After the discovery of bones during excavation work near Ghent in Belgium, Belgian investigators charged the husband of a woman who disappeared in 1994.
A 78-year-old man was arrested this week in Belgium, suspected of the murder of his former partner whose disappearance thirty years ago had never been clarified.
This cold case was reopened following the accidental discovery of human remains during excavation work on Saturday April 27 in the garden of a home in Laethem-Saint-Martin, near Ghent.
Charged Tuesday
The owner quickly notified the police, who deduced “on the basis of several serious clues” that these remains belonged to a 48-year-old woman, a former neighbor of this house, who had been missing since 1994, explained the prosecutor’s office in Ghent (northwest).
Consequence: An investigating judge was seized for “murder” and decided to call the victim’s ex-partner, a man now aged 78, to be heard.
The latter was charged on Tuesday and placed in detention under an electronic bracelet, according to the same Source. He must appear on Friday before the Ghent council chamber, the court which must rule on the extension and terms of detention.
The suspect “cooperates”
According to the Flemish newspaper De Standaard, the suspect, identified as “Hans D.”, admitted to investigators to having buried his partner’s body, even if he does not recognize the murder at this stage.
“He is fully cooperating” with the investigation, his lawyer, Ashley Bickx, told another daily, Het Nieuwsblad.
The victim’s disappearance dates back to November 12, 1994 and her partner, a craftsman popular in his neighborhood according to the media, was not worried at the time.
Five years later he gave his version to a television channel which interviewed him: he explained that his partner had suddenly disappeared from the house one evening when he went out to shop at the supermarket then attend a football match, De Standaard said.
The investigation was never concluded and the file was even partly lost when the Ghent court moved, according to the public channel VRT.
