Lambrecks and his brother, was dismissed in a Court of Namur, which was filed in 2012. [128] 
• 2018: Marc Dutroux sent letters to victims’ families offering to answer questions and heal wounds. The parents saw this as a major publicity stunt in an attempt to path the way for parole. [129] 
• Late September-October, 2019: Michel Lelievre, who was sentenced to 25 years, was put on parole, on condition that he finds lodgings in a specified area. On December 18th, Lelievre was physically attacked. Meanwhile, Dutroux’s lawyer since 2016, Bruno Dayez, started a move for a re-evaluation of his mental state in the hope of obtaining his conditional release in 2021, when Dutroux would have served 25 years in prison. A special court in the Nivelles jail in central Belgium where Dutroux has been held have reviewed the demand. Hundreds of demonstrators protested any release of Dutroux. But a few days after, prosecutors approved a new psychiatric assessment. About 400 people had staged a “Black March”, the color of mourning. Many of those marching were parents with their children. [130]
• 2020: Marc Dutroux’s pre-parole public threat evaluation has been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Soon after this was reported, VTM released new documentary with exclusive footage of Dutroux, in which he continues to profess innocence to his crimes and continues to claim there has been a conspiracy behind the case, but won’t give any names. [131]
• August-September 2020: In August, Eefjie Lambrecks father and Els Shreurs published their book, ‘Dossier Dutroux: The truth’. After Dutroux’s psychological evaluation was postponed, the results eventually came in and determined that Dutroux was still a psychopath and that he still posed a danger to society. Hardly a surprise, one of his lawyers Nicolas Cohen said that the results were “very bad” for Dutroux, who demands that his trial be reopened. Dutroux expects to be acquitted if the trial is reopened and apparently, he also wants a new lawyer. [132] 
• February 2021: Dutroux went on a strike from his cleaning job in the Nivelles prison, after being told that he could no longer work in shorts. Dutroux’s lawyer Dayes claimed that the prison was deliberately making things difficult for Dutroux and his “progress”. [133]
• Late 2021-2022: A petition has appeared, this author is not exactly sure when, calling for the reopening of the BSR investigation of Dutroux and the various tracks that were not thoroughly followed up. It appears that in October 2021, Mr. Aime Bille has filed for the “BIS” file to be reopened. [134] 
• June 4, 2022: The Brussels Times author Alan Hope, as well as other sources, published a report that Dutroux had acquired a new hobby in researching ‘cold cases.’ It was also reported that Dutroux lawyer Dayez claimed that police investigators had recently visited Dutroux to question him regarding the Gang of Nijvel case, which has about three years until 2025 when the case will be closed. Dayez says that the police left emptyhanded because Dutroux’s story was “too incoherent and didn’t make sense.” Investigators declined to comment on any link between Dutroux and the Gang of Nijvel. [135] In the meantime, in a later article, this author began to speculate a bit. The “Thierry” he tried in vain to pay as a hitman to assassinate Bruno Tagliaferro and Fabienne Jaupart; was this the same Thierry Sliman suspected in connection with the murder of Michel Piro and the Gang of Nijvel? 
• June 8. 2022: It is reported in news that demolition had begun to take palce of Dutroux house in Charleroi, where his dungeon was located. The “Garden between Earth and Heaven” will be planted in memory of the victims. Mayor of Charleroi Paul Magnette said the garden should ensure that  “we do not forget, but make the memory bearable: for the families of the victims, but also for the people of Charleroi and across the country. The garden is set to be completed by the end of 2023. [136]

Discourse on ties to the Network

After reading through this timeline, getting a basic overview of what happened and the anomalies surrounding the Dutroux case, it becomes clear that something was awfully wrong about the official narrative that Jean-Michel Nihoul was not the key of Dutroux to a wider network. The question of how exactly Dutroux got involved with this possible Network is still unclear, but there are limited number of facts to consider. 

While the 1970 – late 1979 period is rather obscure, what is clear is that in the early 1970s, Dutroux had left home and gotten involved in shady activities. As a kid he had been finding way to make money, which increasingly became more illegal. Then by the early 1970s (’70-’72), evidence is supposed to indicate that Dutroux became a boy prostitute, after meeting an old pedophile at his school in Charleroi. By the mid-1970s, Dutroux would have graduated from school and gotten a job as an electrician at Glaverbel. Around the time, he left his mother’s house to live on his own. Subsequently, when Dutroux was around 20, he married an 18 year old orphan, Francoise Dubois, with whom he would have two children. But, after the marriage, Dutroux would decide to leave his job and get into the scrap dealer business. To fuel this endeavor he would steal parts and things to scrap. By the early 1970s, in his early 20s, Dutroux would rack up a substantial criminal record involving, theft, violent mugging, drug dealing and trade in stolen cars. These criminal activities would help Dutroux acquire things he needed, like properties. It has been said that via Dutroux’s interest in the stolen car business, he came into contact with Paul Latinus,; an allegation that may be considered later. Yet, with the possible Latinus connection aside, Dutroux was also alleged by X1 (Regina Louf), to have visited an apartment of Jean-Michel Nihoul, in the late 1970s,  where X1 was taken by her mother Christiane Louf to meet Nihoul for the first time. According to X1, other that could reportedly be found there at the apartment included Annie Bouty, Antoine “Tony” Van Den Bogaert and Michel Vander Elst. 

These are the earliest potential connections of Dutroux to the wider Network, with Nihoul being the most significant nexus point. Nihoul had moved to Brussels in the late 1960s. In 1971, Nihoul is known to have first met the Brussels lawyer Annie Bouty. By the early 1970s, according to accusations by Anneke Lucas, he was already getting involved in a child abuse network, which was apparently led by the then former Belgian Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Paul Vanden Boeynants. Although Lucas’ testimony has been viewed with some skepticism, she adds potentially critical details to the story that was already exposed by other victim-witnesses, who came forward before Lucas. Through Lucas’ testimony, it can be suspected that Nihoul met the father and son nightclub and pub owners Achille Haemers and  Patrick Haemers through the VdB network in the early ’70s. In 1974 to 1976, it has been reported that Nihoul also met Achille Haemers at a company called Confortex. Nihoul had met again with Bouty in 1974 and they moved in together in 1975. In 1976, Nihoul tried to set up an interior design firm, which went bankrupt, with a former fiancée of Bouty, Claude Michel. Nihoul would work closely with Bouty, whom he convinced to leave her mentor Jacques Marres to set up her own law firm, specialized in African immigrants in Belgium. In 1978, Nihoul spent time in jail because of a fraudulent bankruptcy of his United Corporation, in which his wife had taken the fall. He would seek out Joseph Michel, a PSC member and founding member of the CEPIC of Vanden Boeynants, to assist him with an early release. It was in this late 1970s period, that X1 claims she first met Nihoul at the apartment and afterward would be used in pedophile blackmail operations by Nihoul and Vanden Boeynants. 

With the facts of X1’s testimony regarding the late 1970s, it can be suspected that Tony Van Den Bogaert was already a close associate of Nihoul and together involved in pedophile blackmail operations. According to X1, Tony Van Den Bogaert and Paul Vanden Boeynants knew X1’s grandmother, Madam Cecile Beernaert, in the early 1970s and were among her earliest abusers in Knokke. In one instance, in the early 1970s, Tony V. and Vanden Boeynants were involved in an abuse session of X1, where she was raped by a dog commanded by Tony, who had also taken her virginity on her fourth birthday, in 1973. Even back then, Tony was close to X1’s mother, Christiane Louf, a dog groomer. The theme of dogs seem actually quite common. In the 1980s, Tony was a salesman for Gimpet, which sold dog grooming utilities. Additionally, X1 noticed that Dutroux would bring two of his dogs to abuse sessions. 

Nothing much is really known about Michel Vander Elst, but that he was also a Brussels lawyer and he would have gone to the hotel-villa Sunnycorner, in Knokke, of X1’s grandmother Madame Cecile Beernaert too. According to X1, she gave birth in the hotel-villa, at the age of 10. While giving birth and after, X1 was sadistically abused by several men. The perpetrators, she says, were Paul Vanden Boeynants, Mayor of Knokke Count Leopold Lippens, Count Maurice Lippens, a then police commissioner of Knokke, Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin and Michel Vander Elst. This group would have several ties to the Nihoul-Tony-Bouty-Dutroux group. Vander Elst and de Bonvoisin, a close associate of Vanden Boeynants at the PSC and CEPIC, were apparently close, as they arrived at that particular abuse session together last. It was said that Tony was good friends with de Bonvoisin and according to the private driver of VdB, Henri Bil, Nihoul was the righthand of de Bonvoisin. X1 claimed that de Bonvoisin was present at an abuse session involving Nihoul, Tony V., others and Annie Bouty, who gave orders of what to do. In addition to this, Michel Vander Elst and his father Raymond Vander Elst, who was a lawyer and member of the Freemasonic Grand Orient de France, were reportedly involved in a “Nebula” of Felix Przedborski, who in-turn was a member of the Cercle des Nations, along with de Bonvoisin, Vanden Boeynants and numerous other relevant individuals. 

