Who was the dead woman in the cistern near this chalet in Holsbeek? 1991 Mystery Gets New Investigation | Faruk

“It should be here.” We are standing with Pascal Swaelens of the Unit for Missing Persons at the beginning of the Attenhovedreef, a bumpy dirt road between the woods in Holsbeek. According to the PVs that Swaelens was able to recover, the chalet we are looking for should be here somewhere.

The then owners of the chalet, a couple aged 61 and 54, made a disturbing discovery in the summer of 1991. When they want to scoop water from the well on August 6, during a short visit, they see a plastic bag floating with two legs sticking out. Only the next day do they inform the constable. When the fire brigade removes the body from the water, it turns out to be a dead woman between 30 and 55 years old. She is short, 1m54, and has unkempt teeth. Part of her teeth are missing – she may have been wearing a prosthesis. She wears striking summer clothes, which you can see in the graph. The woman may have been in the cistern for two years, says the law doctor at the time. And strangely enough, no one knows who she is or how she got there.

Meanwhile, the Attenhovedreef meanders further up the hill between the trees. Rudy Janssens also came along. He is the first alderman of Holsbeek and has done research in the land registry. There he found some places where chalets would be located.

This is how Swaelens usually works: “When we recompile a dossier as old as this one, there is usually little information available. The PVs were often destroyed, and of course the investigation was not as thorough then as it is now.” Swaelens has an old newspaper photo of the chalet with him: a black-and-white photo of a wooden house between the trees, with ‘mystery’ added in large. There is also a photo of the cistern in question: a hole in the ground with a few planks left. “We hope that the chalet and the cistern still exist,” says Swaelens. “We may find clues that were overlooked at the time. For example, the rainwater tank has never been completely pumped empty. Who knows, there may be something else at the bottom that we don’t know about. The woman’s dental prosthesis, for example.”

The Attenhovedreef does not immediately reveal its secrets. In the vicinity of number 7, where the chalet would be located according to the old PVs, there is only a stone house. Shame. But a little later, Swaelens is lucky: a wooden roof and chimney emerge between the trees, which resemble those of the chalet in the photo. A little later it turns out to be the same chalet. It is located at number 42 and has been painted gray in the meantime, but it is definitely the same. Everyone is relieved: the chalet still exists, it has not been demolished. After a short chat, the current owner gives us permission to take a look around his property. According to him, the cistern is still there, which is behind the chalet.

“You didn’t end up here by accident”, Faroek mutters to Swaelens when they follow a narrow corridor next to the chalet. In a corner of less than a square meter wide, between a wooden wall and the high fence, is the cistern. Meanwhile filled with earth, but it is still there. So many years ago, the body of the unknown woman floated here, with the lid of the well on it. This is new information that can be put into the file immediately. “The person who dumped the woman here most likely knew about the existence of this cistern,” says Swaelens. Although he does not want to rule out any possibility: even if it eventually involved a suicide, the woman must have known this neighbourhood.

Yet it is very unlikely that the victim came from the area, Janssens argues. “This business is well known in Holsbeek and the surrounding area. If the victim were from the area, someone here would have immediately made the link with a disappearance case.” And no one has disappeared in Holsbeek who could be this woman. In the meantime, DNA research has also shown that two well-known disappearances from the region, those of Maria Moens and Ilse Stockmans, were not this woman in the cistern. The woman’s identity remains a mystery for now.

It was a fruitful day for Swaelens, he tells Faroek. “By looking closely at the place now, it seems more and more likely that this woman or the people connected to her death knew this place. That is why we now want to make an appeal to the general public: we would like to speak to anyone who came to this neighborhood in the late 1980s, early 1990s, from the Attenhovedreef in Holsbeek and who has tips. Maybe you came here on holiday, hiking or mountain biking: all tips are welcome. We want to know who was hanging around in this neighborhood during this period.”

Other people who have tips about this, or who know more about the chalet, would also like to speak to the investigators. And that is not the only indication that Swaelens is happy with today. “It is good news that the cistern is still there. Now, together with the public prosecutor’s office, we can see whether it is worth pumping the well empty after all. Who knows, maybe the killer dumped the woman here with all her belongings, and her ID just lies at the bottom. We cannot rule that out.”

Because that’s where it all starts, says Swaelens: “As long as we don’t know the lady’s identity, it’s very difficult to start a murder case. So now we have to find out first.”

The file on the woman in the cistern is an Operation Graveyard file. In addition, the Unit for Missing Persons investigates old cold cases with the latest techniques such as DNA analysis, in the hope of achieving a breakthrough after all these years. Today, three other search notices will be distributed, all from the district of Leuven. You can find them at the website of the federal police.

Anyone who has tips about the chalet at Attenhovedreef 42 in Holsbeek, or who sometimes came to this area in the late 1980s and early 1990s, would like to speak to the investigators. Even if you have tips about the unknown woman herself or about her clothing, the police would like to hear from you. Finally, the police also asks to report old disappearances that may have been lost in the system. It is possible that not all unsolved disappearance cases from 1991 or earlier are still known to the police. You can contact the police with all your tips on the free number 0800 30 300 or send an e-mail to detections@police.belgium.eu

This investigation report was created after a collaboration between the Federal Police, the Public Prosecution Service and DPG Media.

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