Why did Anita, Wesley and Rikki have to die? Son Kevin hopes that new surveillance images will provide a breakthrough | Farouk

“I don’t want this house, Mom’s pride, to end up in foreign hands.” Faroek sits down at the table with Kevin Piette (27). Kevin has been living with his wife for a year and a half in the house where his mother and brother were murdered. Despite that horrible memory, he likes living here. “It feels like mom is still here. I grew up here and I have great memories here, I wouldn’t want that to go away.”

Kevin tries to renovate the house piece by piece. The garage door has already been replaced, and the roof will soon also be replaced: “I want to make something beautiful out of it, in honor of mom.” There are some photos of people who have died on the wall in the living room. Anita hangs there, and Wesley. And also Kevin’s dad, who died in an accident on Christmas Eve when Kevin was barely four years old. Anita was suddenly left alone to raise her three sons. “Three boys. Mom often had her hands in her hair.” Kevin laughs as he thinks back to his childhood. “She really did everything in her power to give us a wonderful childhood. She would turn over her last cent ten times over to give us something.”

In 2022, Kevin and Jordy have been out of the house for several years. Only Wesley still lives with Anita in Zavelstraat. She is not well off and decides to rent a room to Leopold ‘Rikki’ Janssens, a 47-year-old man who met Wesley online while gaming. Everything goes well, until the terrible night of June 10 to 11, 2022. Anita, Wesley and Rikki are all murdered with different stab wounds. When the police arrive, the perpetrator or perpetrators have already disappeared without a trace.

The police investigation has since identified two suspects. One man was released after a few months, another man, a 38-year-old Leuven resident, is still in jail. Sarah Callewaert of the Leuven public prosecutor’s office explains that the investigation has been slow since then. “He is a man who denies any involvement in the facts. His silence makes it very difficult for us to reconstruct the exact course of events.” The man may not have acted alone. “Since three people were killed with many stab wounds, it is certainly not excluded that several perpetrators are involved.”

Because the man from Leuven remains silent, the public prosecutor’s office now wants to put an end to all loose ends in the investigation. That is why it is distributing surveillance images of four possible witnesses for the first time. For example, there is a man who walks on the Bovenloweg around 3:30 am – half an hour after the murders. That is a path in the area of ​​Zavelstraat, in the direction along which the perpetrator or perpetrators may have fled.

“It concerns a man with short shaved hair. It could be that he has a tattoo on his right forearm,” says Callewaerts. The man walks with a striking, heavy step, which can be seen on the surveillance images. The public prosecutor’s office would really like to speak to him because he may have seen something or someone. “He is in a place very close to the facts. And also very shortly after the facts.” According to Callewaert, he can be crucial to the investigation.

And then the police are looking for three more cyclists, who each rode separately through Zavelstraat on that fatal night and who may have seen something. The first cyclist turns into Zavelstraat from Platte-Lostraat around 2 a.m. Not much later, a second cyclist follows, covering exactly the same route. It is clear from the surveillance images that the man is cycling in a rather zigzag manner.

A third cyclist rides through Zavelstraat to the intersection with Wolvenstraat around 3:30 am. The person turns around, looks at a mobile phone for a moment and then drives back through Zavelstraat. “These cyclists may have seen or heard something that could be crucial for the investigation,” says Callewaert. If anyone knows who these cyclists are, or if these people recognize themselves, the police ask them to contact them.

Only the morning after the murders does Kevin hear from the police what happened. “Your mother and brother were killed, they said.” It remains silent for a moment. “My world collapsed. I could hardly believe it. I didn’t want to believe it either.” Since then, he has tried to stay strong and comforts himself with the thought that his mom and brother are watching from heaven. “I hope they have fun there when I have fun.”

Kevin hopes his testimony can help lead to a breakthrough. Perhaps there are people who know more, who now have pangs of conscience. “The perpetrator or perpetrators must be punished.” He sounds frustrated. “Three people, out of nowhere, just gone: I can’t understand that.” They are no longer ordinary people, they are animals.”

If you have more information about the murder of Anita, Wesley and Rikki, the police would like to speak to you. Even if you recognize the walker with the headset, or know who the cyclists are who rode through Zavelstraat on the night of 10 to 11 June, or if you recognize yourself in these surveillance images, the police ask you to contact us. Finally, the police ask you to think about whether you noticed anything strange or suspicious in the area around Zavelstraat on the night of the murders or in the days before or after. You can contact us with all your tips on the toll-free number 0800 30 300 or by email to onderzoeken@police.belgium.eu.

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

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