Regarding to an unconfirmed Dutroux-Latinus connection, it should be noted that Latinus was recruited by the US’s DIA in 1967, at the age of 16, and trained by NATO. In 1977, Latinus was recruited as an intelligence agent by the Public Intelligence Office (PIO), which was founded, in 1974, by Vanden Boeynants and controlled by de Bonvoisin. The head of the PIO was chosen to be Lt.-Gen. Jean-Marie Bougerol, who had been a member of SDRA8, Belgium’s stay-behind unit of Operation Gladio. In 1978, Latinus became a member of the Front de la Jeunesse (FJ), which was a private paramilitary organization, set up in the early 1970s out of the NEM clubs. These clubs allowed fascist militants to meet with each other, centered around the Nouvel Europe Magazine, which was supported by de Bonvoisin and called for a coup. Within FJ, Latinus was said to have become a leading member of Group G, which was part of the coup effort to infiltrate and recruit gendarme officers into a plot to destabilize the Belgian state. Key plotters would reportedly involve suspected members of Opus Dei, such as Vanden Boeynants and de Bonvoisin, who attended Le Cercle. In 1979, major shifts would occur in the “Cercle complex”, including the death of Florimond Damman, which resulted in de Bonvoisin rise to power of the MAUE, the Belgian branch of the Paneuropa Union (PEU) of Otto von Habsburg. But, after the Gang of Nijvel struck several times in the early 1980s and would disappear for almost two year, Paul Latinus “committed suicide” by hanging, in 1984, under suspicious circumstances. The Gang would appear again in late 1985, culminating in a massacre at a Delhaize supermarket in Aalst. Latinus had been in contact with Elise Dewit, a former CEPIC member allegedly involved in organizing “pink ballets” with Jacques Fourez, were both killed by the Gang of Nijvel. Leon Finne was said to finance these “pink ballets” and he was also killed by the Gang of Nijvel in 1985. 

In the late 1970s, the Eurosystem Hospitalier deal blew up, which had involved a 1 billion euro contract with the Prince Abd Khaled of Saudi Arabia, leader of the Saudi national guard, whom were trained by NATO. The deal came about from a trade mission led by then Prince Albert II of Belgium, in 1975. Others reportedly involved with the deal were Paul Vanden Boeynants, Baron de Bonvoisin, Roger Boas, Charly De Pauw, Ado Blaton and others. These men were members of the Cercle des Nations and have been accused of child abuse. During the deal, Fortunato Israel, director of public relations for Eurosystem Hospitalier, ran a European-wide prostitution network, which were services called in by Albert II to server himself, his consorts and the Saudi princes during their business trip. Fortunato Israel was a mistress of Roger Boas, who owned a company called ASCO and used her call-girl ring for potential business partners. Boas was also very close to Vanden Boeynants. In 1977, Fortunato had handed over her prostitution network and the contacts to Lydia Montaricourt. It is out of this milieux that the Pink Ballets scandals came out of, including the Pinon affair, which broke out in 1979. By 1981, the operations of Vanden-Boeynants and de Bonvoisin around the CEPIC received a major blow, when State Security exposed their financial support of the Front de la Jeunesse. The PIO, at that point, had shifted over to the European Institute of Management and Paul Latinus created Westland New Post to succeed FJ. This is the group that is held to the highest suspicion of being behind the unsolved Gang of Nijvel crime spree. 

Since the early 1980s, Dutroux was present as a handyman at child abuse parties, organized by Michel Nihoul, according to X1. At this point, Tony Van Den Bogaert was one of Christiane Louf’s many lovers and acted as the pimp of X1 and other girls. Nihoul was a prominent customer of Les Atrebates, where Nihoul ran a child prostitution ring, according to witnesses. Michel Vander Elst was also a customer and Nihoul certainly met Marleen de Cokere there, with whom he married after splitting with Annie Bouty. In this period, Dutroux would often go to ice skating rinks, first in Charleroi and later at Brussels. At an ice rink is Vorst, in 1982, Dutroux met Michelle Martin, whom he would have an affair with and leave his wife and two children for. At some point, Dutroux met Bernard Weinstein and according to X1, she would also meet both Martin and Weinstein., who apparently liked to bury animals alive. By 1983, Dutroux is known to have gone to the Poseidon ice rink in Brussels, possibly along with Bernard Weinstein. Another visitor of the rink was the 15-16 year-old Christine Van Hees. 

The unsolved murder of Christine Van Hees of February 13, 1984, is a tragic, but crucial event that could have tied Dutroux directly to the Network surrounding X1 (Regina Louf). This murder and the case against the possible Network around Dutroux has been covered in the subsequent article. As previously stated, those present at the murder, according to X1, were Marc Dutroux, Bernard Weinstein, Jean-Michel Nihoul, Annie Bouty, Tony Van Den Bogaert, Michel Vander Elst and the parents of a girl in the network named Anne. The parents of Anne were also supposed to be close to the family of X1. According to X1, Dutroux was a spectator of the murder and did not take part in the sadistic physical abuse. Those individuals accused by X1 of being involved in the murder along with Dutroux and Weinstein provide most of the strongest links to the Network. These ties around that time period have briefly been touched upon above. 

The nightclub mentioned earlier, Les Atrebates, was shutdown by police in 1983, for the reason of encouragement of debauchery.  The owner would create the successor, The Dolo, in 1987, which was located also in Etterbeek, Brussels. At the time, the early bungled investigation into Christine Van Hees’ murder was still ongoing. However, the Etterbeek police received a curious tip, in 1987, from an anonymous informant, who hinted that the perpetrators behind Christine’s murder could be found at the newly established nightclub, The Dolo. By the time The Dolo was founded, Dutroux, Martin and Jean Van Peteghem had already been busted for a series of kidnappings and rapes of young girls. However, most of the important possible connections of Dutroux to a wider network can be linked back to that Brussels nightclub and curtain customers. Additionally, after Dutroux had been in and out of jail, him and Michelle Martin were allegedly spotted leaving that nightclub twice, in early June 1996, during the second series of kidnappings by Dutroux, Michel Lelievre, Michelle Martin and apparently Michel Nihoul. Likely as a result of the Dutroux-Nihoul gang being busted, The Dolo was shutdown in the 1996-1997 period. 

Another location that both Dutroux and Martin (Lelievre was also said to be involved) were said to have been spotted at was the company Logitel. Michel Nihoul, Achille Haemers and Robert Darville were reported to have regularly visited that company, which was owned by Serge Frantsevitch. A pedophile named Roland Corvillain, who has been a suspect in the August 5, 1992 Loubna Benaissa kidnapping (X1 wasn’t sure of whether or not the 9-year-old Turkish girl she had witnessed killed may have been Loubna; the Derochette family has been linked to the Benaissa case, while a member of that family allegedly impregnated Fabienne Kirby, a friend of Christine Van Hees; a law clerk of examining magistrate Jean-Claude Van Espen, who clearly covered up the Van Hees case, owned a vehicle with a license plate that closely matched the description of license seen by Loubna’s friend Aziza, in which she thought to have seen Loubna; additionally, that law clerk married into the Derochette family; the brother of Patrick Derochette, in whose basement Loubna was found buried, owned a vehicle that matched Aziza’s description) and whose ex-wife has been suspected of human trafficking, was a business partner of Frantsevitch. Witnesses reportedly claimed that men at the company spoke about importing “young white and brown horses” from eastern Europe via plane. However, following the breakout of the Dutroux affair, these witnesses suspected that they had been talking about trafficking children. One witnesses, named Rita Vetsuypens, learned that her husband was a pedophile involved with the people at the company. Curiously, Darville had been a customer at Les Atrebates, along with Nihoul and Vander Elst while the latter two would be customer of its successor The Dolo, along with Achille Haemers. 

Dutroux was arrest in the late 1980s and by 1992 he was released in by Melchior Wathelet, a member of the PSC. After gendarmes were informed by Claude Thirault of what he was planning to do in the early 1990s, Lelievre most likely reintroduced Dutroux to Nihoul. From 1995 through 1996, Dutroux, Lelievre and Nihoul were in constant phone contact. Mysterious deaths began to occur in 1995 beginning with Jean-Paul Tamminiau.

After Dutroux was arrested in 1995, Rene Michaux, who searched Dutroux’s apartment while Julie & Melissa were still captive in the dungeon and did not find them, and Christian Dubois were on the trail of cases about white Mercedesses photographing school girls. A witness came forward to Dubois point out a company, Achats Services Commerces (ASCo), as being the base of operations for organized child kidnapping for order. It is known that witnesses spotted Michelle Martin, Michel Lelievre, Bernard Weinstein and Michel Nihoul around the immediate area of this company. The primary founder of ASCo was Jean-Louis Delamotte, who has been identified as a visitor of both the Dolo and Les Atrebates, just as Nihoul.

Throughout this time, from 1989 to the 2004 trial, Dutroux had at least three lawyers that need to be mentioned. In 1989, Dutroux’s lawyer was Didier de Quevy, who had been the lawyer of Alexis Alewaeters, an associate of Nihoul and accomplice of Philippe Cryns’s pedophile ring at Le Mirano. De Quevy also worked for Jean-Paul Dumont, sharing an office together. From 1996-2003, Dutroux’s lawyer was Julien Pierre, who worked closely with Dumont.  In 2003, Xavier Magnee became Dutroux’s lawyer. Magnee was a member of the Cercle des Nations and put Philippe Rozenberg in contact with the Russian mafia. Rozenberg’s lawyer was Virginie Barankyanka, who also ran the defense of Michel Nihoul in the Dutroux dossier.

On a last note, there is a victim-witness who remembered that her father had visited Marc Dutroux on two separate occasions in France, but I am not sure about the timing. This victim-witness spoke about underground cellars where children were kept in cages, tortured and killed. All entrances to this location were bricked up and cemented. It is interesting that Dutroux constructed a cage and actually used them to keep girls captive. Additionally, Michel Nihoul reportedly spoke at the Dolo with Doudou, Edourd Vanhuyneghem, about keeping children in cages to make them suffer.

Conclusion

With the important trails that need to be followed, we are still left with a substantial amount of evidence that Marc Dutroux and Michel Lelievre were working with Nihoul. There are many important lines of inquiry to investigate, which will be coming in the following posts.

Despite the overwhelming amount of evidence against Dutroux and the manner in which the investigation was handled, the judges overruled the less than enough majority, who voted Nihoul as being guilty. It is clear that this story is unresolved and the Network that surfaced here must be tracked down.

Notes

1. January 22, 2002, Andrew Osborn for The Guardian, ‘Dutroux says he procured girls for Belgian network’
2. 2004, Herwig Lerouge, ‘Het Dossier Nihoul: De knoop in het proces-Dutroux’, pages 60-63, translation from ISGP article Beyond Dutroux, sources noted 26 and 27; cites PV 2.557 and PV 2.739, part 2688, apparently not taken up in the Dutroux X-dossier summary leaked first by ISGP and second by Wikileaks. 
3. January 31, 2004, Nieuwsblad, ‘Het mirakel van Marcinelle’, Dutroux’s full name stated, found via a license plate spotted by a witness: “Een ervan is een witte Renault Trafic met nummerplaat FRR672 : hij behoort toe aan een zekere Marc Paul Alain Dutroux (39) uit Charleroi. Bingo…”
4. November 2, 2020, Jenkins, John Philip for Encyclopedia Britannica, ‘Marc Dutroux’. Accessed 27 February 2021. States the location of Dutroux’s birth.
5. Parents names can be found from several sources; Dutroux’s father’s first name and his parents’ occupation as teachers and how they got to Africa: *) murderpedia.org, ‘Marc DUTROUX’, “His parents, Victor and Jeanine, were teachers who, he says, frequently beat him.”; *) Dutroux’s mother’s last name: November 4, 1996, Marlise Simons for New York Times, ‘How Belgium Blinked at Child Killers’s Trial’, “… Jeanine Lauwens…” *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 79, (Google translation:) “Marc is born on November 6, 1956. Victor is already staying in Burundi, where he seems to be heading towards a carefree life as a teacher.  Jeanine travels after him with the baby [Marc Dutroux].
6. 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 79, (Google translation:) “Shortly after Burundi’s independence [July 1, 1962], the [Dutroux] family returns [to Belgium] and settles in Obaix, a sleepy village north of Charleroi.”
7. *) 2005, ITV Studios, ‘REAL CRIME: The Perverted World of Marc Dutroux’, (Links to Youtube clip); Dutroux’s early way to school: (14:38- ) Narrator: “At the age of just five, Dutroux was forced to take a one hour walk and then a train journey to school, everyday, on his own.”; Jeanine and Victor’s abusive behavior toward their children: (14:09-14:33) Narrator: “[Dutroux was] The oldest son of Jeanine and Victor Dutroux, who had a reputation for harsh treatment of their five children. Douglas de Coninck: ‘There have been interventions of the local police several times in that house, that family. There were neighbors, who already at that moment … had their testimonies about this kid being beaten and beaten all the time… [Dutroux] is raised with only negative feelings, no emotion. In fact, the only message he gets from his parents is: We never wanted you, uh, go to Hell… You’re worthless. That’s the idea with which he starts life as a teenager.” *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 79, (Google translation:) “Victor is a dictatorial head of the family.  He punches for trivialities, demands absolute silence during his siesta, lets his children pull weeds when their favorite TV show is broadcast.  Porn magazines are lying around the house.  The children arouse pity in the people in the village.  Always neatly dressed, but so pathetic.  At home, Marc is furious.  “He threw all his toys together and lay on them like a chicken on her eggs so that his brother couldn’t reach them,” Victor recalls.  One day he hurled a brick at Father’s head.  More than once, his parents found a brief message from the school on the bus at that time: “Your son is unwanted in our institute.”  Completing an academic year at the same school is considered an achievement.”
8. *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 79, (Google translation:) “Shortly after Burundi’s independence, the family returns and settles in Obaix, a sleepy village north of Charleroi.  Later three brothers and a sister will be added.“ *) Names of the siblings found in the Dutroux bio on Google from searching “Marc Dutroux”. 
9. 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 79, (Google translation:) “At the age of nine, Marc Dutroux takes two satchels to school: one with school books, the other with comics that he rents out to classmates for 1 franc a day.  The children who don’t pay are hit.  After the comics follow porn photos and after that come stolen mopeds.”
10. *) 2005, ITV Studios, ‘REAL CRIME: The Perverted World of Marc Dutroux’, (Links to Youtube clip; 15:00-15:40) Douglas de Coninck: “… the first real affection Marc Dutroux has experienced, is when at the age of 15, he goes to school in Charleroi and he meets an old pedophile there… He denies this because Dutroux is a macho after all. But it is absolutely clear that at the age of 14, 15 Marc Dutroux is a boy prostitute. That’s the… These are the visions he gets when he is an adult: sex is commercial.”     *) murderpedia.org, ‘Marc DUTROUX’, “… [Dutroux’s parents] separated in 1971 and Dutroux stayed with his mother but left at age 16, working briefly as a prostitute serving men.” Note: this appears to be false, when reading the very credible ‘De X-dossiers, as follows, the father left when Dutroux was 15-16, in 1972;      *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 79, (Google translation:) “At the age of nine, Marc Dutroux takes two satchels to school: one with school books, the other with comics that he rents out to classmates for 1 franc a day. The children who don’t pay are hit. After the comics, porn photos follow and after that come stolen mopeds. As a teenager he earns some extra money after school by helping an older homosexual masturbate. Despite everything, Dutroux narrowly obtains the A3 electrician diploma and finds a job at Glaverbel. Now that he makes money, things are going from bad to worse at home. Since Victor left in 1972, the younger children have suffered even more from the tyranny of their eldest brother. He demands his steak every day, refuses to share ‘his’ bottle of Coke, and treats his disabled brother like a dog. Mother has remarried, and because Marc is unable to bully this intruder away, he leaves himself. In the factory he cuts a bad figure, but the boss shows understanding “because he is still so young and already lives alone”. It is not only there that Dutroux succeeds in enforcing compassion. During the medical examination for military service, he feigns problems in one ear. He doesn’t have to go to the military and starts to believe he’s invulnerable. Protected by an invisible force”.
11. Examples of Dutroux being known to have been an electrician: *) June 10, 2018, Candace Sutton for The Morning Bulletin (Australian), ‘Child torture’s depraved letters to family’, ‘[Dutroux was] trained as an electrician and began his criminal career stealing cars, dealing drugs and robbing people in violent muggings.” *) July 25, 2007, ISGP-studies, ‘Belgian X-dossiers of the Dutroux Affair: List of Elites Accused of Involvement in Child (Ritual) Abuse Networks by X1, X2, X3, X4 and others: Marc Dutroux’, “Troublesome youth, but managed to get an education as [an] electrician.”
12. *) Dutroux’s first wife’s full name can certainly be found in a number of articles, however, it can be found on the brief bio of “Marc Dutroux” when searched on Google, “Spouse: … Françoise Dubois (m.1976-1983)” *) murderpedia.org, ‘Marc DUTROUX’, “He married his first wife [Francoise Dubois] at the age of 19; they had two children.” *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 79, (Google translation:) “We are writing 1976. Marc is twenty [must be from November to December of that year] and finds in the frail orphan girl Françoise D. two years younger, a willing ear for his stories about his sad existence as an outcast. He gets to know her on the ice rink. Photos from that time suggest a sweet love story, but photos are false. He cannot accept that Françoise D. pays more attention to the first baby than to him. In the evening, the neighbors hear the children left alone crying. Mom and Dad are out. Dutroux has now given up his job and becomes a scrap dealer. At night he will steal gas cylinders, car parts, mopeds … If he is not tinkering with wrecks, he will go ice skating. He does this initially in Charleroi, but from 1981 also in Brussels.”
13. murderpedia.org, ‘Marc DUTROUX’, “In 1979, the Belgian [Dutroux] received the first of a series of convictions for theft, violent muggings, drug dealing and trading in stolen cars. … Crimes ranging from violent mugging to drug dealing turned into a lucrative activity said to have helped him amass at least seven houses, according to the Associated Press.”
14. *) July 25, 2007, ISGP-studies, ‘Belgian X-dossiers of the Dutroux Affair: List of Elites Accused of Involvement in Child (Ritual) Abuse Networks by X1, X2, X3, X4 and others: Marc Dutroux’, “X1 related how she first met [Jean-Michel] Nihoul in the late 1970s when her mother [Christiane Louf] brought her to the apartment of Nihoul  (didn’t exist in 1996 [when the X-dossiers investigation was taking place, because it had been demolished at some point]). [Antoine] Tony [Van Den Bogaert], [Marc] Dutroux, [Annie] Bouty, and [Michel] Vander Elst could be found there. She [X1] would also meet Michelle Martin and Bernard Weinstein at some point.” (minor corrections in this quote to a couple pronouns.) At this point, it is unknown where this information about X1’s testimony was found, apparently in the leaked file summary published by ISGP. In the meantime , this author has not been able to locate the exact PV. *) Regina Louf, ‘Belgium’s X-Files: Regina’s Story’, pages 53 and 127, “When I was eight, nine years old [‘77-‘78], Mich took me with him already and instructed me to hang around a specific person. … The customer knew he was trapped, … The interrogation [in 1996] started slowly. I told them that Dutroux and Nihoul knew each other for quite some time already. ”
15. 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, pages 79-80, (Google translation:) “If he is not tinkering with wrecks, he will go ice skating. He does this initially in Charleroi, but from 1981 also in Brussels. He prefers the skating rinks of Vorst and Montignies-sur-Sambre. He also regularly travels to Namur, Valenciennes, Tournai, Bruges and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. ‘ In Charleroi he plays in the Okapi ice hockey team. “That was remarkable, if you think back to it now,” says Armand De Beyn, who also often went skating there at the time. “That is a bourgeois sport. He was a bit out of tune within the team. ‘”
16. ibid., page 80, (Google translation:) “On Sunday, October 12, 1980, Armand De Beyn came into contact with the young man with the mustache.  That afternoon he takes pleasure in skating over teenage girls at high speed and then bending over them with pretended concern.  He reaches under their skirts and touches their breasts.  De Beyn, 21, came to the skating rink that day with his 19-year-old girlfriend and she has already been a victim a few times.  De Beyn has already made it clear to the mustache several times that it is now enough.  After the fourth collision, it does so again.  A few moments later, he and Dutroux roll over the ice fighting.  It seems like a ridiculous incident, but Dutroux calls in the Charleroi police.  He interviews the bystanders and draws up a lengthy file.”
17. *) 2002, BBC UK Corespondent, BELGIUM’S X-FILES: An Olenka Frenkiel Investigation; (Youtube clip: 8:50-9:24) Narrator: “She says that at the age of 12 [1981-‘82; already apparently established that X1 knew Dutroux, Nihoul etc. since the late 1970s], she was taken with other children to sex parties and she told investigators Dutroux was there working for Nihoul” Regina Louf: “Dutroux was a boy who brought, uh, drugs, cocaine and something like that to these parties; who brought some girls, uh, watched girls at these parties. Nihoul, he… he was sort of party beast [slight nervous giggle]. And uh, Dutroux was more on the side.” *) May 5, 2002, Olenka Frenkiel, The Guardian, ‘Belgium’s silent heart of darkness: Waiting for Justice’, “In 1996 she [X1] related her experiences to a police team under carefully filmed and supervised conditions. She described certain regular clients including judges, one of the country’s most powerful politicians (now dead) and a prominent banker. She gave the police the names by which she knew these men, detailed the houses, apartments and districts where she’d been taken with other children to entertain the guests.   This ‘entertainment’ was not just sex, she told the police. It involved sadism, torture and even murder, and again she described the places, the victims and the ways they were killed. One of the regular organisers of these parties, she claimed, was the man she knew as ‘Mich’, Jean Michel Nihoul, ‘a very cruel man. He abused children in a very sadistic way’, she said. Also there, she said, was the young Dutroux.   ‘Dutroux was a boy who brought drugs, cocaine to these parties – he brought some girls, watched girls. At these events Nihoul was a sort of party beast while Dutroux was more on the side.’ (same quote from the documentary for the BBC Correspondent)”
18. The exact source for the claim that X1 testified that she met Dutroux’s wife Michelle Martin and his sidekick Bernard Weinstein , at some point (must have been no earlier than 1982): July 25, 2007, ISGP-studies, ‘Belgian X-dossiers of the Dutroux Affair: Marc Dutroux’ , “She [X1] would also meet Michelle Martin and Bernard Weinstein at some point.” Must have been sometime around 1982-1984. 
19. *) Regina Louf, ‘Belgium’s X-Files: Regina’s Story’, page 127, “The interrogation started slowly. I told them that Dutroux and Nihoul knew each other for quite some time already. Dutroux liked to play games and sometimes brought his two dogs along. They then pushed my face in a pillow of a seat and let the dogs do what they liked them to do. Dutroux was only a second class figure though, a handyman.
    I explained that Dutroux’ friend Weinstein loved to bury animals alive. And then we came to Chrissie.” (underlines added) *) PV 116.990, November 13, 1996, summary of an interview with X1: “Weinstein had brought a snake that one used on Christine and X1…” *) PV 116.990, November 18, 1996, summary of an interview with X1: “Bouty is going to look for a snake… Weinstein brought the snake.” [ISGP translation] 
20. *) Michelle Martin’s date of birth can be found by searching “Michelle Martin Dutroux” into Google search, this was used to determine the approximate age of Martin *) 2005, ITV Studios, ‘REAL CRIME: The Perverted World of Marc Dutroux’, (YouTube clip: 15:46-16:07) Narrator: “As a young adult, Dutroux would hang out at the local ice skating rink where he found he had easy access to young girls. The manager of the Charleroi ice rink received complaints that Dutroux was tripping them up, so he could touch them. It was here that he met his wife, Michelle Martin. In 1985, three years after they met, Dutroux and Martin were arrested by police. ” *) Regina Louf, ‘Belgium’s X-Files: Regina’s Story’, pp. 140 and 142, “[Michelle Martin] had met Marc at the skating ring in Vorst, not far from the Poseidon. Dutroux, who was an excellent skater, had been denied access to the skating rink of Charleroi, close to his house, because he had harassed girls… Dutroux mainly skated in Vorst.” Main citation is the work of De Coninck, Van Heeswyck and Bulte in their book ‘De X-dossiers’. This footnote will be updated if a better source is found, perhaps translations from the book on the X-dossiers. *) UPDATE: 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 81,  (Google translation:) “In 1981 Dutroux often hangs around in Brussels.  At that time he drives around with a small van in which he regularly stays overnight.  At least that’s what his companion from that time deduces from the fact that there is a mattress in the back.  The companion is called Françis H. [Futhermore?] and, like Dutroux, is a good skater.  Together they are occasional supervisors on the National Ice Rink in Vorst, which means they can go on the track for free.  They both have their eyes on the blonde teacher who often comes round there.  Dutroux wins the case.  He leaves Françoise D. and his two children.  Even more than her predecessor, Michèle Martin from Marc Dutroux will accept everything.  She will take his blows tacitly, cover his wrongdoing, and eventually participate in his crimes too.”
21. *) murderpedia.org, ‘Marc DUTROUX’, “He [Dutroux] divorced her [Dutroux’s first wife Francois Dubois] in 1983. At this point, he already had an affair with Michelle Martin. The two would eventually have three children together.” *) 2007, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux, “Michelle Martin, his girlfriend with whom he already had an affair during his previous marriage…”
22. *) Google search for “Marc Dutroux” indicates in the mini-bio that his marriage with Francoise Dubois lasted from 1976 to 1983, when Dutroux was around 33 years old. *) 2007, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux, “[Dutroux] Divorced his wife in 1983 after she accused him of abuse.” 
23. *) ibid., “Arrested in February 1986 and convicted in November 1988 for kidnapping, photographing, torturing, and raping 5 girls between the age of 11 and 19. Also accused of torturing an older woman by putting a razor in her vagina to force her to give him money.“ *) February 14, 2004, Nieuwsblad, ‘Dutroux had zijn lesje geleerd’, (Google translated): “On April 26, 1989, the three were convicted by the court of appeal in Mons. Dutroux was imprisoned for 13.5 years, [Jean] Van Peteghem 6.5 years and Martin 5 years. Dutroux’s sentence was much more severe because he was given an extra three years for a brutal robbery on a 58-year-old woman. Jeanine G. from Haine-Saint-Pierre was tortured by Dutroux and two companions for three hours in her own on June 10, 1983. House. Until she told where her money was. One of Dutroux’s accomplices in that robbery was never identified.” *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 81, (Google translation:) “On June 9, 1983, Dutroux commits his first robbery of jewelry and money from an elderly woman, whose vagina he works with a razor blade.”
24. *) Regina Louf, ‘Belgium’s X-Files: Regina’s Story’, pages 140 and 142, “In the period preceding her death Christine Van Hees visited the Poseidon skating rink in Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe, a Brussels suburb, weekly. Michele Martin, who would become Marc Dutroux’ wife, had met Marc at the skating ring in Vorst, not far from the Poseidon. Dutroux, who was an excellent skater, had been denied access to the skating rink of Charleroi, close to his house, because he had harassed girls. Martin declared on 4 December 1996 that Marc visited the Poseidon every week, end 1983. She wasn’t allowed to come along because she was pregnant. Many former Poseidon visitors recognized Marc Dutroux during interrogations in 1997. One of them, Ariane M. stated that a short time before she was murdered, Christine had a date with a guy called Marc from the Mons area. Mons is located not far from where Marc Dutroux lived… The statement of Dutroux’ wife Martin is crystal clear (see before). Dutroux went to the Poseidon every week in that period. [1983] This was confirmed by an ex-accomplice of Dutroux, Francis H. Furthermore, during a search at Dutroux’ the detectives found a table with the opening hours of the Poseidon. Many Poseidon skaters have recognized Dutroux. In spite of this Dutroux stated during an 11 June 1998 hearing that he had been at the Poseidon only once or twice and that this happened before 1980. He also stated that he didn’t remember if his accounts had been credited after the murder.“ *) July 25, 2007, ISGP-studies, ‘Belgian X-dossiers of the Dutroux Affair: Marc Dutroux’ , “Research showed that in the early 1980s Marc Dutroux and Bernard Weinstein visited the same skating rink [Poseidon] as Christine Van Hees. According to Michele Martin, Dutroux went there alone since 1983 to make it easier for him to “seduce girls”… it is known that Christine had a date with a “Marc” who could well have been Marc Dutroux. However, no conclusive research has been carried out. Additionally, Nathalie Geirnaert, a friend of Christine who lived in the same street as her, recognized Marc Dutroux on two old pictures from the early 1980s as someone who she had seen in the company of Christine.”
25. *) working on locating specific PV, for now, here is an excerpt ISGP: 2004, ISGP ‘Beyond Dutroux: Appendix victim-witnesses (no longer available on current website), “ According to X1, Michel Nihoul, Annie Bouty, Bernard Weinstein, Marc Dutroux, Michel Vander Elst, Tony and the parents of Anne (a girl in the network) were present at the murder. … X1 had stated that Dutroux, who she described as a bit of an outsider, was present at the murder of Christine.”
26. The coverup of Christine Van Hees’ murder in 1984 and subsequently the reopened investigation under the Dutroux X-dossiers case is a story reserved for another article. This most likely is the reason why Christine’s murder remains unsolved to this day. 
27. 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 80, (Google translation:) “Today Armand De Beyn is probably the only Belgian who can say that he has a criminal record on which the name Marc Dutroux appears in the category ‘victim’. The brawl cost him on 28 May 1984 a conviction by the criminal court of Charleroi for deliberately inflicting assault and battery. “When I saw him on TV so many years later, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” says De Beyn. “But he was indeed, that pusher who continued to litigate for five years because of some pulling and pushing on the ice rink. The whole affair cost me more than one hundred thousand francs at the time, including more than sixty thousand francs in medical costs and compensation. I took some tentative steps in 1997 to achieve some form of rehabilitation, but changed my mind. Something in me tells me I better let things go. Amazing things happened. The police only paid attention to the statements of friends of Dutroux, who declared in unison that I had started [it]. One skater was so shocked by what he saw and heard that he came to the court to testify. Well, suddenly two gendarmes appeared out of nowhere and escorted him and thus gave the judge the impression that the man who came to make a statement in my favor was a detainee. That was also what the judge thought.”
28. 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, pages 80-81, (Google translation:) “The records that De Beyn kept about the case provide an insight into how Marc Dutroux sees the world in the early 1980s.  With the slight bruise to his thumb that he was left with from the “attack”, he tries to obtain the status of permanent incapacity for work.  A certain Dr. Draux has made a diagnosis to that effect.  Because the court in Charleroi has not followed him on that point, Dutroux immediately appeals against the verdict.  And unbelievable but true: the public prosecutor of Charleroi is also appealing because it apparently believes that poor Dutroux has not received sufficient satisfaction.  In May 1985, the Court of Appeal in Mons partially upheld De Beyn’s sentence. * 5 [Citation: “His ‘share of the facts’ will be reduced from 50 to 10 percent, but nothing will change in the compensation he has had to pay. Judgment of the Bergen Appeal Court, 21 May 1985, case 479H84.    It concerns Dr. Bernard Minet from Gembloux. It is not known how he responded to Dutroux’s complaints about his thumb. It is certain that Marc Dutroux is arrested a short time later for a series of kidnappings and rapes of underage girls.“] The Court appoints a doctor who will continue to examine Dutroux’s injuries with a view to whether or not to grant a monthly disability benefit  .  * 6 “My lawyer, which I also had to pay, told me that this was all terribly abnormal,” said Armand De Beyn.  “Well, what can you do about it?””
29. *) February 14, 2004, Nieuwsblad, ‘The Social Fraud of Marc Dutroux: Dutroux had learned his lesson’, (Google translation) “The one or two accomplices of Marc Dutroux in the kidnapping and rape of Catherine B. (18) also remained out of harm’s way. She was dragged in a passing car at 10:15 p.m. on January 31, [apparently 1986] while walking on the sidewalk in Obaix. Like everyone else, she got tape over her eyes. Her captors put a knife to her throat. B. was raped in the car by one of her kidnappers. He also hissed at her: “Don’t marry, because what you feel now is marriage.” She got candy and an apple. B. was photographed naked and evicted from the car at 9.30 pm. [Not exactly sure what is going on here with the time, unless she was kidnapped at 10:15 am]

    Dutroux was convicted of the rape because he had bragged about it to Jean Van Peteghem. Van Peteghem himself could not be an accomplice. At the time of the facts he was still in the army in Germany.” *) wikipedia, Marc Dutroux, “On 17[31] January 1986 Catherine B., aged 18, was abducted from Obaix. Dutroux had one or two accomplices in her abduction that were never found by police. Peteghem was stationed as army personnel in Germany during that time and could not have assisted Dutroux.”.    *) UPDATE: 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 81, (Google translation:)“A little later he meets Jean Van Peteghem, a young, reckless marginal with a passion for weapons and a permanent lack of money.  He will commit his first series of child abductions with Van Peteghem.  They [Apparently not Van Peteghem] try it first in Obaix [1985, not 1986].  An 18-year-old girl is pulled into a car on her way home.  Her eyes are covered with band-aids.  At a rubbish dump, the girl is thrown out and forced to undress under the threat of a knife.  Her cries for help are smothered in a long French kiss.  “Don’t marry, this is like marriage,” Dutroux tells her.  He gives the girl a hundred-franc note and drops her off near the station.”

30. February 14, 2004, Nieuwsblad, ‘The Social Fraud of Marc Dutroux: Dutroux had learned his lesson’, (Google translation:) “MARC Dutroux and Jean Van Peteghem met in March 1985, nine months before Axelle’s rape. Van Peteghem had only just retired from the army and was to marry his childhood sweetheart, Patricia P., the mother of his child. Patricia knew the Dutroux family well: she lived in Goutroux, just like the Dutroux family, and she regularly went to babysit with Frédéric, Dutroux’s eldest son. This is how Jean Van Peteghem also got to know Marc Dutroux.   Jean Van Peteghem and Patricia P. moved in together in March 1985, but after a week the love was already over. He left without a penny and went to live in Dutroux’s caravan. It was directly opposite the house of the Dutroux family on rue des Anémones in Goutroux. In the evening his friend Marc also allowed him to eat with the Dutroux family. Of course Dutroux already had big plans with Jean Van Peteghem at the time. The penniless, not too intelligent Van Peteghem was the ideal assistant for Marc Dutroux, just as Michel Lelièvre would become in the later kidnappings.”
31. ibid. “First the two went on a thief’s path together. They committed a few petty thefts. Not much later they committed rapes together. According to Jean Van Peteghem, two girls in Morlanwelz became their first victims in May 1985. But the police never found the victims.”
32. ibid. “On June 7, 1985, the two committed their first proven kidnapping. The victim was Sylvie D., eleven years old. In Van Peteghem’s statements, it is particularly striking that Dutroux decided to kidnap a girl that day. As if he were going to buy a pack of cigarettes on the corner of the street. “We were eating at the table,” Jean Van Peteghem told the Charleroi investigators on February 6, 1986. “At one point, Dutroux said he was going to have fun. Martin protested briefly because Dutroux wanted to use her car. It wasn’t until we got into the car that Dutroux said he wanted to kidnap a girl. ”

    “Sylvie D. (11) went swimming with her father and brother in Gilly on June 7, 1985, just as Laetitia Delhez went swimming in Bertrix ten years later. Sylvie D. had gone home alone that night. “We drove past her in the car and I pulled her in by the waist. We put tape over her eyes and mouth, ” said Jean Van Peteghem. The victim was raped by Dutroux and threatened with death in a garage in Roux. Dutroux took a photo of her and said it was intended for an American magazine. Both also tried to speak French with an American accent to lead their victim astray. Sylvie D. told investigators that one of the men did not agree with the rape. “I,” said Van Peteghem during his interrogation. “She was too young. I got out of the car. But I thought I should kidnap her because I owed something to Dutroux ”

    “Dutroux and Van Peteghem afterwards put the girl out of the car near the hospital of Gosselies. Michelle Martin herself did not participate in the kidnapping, but Dutroux proudly showed her at home afterwards the photo he had taken of the girl. A photo taken with a Polaroid camera. According to the investigators, most likely the same one he used ten years later to photograph Sabine Dardenne.”

33. ibid. “ON October 17, 1985, Maria V. (19) from Peronnes-lez-Binche went to the shop in her village. She passed a van. A man pretending to urinate on the wall grabbed her by the throat and pushed her into the van. As with the other victims, the perpetrators stuck adhesive tape over Maria’s eyes. She was taken to a house and raped. In pv 653/86 Jean Van Peteghem told that Dutroux had told him that he was also the perpetrator of that rape. Van Peteghem claimed that he himself was not there because he was abroad at the time as a co-driver of an international trucker. That turned out to be correct. But Maria V. also recognized a second perpetrator, a balding fifty-something. The investigators could never find that man.”
34. *) ibid. “Axelle D. was eighteen years old and was studying medicine at the ULB in her first year when she took the train from Brussels to Charleroi on Saturday 14 December 1985. ,, I had a test the following Tuesday and I had told my parents that I would not come home until Sunday afternoon. I would study all day on Saturday ”, Axelle D. declared to the police on December 18, 1985 (file 56/86 from investigating judge Jean-Claude Lacroix from Charleroi). In the course of Saturday afternoon, Axelle suddenly did not want to study anymore. She left home on Saturday evening anyway, without warning her parents that she was coming.

    “At Charleroi station I took the bus to Nalinnes, where I live. When I got off at the bus stop, I still had to walk a bit. I immediately felt that I was being followed by a dirty white van (…) The van has passed me. A little further, at the height of an electricity cabin, a man got out. He got behind the van. When I was about to walk by, both back doors opened. One man pulled me in while the other pushed me in the back. Once I got in they tried to put me at ease. They said they would demand a ransom of 400,000 francs from my parents. They wanted that money because their friend had a rare vascular disease and needed surgery in the United States, they said.

    The parallels between the kidnapping of Axelle in 1985 and that of Sabine, Laetitia, An and Eefje in 1995 and 1996 are clear. Dutroux also used a van during the kidnappings of the 1990s. Then, too, he convinced the victims that they were being kidnapped for ransom.

    The kidnappers immediately put tape over Axelle’s eyes and took her to a house. Later it would turn out that it was Marc Dutroux’s house on route de Philippeville 128. Dutroux had only had that house for a few months at the time.

    Ten years later, Dutroux would lock up six girls in a cage in the same house. Axelle D. was locked up there for almost 24 hours. During that time she was raped several times in bed by two men. During her ordeal, she was given apple juice, Mon Chéri bonbons, and a chocolate bar.

    In between rapes, one man told her that he had taken courses in law and explained to her how the pre-trial detention system worked in Belgium. The other told her he was part of a gang with two gang leaders, “one Italian, one crazy and one stupid.” He himself says he was an ex-para and an expert in the martial arts. On Sunday, in the late afternoon, almost 24 hours after her kidnapping, the two kidnappers dropped Axelle off near her parental home in Nalinnes. Her rapists stole three thousand francs and Axelle’s pencil case.

    A month and a half later, on February 3, 1986, 20-year-old Jean Van Peteghem confessed to police that he was one of Axelle’s three kidnappers. There was no point in denying it, because the investigators had found the girl’s pencil case during a search of his house in Monceau-sur-Sambre. His two accomplices were, according to Van Peteghem, a certain Marc Dutroux and a third, unknown man. Later in the day, Van Peteghem changed his version. The third unknown man turned out not to have been a man, but Michelle Martin, Marc Dutroux’s wife. She was at the wheel of the van. It didn’t stop with that one fact. Thanks to Jean Van Peteghem, the investigators were able to solve a whole series of rapes involving Marc Dutroux in the hours that followed.”                              *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, pages 81-82, (Google translation:) “The kidnappers are dishing out absurd stories to their victims.  Dutroux imitates different voices to trick the victims into believing that they are a gang of five: the madman, the mute, the Italian, the butcher and the gentle one.  The latter is then Dutroux himself.  He spends a few hours alone with the girls.  He entertained them for hours about the cosmos and the black hole, motorsport and himself.  He weaves Van Peteghem’s dramatic experiences into his own life story: he pretends to be a 22-year-old orphan who has lost his 18-year-old girlfriend Maryline.  She was caught by a truck a year earlier.  The victims are scarred for their lives.  They are raped for hours, then thrown on the street as trash.  The scenes are filmed with a rented video camera.  Why Dutroux films and what happens with the recordings is apparently nobody’s concern later on.  Ultimately, it is the detail about Maryline’s collision that puts the gendarmerie on the trail of the kidnappers.  In the statistics, one traces all young girls who have been run over by a truck.“

35. February 14, 2004, Nieuwsblad, ‘The Social Fraud of Marc Dutroux: Dutroux had learned his lesson’, (Google translation:) “On December 18, 1985, four days after the kidnapping of student Axelle D., Dutroux, Van Peteghem and Michelle Martin struck one last time for their arrest. Just like Sabine Dardenne, ten years later, Elisabeth G. (15) went by bike to school in Pont-à-Celles that day around 7:30 in the morning. In that period Dutroux was already in the habit of carrying out reconnaissance rides and selecting potential victims in advance.

    “Dutroux had started a reconnaissance drive beforehand. He had chosen her ”, Jean Van Peteghem told the BOB of Charleroi in pv 571/86 of 3 February 1986. “We dragged her off her bike into the van. Martin was at the wheel while we put tape over her eyes. ”

    Arriving at Dutroux’s house in Marcinelle, Dutroux went to rent video material in a shop. “He filmed her naked,” says Van Peteghem. Dutroux also photographed the girl with a Polaroid camera. The girl was told that her rape was an act of revenge against her father “who was not pure on the bone.” That same evening, her captors brought her back. They drop her off 300 meters from her house. One of the kidnappers gave her another five hundred francs to go to the doctor “to get a note for school.””

36. February 14, 2004, Nieuwsblad, ‘The Social Fraud of Marc Dutroux: Dutroux had learned his lesson’, (Google translation) “A month and a half later [after kidnapping of Axelle D.], on February 3, 1986, 20-year-old Jean Van Peteghem confessed to police that he was one of Axelle’s three kidnappers. There was no point in denying it, because the investigators had found the girl’s pencil case during a search of his house in Monceau-sur-Sambre. His two accomplices were, according to Van Peteghem, a certain Marc Dutroux and a third, unknown man. Later in the day, Van Peteghem changed his version. The third unknown man turned out not to have been a man, but Michelle Martin, Marc Dutroux’s wife. She was at the wheel of the van. It didn’t stop with that one fact. Thanks to Jean Van Peteghem, the investigators were able to solve a whole series of rapes involving Marc Dutroux in the hours that followed.”
37. 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, pages 82-83, (Google translation:) “The psychologists and social workers in Jamioulx prison in 1986 do not know what to do with Dutroux.  He continues to insist that he is innocent and screams murder at every allusion to the contrary.  A whole row of lawyers pass by before there is one that suits Dutroux.  It is the Brussels lawyer Didier de Quévy.  The fact that he has a lawyer does not slow Dutroux’s zeal.  In his cell, he is busy day in and day out spreading the testimonies of his victims.  The result is dozens of pages of comments from the genre: “How can Deborah N. claim that I stopped changing my license plate when the investigators themselves determined that the screws were corroded?”  Or, “The van the witness saw was not mine.  I don’t have any stickers on the rear window. ‘

    “During that period Daniel Dejasse shares the cell with Dutroux for two months.  He remembers his talents as a chess player, his outbursts of rage at the sight of a cigarette, his obsessional nocturnal hunts for imaginary mosquitoes – even in winter – and his truly disproportionate consumption of sugar.  He found the conversations quite entertaining otherwise.  “He was constantly wailing about the injustice done to him, but on the other hand he explained to me how they had worked, how they had kidnapped those girls.  There was such an atmosphere of “us men among ourselves”.  He could talk for hours about what he thought was his sexual exploits.  Those stories about a couple that is kissing the French at the café counter.  He stands next to them and begins to fidget under that girl’s skirt.  “And she said nothing, she just let me do it!”  he exclaimed triumphantly. ‘

    “There is a thought that has kept Daniel Dejasse awake from sleep since August 1996.  “I have a vague recollection of a conversation I think it was I who noticed: You should build basements in your house and lock those girls in there, then they won’t be able to tell you off.  That was not serious, of course.  Rather, it was sarcasm.  Now I sometimes feel that the Dutroux affair is the result of a poorly understood joke of mine.  He suggested I help him with the construction work after my release.  He talked about ventilation systems and things.  He could already picture it.  He was very serious, very determined.  When I realized that, I naturally said no.  Immediately afterwards, through his connections within the prison, he arranged for me to be transferred to another cell. “* 9”

38. 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 83-84, “He [Dutroux] has worked his way through extensive courses in physics, maths and electricity in his cell.  Based on a study of his own temporary residence and some do-it-yourself manuals, a list of small structures that must be carried out has emerged in his mind.  He has studied the effects of certain narcotics, even tested them in prison on fellow prisoners, and later also on Michèle Martin and his son Frédéric, when one day he did not want to go to bed on time.  Investigators will later find thousands of pills in his homes.  Almost all girls who fall into his hands after 1992 will receive Rohypnol or Haldol. …To boost the flow of money, Dutroux and Martin got married in prison in 1988, only to divorce again with the same goal.”
39. *) 2007, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux, “Arrested in February 1986 and convicted in November 1988 for kidnapping, photographing, torturing, and raping 5 girls between the age of 11 and 19. Also accused of torturing an older woman by putting a razor in her vagina to force her to give him money.” *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 82, (Google translation:) “Given the seriousness of the case, the public prosecutor of Charleroi wants to bring Dutroux to the Assize Court.  But at that time it was too busy with the gang of the Borinage, in which the Nivelles attorney Jean Deprêtre – incorrectly – perceived the gang of Nivelles.  Bergen’s attorney general doesn’t want another grueling assize trial.  So it becomes the criminal court.  He declares himself incompetent on November 4, 1988.  This is clearly an assize case, one finds in Charleroi.”
40. *) 2007, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux, “… Didier de Quevy (the lawyer of Dutroux in 1989) …” *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 82, (Google translation:) “He continues to insist that he is innocent and screams murder at every allusion to the contrary.  A whole row of lawyers pass by before there is one that suits Dutroux.  It is the Brussels lawyer Didier de Quévy.  The fact that he has a lawyer does not slow Dutroux’s zeal.  In his cell, he is busy day in and day out spreading the testimonies of his victims.”
41. *) February 14, 2004, Nieuwsblad, ‘Dutroux had zijn lesje geleerd’, (Google translated): “On April 26, 1989, the three were convicted by the court of appeal in Mons. Dutroux was imprisoned for 13.5 years, [Jean] Van Peteghem 6.5 years and Martin 5 years. Dutroux’s sentence was much more severe because he was given an extra three years for a brutal robbery…” *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 82, (Google translation:) “Dutroux, Martin and Van Peteghem appear on April 26, 1989 before the Court of Appeal in Mons.  One journalist is present at the trial.  It’s the mid 1980’s.  In Belgium, no one cares about child abductors yet.  The Belga news agency reports the next day in a short message about `a case of sex crimes’.  And further: ‘Taking into account the seriousness of the facts and the humiliating treatment they subjected their victims to, with all the psychological consequences that entailed, the Court sentenced Dutroux to 13 years and 6 months imprisonment and a fine of Fr. 6,000.  Peteghem was imprisoned for 6 years and 6 months, Martin 5 years instead of 3. The Court also took away from Dutroux and Van Peteghem their civil and political rights for 5 years. ‘” *) 2007, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux, “Initially, they only received 3 years in prison for committing these crimes, the reason being that they appeared before a correctional court with professional magistrates, instead of a public court in which a body of citizens co-decides what the sentence will be. Dutroux still appealed, but now was sentenced to 13,5 years in prison.”
42. 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 83, (Google translation:) “Six years in jail fly by.  Dutroux acts like an exemplary prisoner.  He manages to obtain penitentiary leave to take care of his demented grandmother.  His companion becomes nauseous when he and Dutroux arrive at the elderly woman in Jemeppe-sur-Sambre.  The woman sits like a pile of misery in the middle of a smelly garbage dump full of fleas, feces and cat vomit.  Dutroux plays the devoted grandson who is happy to scratch the dirt off the ground.  It will only earn him extra credit in prison.  He gets a few more unaccompanied leave to complete the big clean-up.  When he arrives 48 hours late, it is not even reported.  Once half of his sentence has been completed, he applies for parole.  Dutroux does not like psychological and social assistance, but he is prepared to be followed by the almost 70-year-old doctor Emile Dumont after his release.”
43. ibid., page 85, (Google translation:) “From mid-1991, Marc Dutroux frantically starts buying up old shacks in the Charleroi region.  A house for 300,000 francs in Marchienne-au-Pont.  Another in Mont-sur-Marchienne (La Docherie) for 350,000 francs.  A dilapidated farm in Sars-la-Buissière, where he outclassed the offer of neighbor garage owner Fernand Baudson as a supporter during a public auction with a broad grin.  Where Dutroux gets the money from is a mystery.  In four years’ time, the ex-prisoner, who officially receives a Riziv benefit of 38,000 francs, rakes together a fortune of 6.5 million francs.”
44. *) ibid., pages 83, 84 “Dutroux does not like psychological and social assistance, but he is prepared to be followed by the almost 70-year-old doctor Emile Dumont after his release. … April 9, 1992, three days after the Minister of Justice Melchior Wathelet signed an application for parole. … In its advice to Minister Wathelet, the Observation and Treatment Unit (OBE) of the prison of Bergen mentioned in early 1992 ‘social reintegration by means of a job as an argument in favor of the early release of Dutroux.” *) 2007, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux, “On April 6, 1992, PSC Minister of Justice Melchior Wathelet accepted a probationary release of Dutroux from prison. A lot of people within the system did not agree with this decision, because Dutroux was known as manipulative psychopath devoid of any morals. … in Belgium it is normal that well-behaving convicts only serve about a third of their already relative low sentences due to the 1888 Law of Lejeune. … Dutroux’s mother, who advised against the earlier release of her son,” 
45. *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 83, (Google translation:) “Dutroux does not like psychological and social assistance, but he is prepared to be followed by the almost 70-year-old doctor Emile Dumont after his release.  It is the same Uccle doctor from whom Michèle Martin previously tried to obtain a kind of certificate of insanity and who provides full prescriptions for Rohypnol, Haldol and the contraceptive pill.  From Dumont, Martin gets a triple portion.  Dutroux later sells the strips to Michel Nihoul.

    It is also Dumont who ensures that Dutroux obtains what failed through the Armand De Beyn trial.  The elderly doctor declares him 66 percent disabled due to “nervousness.”  This happened on April 9, 1992, three days after the Minister of Justice Melchior Wathelet signed an application for parole.”     *) 2007, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux, 

46. *) 2005, ITV Studios, ‘REAL CRIME: The Perverted World of Marc Dutroux’, (Youtube; 12:12-13:34) “NARRATOR: In 1993, the Charleroi gendarmerie had been contact by one of Marc Dutroux’s tenants, Claude Thirault, who said he had disturbing information about his landlord. THIRAULT (ITV translation): I first met him in 1992. We were in the car, there were two girls walking along. I think they’d been drinking. One of them was staggering. And he parked the car at the side of the road and then he suggested kidnapping the two girls. You had to creep up behind them, put your hand over there mouth and put them into the car. Close the door, the child lock was on so they couldn’t get out and if need be, knock them out. But, I refused point blank, I said to Dutroux, “You’re mad, I’m not doing that!” He took me straight home and I went straight to the gendarmerie within the hour.” NARRATOR: The gendarmers persuaded Thirault to become their informant. Over the next two years, he report that Dutroux was planning to kidnap girls to sell them into a prostitute network.” THIRAULT (ITV translation): “When he was out in his car, or van, or whatever, when he saw little girls, he used to say, “wooh, they’re young and fresh, that would sell well.” The police knew this, they knew everything.” NARRATOR: Three other informants also came forward confirming Thirault’s testimony.”     *) June 21, 1999, The Financial Times, Television preview, Channel 4, 9:00; cited from ISGP: ” [Dutroux] boasted to his neighbor Claude Thirault of the ease with which children could be abducted and then sold. While working on one of Dutroux’s four properties in Charleroi, Thirault noticed two water tanks which had been altered to allow access from below. When asked about these, Dutroux baldly stated that he used them for hiding children before sending them abroad. Thirault became an informer… [but, the police failed to share this information with other authorities and keep proper tabs on Dutroux]”.      *) 1996, Fred Vandenbussche, ‘Meisjes verdwijnen niet zomaar’ (‘Girls don’t just disappear’), pages 68-69.    *) 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux,“In early 1993, the unemployed Claude Thirault, who rented one of Dutroux’s homes, was hired by Dutroux as a handyman. Dutroux asked this person to install water drains beneath one of his newly-bought houses. … A few days into the job, two girls walked past the two men working. Dutroux said to Thirault: “If you want to kidnap them, you’ll make 150,000 franks [about 4000 euro].” Dutroux went on to tell Thirault what the best approach would be: “Grab them from behind, put a sedative drug under their nose, pull them into the car, and lock the doors.” Thirault, an occasional police informant, told this story to the police in July 1993, and as a result Dutroux’s houses were searched months later, in December, the official reason being that he was suspected in a theft case.”.    *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 86, Citation from note 29: “Samenvattend rapport, BOB Marche-en-Famenne, 12 december 1996, pv 100.416.“
47. 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, page 78
48. 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux
49. ibid.
50. *) ibid.    *) March, 3, 2004, La Derniere Heure, ‘Les victimes oubliees du dossier’, (Inter. Expl. auto-translation:) “But apart from the martyrdom of the girls he abducted, raped, kidnapped and killed in Belgium, there is a tendency to forget the ordeal experienced by three young Slovaks: Eva, Yanka and Henrietta. Three first names that feature prominently in the indictment.  … These three young girls, like the young Belgians, had the misfortune to cross the road to Dutroux. The indictment recounts how Marc Dutroux raped Henrieta Palusova in Prasice on 4 June 1995. But this is especially in the case of the two sisters Mackova, Eva and Yancka.    Marc Dutroux, during his many trips to Slovakia, had managed to be accepted by the Mackova family. The purposes of his travels were wild sex tourism. He went in search of fresh flesh and all the means were good for him. For both sisters, he shows a cruel perversity. He pretends to be a friend and invites them to come and visit Belgium.    Eva will make the first trip between July 15 and 31, 1994. It will be housed in Sars-la-Buissière. Now Dutroux’s going to stuff her with drugs.”
51. *) 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux, “[Dutroux] Got to know Michel Lelièvre in late 1994 (account differ; might be 1995; X1 said they already knew each other in the early 1980s).“ *) 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ Appendix for Annie Bouty, “In March 1995, Lelievre stayed a couple of days at the place of Annie Bouty, and it was here that Lelievre allegedly first met Nihoul. Lelievre and Nihoul became partners-in- crime in trafficking stolen cars and drugs, with Nihoul telling Lelievre what to do. Lelievre at some point introduced Dutroux to Nihoul, but exactly when, and if Dutroux and Nihoul had never met before, is not known (like X1 claimed; they also moved in the same milieu).”
52. *) 1999, Bulté, De Coninck & Van Heeswyck, ‘De X-Dossiers’, pages 43-44, ““The man he [Michel Lelievre] gets to know in Forest prison promises to put him on the right path.  His name is Casper Flier.  The Dutch gay has a bean and a job for Lelièvre.  After his release, he became a gas station attendant in Hastière, near Dinant.  Flier puts him in touch with Michel Nihoul.  Strangely enough, it immediately clicks with the grand-speaking Brussels resident.  Lelièvre introduces Nihoul to his circle of friends as “the man who can arrange everything”.  Flier’s advances are of less interest to him.  He leaves the petrol station and turns to the car scrap sector.  The first he bumps there is Michael Diakostavrianos, dealer in car tires and wrecks.  Diakostavrianos knows a place where Lelièvre can stay.  The house in Jemeppe-sur-Sambre, where Diakosta stacks his car tires, is messy but spacious.  The owner, Marc Dutroux, is a nice guy, says Diakostavrianos.  It is the summer of 1995. The house is indeed a mess, but Lelièvre is content with a thin mattress and a few shelves as a bedside table.  In return, the landlord asks him if he can “help you do an occasional job.”  The indifference to which Lelièvre agrees evokes memories in Dutroux of Jean Van Peteghem, … From June 1995 onwards, Lelièvre often travels with Diakostavrianos with a load of car tires to Slovakia, where they pretend to be good farmers in the West.  Dutroux accompanies them as often as he can.” *) 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux
53. *) 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated         *)  2004, ZDF, ‘Dutroux and the dead witnesses’ (Youtube clip; 19:27-21:12)    *) likely more information here:  2004, Douglas De Coninck, ‘Dode Getuigen – Dertig mensen die niet zullen spreken op het proces Dutroux’
54. March, 3, 2004, La Derniere Heure, ‘Les victimes oubliees du dossier’
55. 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux
56. ibid. reported in numerous articles and reports
57. *) ibid.      *) 2015, Joel van der Reijin, ISGP-studies.com, ‘Beyond the Dutroux Affair: The Reality of Protected Child Abuse and Snuff Networks’; for Doutrewe’s vaction, cites 1996, Fred Vandenbussche, ‘Mesjes verdwijnen niet zomaar’, page 71
58. *) 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated      *) likely more information here:  2004, Douglas De Coninck, ‘Dode Getuigen’ (Dead witnesses)
59. *) 2007, Beyond Dutroux, The Accused Appendix for Michel Nihoul, cites 2004, ANP, ‘Ex-wife Dutroux points to Nihoul as contractor’, “Michelle Martin, the ex-wife of Marc Dutroux, says that her former husband kidnapped the girls Julie and Melissa at the instructions of co-defendant Michel Nihoul… Also, a witness has spotted co-defendant Nihoul in 1995 together with Dutroux and Lelievre in Oostende, shortly before the kidnapping of An and Eefje.”    *) March 3, 2004, Associated Press (posted on Fox News), ‘Belgian: I Was Part of a Larger Child-Sex Ring’, “Dutroux said he acted on behalf of a “big crime ring” when he snatched the six girls in Belgium and held them hostage between the summers of 1995 and 1996.  Nihoul wanted the girls,” he said of Michel Nihoul, a co-defendant. On hearing his name, Nihoul grabbed a phone to call his lawyer from the defendants’ box.”
60. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated ; likely more information here:  2004, Douglas De Coninck, ‘Dode Getuigen’
61. 2005, ITV Studios, REAL CRIME: The Perverted World of Marc Dutroux (YouTube: 4:28-6:30)
62. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated ; likely more information here:  2004, Douglas De Coninck, ‘Dode Getuigen’
63. 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux ; described by many other sources
64. *) 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux     *) 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Nihoul       *) (noted in ISGP)  March 2, 2004, ANP, ‘Ex-wife Dutroux points to Nihoul as contractor’ “Also, a witness has spotted Nihoul in 1995 together with Dutroux and Lelievre in Oostende, shortly before the kidnapping of An and Eefji.”   *) 2005, ITV Studios, REAL CRIME: The Perverted World of Marc Dutroux (YouTube: 6:43-8:54)     *) described in a number of other sources
65. *) 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated    *) 2004, ZDF, ‘Dutroux and the dead witnesses’ (Youtube: 10:47-11:37)
66. *) 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux *) also described elsewhere
67. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated    *) 2004, ZDF, ‘Dutroux and the dead witnesses’ (Youtube: 10:47-11:37)
68. 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux ; reported in other sources
69. *) ibid.    *) 2005, ITV Studios, REAL CRIME: The Perverted World of Marc Dutroux (YouTube: 10:30-11:18)   
70. 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux
71. ibid.
72. ibid.
73. ibid. 
74. ibid.
75. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated
76. 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux
77. ibid., other sources reported on the same thing
78. *) ibid. *) 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux appendix for the investigators; Cited: *) De X-dossiers *) Nihoul dossier *) X-dossiers’ summary
79. 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux
80. ibid.
81. ibid. 
82. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated 
83. 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux appendix for the accused, Dutroux and Nihoul; Lelievre quote cited from PV quoted in ‘The Nihoul Dossier,
84. 2007, ISGP, Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux
85. *) ibid.    *) Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Nihoul and Forgeot.  *) X-dossiers summary
86. Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux
87. Beyond Dutroux appendix for Nihoul
88. ibid. 
89. Beyond Dutroux, The Accused for Dutroux and Nihoul; 
90. Beyond Dutroux Appendix for Dutroux
91. ibid.
92. ibid.
93. ibid.
94. ibid. 
95. ibid. 
96. ibid.
97. ibid. 
98. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated
99. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix for Baron de Bonvoisin
100. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix for Dutroux
101. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix for Bouty
102. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix for Nihoul
103. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated
104. ibid.
105. ibid.
106. ibid. 
107. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix for Dutroux
108. ibid.
109. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated
110. ibid.
111. ibid. 
112. ibid.
113. ibid.
114. ibid. 
115. ibid. 
116. ibid. 
117. ibid. 
118. *) 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix for Dutroux.      *) Regina Louf, ‘Belgium’s X-Files: Regina’s Story’, pages 179-183
119. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix on the apparently assassinated
120. ibid.
121. ibid.
122. ibid. 
123. ibid. 
124. ibid.
125. 2007, ISGP, ‘Beyond Dutroux’ appendix for Dutroux
126. ibid.
127. ibid. 
128. *) July 31, 2012, BBC, ‘Marc Dutroux ex-wife to transfer to Belgian convent’  *) March 31, 2015, The Straits Times, ‘Belgian serial child killer Marc Dutroux’s ex-wife and accomplice to live in judge’s home’ *) December 20, 2012, Expactica.com, ‘Michelle Martin went shopping in Knokke’ *) March 7, 2019, The Brussels Times, ‘Michelle Martin case dismissed’
129. August 30, 2018, BBC News, ‘Dutroux murders: Belgian child-killer’s letter angers parents’
130. *) December 2, 2019, Europe1, ‘Belgique : Michel Lelièvre, complice de Marc Dutroux, est sorti de prison’
      *) December 19, 2019, The Brussels Times, ‘Michel Lelièvre, former accomplice of infamous Belgian paedophile Dutroux, attacked in Brussels’
     *) October 27, 2019, euronews.com, ‘Explainer: Paedophile Marc Dutroux and the horror case that united a divided Belgium’
131. *) May 6, 2020, The Brussels Times, ‘Coronavirus delays infamous paedophile Marc Dutroux’s pre-parole exam’         *) December 12, 2020, Telefacts of VTM, ‘Dutroux spreekt’ (YouTube repost)
132. *) https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/127453/dutroux-affair-father-of-one-of-the-victims-writes-the-truth-about-the-case/  *) September 20, 2020, The Brussels Times, ‘New report finds infamous paedophile Dutroux remains danger to society’
133. February 18, 2021, The Brussels Times, ‘Infamous Belgian paedophile Dutroux on strike in prison’
134. *) https://www.petitionenligne.net/affaire_dutroux_demande_de_reouverture_du_dossier_bis?fbclid=IwAR1wipEpmNKYufh8nF1gPgSEtw_f3yJUDzrpp83qIe5uJ0l4j1omO12grhk  *) https://lameuse.sudinfo.be/873602/article/2021-11-24/un-ex-enqueteur-du-dossier-dutroux-ecrit-aux-politiques-il-veut-la-verite?utm_campaign=Newsletter%20Sudinfo&utm_content=&utm_medium=Mail&utm_source=SP20211124%20-%2021&utm_term=&fbclid=IwAR2d_NnOvzDCzDdQatfJJ4GihZgtVxdO4ZKwh1MhT6D84zYq6JCITgiDoCM
135. June 4, 2022, The Brussels Times, ‘Killer Dutroux has a new hobby – cold murder cases’
136. *) June 8, 2022, Mirror, ‘Paedophile serial killer’s house of horrors where four kids died to be demolished’ *) June 8, 2022, The Sun, ‘PAEDO’S LAIR Inside Monster of Belgium paedo serial killer’s house of horrors where he tortured & raped girls in soundproof cellar’
137. .
138. .
139. .
140.