Death of Katrien De Cuyper

{{Infobox person

| name = Katrien De Cuyper

| image = Katrien De Cuyper.jpeg

| image_upright = 0.75

| alt = Face photograph of teenage white girl with shoulder-length blonde hair

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1976|04|29|df=yes}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/katrien-de-cuyper-a-ete-exhumee-51b7c27be4b0de6db98c57f7|title=Katrien De Cuyper a été exhumée|last=Dupont|first=Gilbert|date=21 September 2006|work=La Dernière Heure|access-date=21 May 2018|language=fr-BE}}

| birth_place = Schoten, Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium{{cite episode |title=Deel 2 |series=De X-dossiers|network=Zembla |date=18 March 2004}}

| disappeared_date = {{disappeared date and age|1991|12|17|1976|04|29|df=yes}}

| disappeared_place = IJzerlaan, Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium

| disappeared_status = Found dead 19 June 1992

| death_cause = Strangulation

| body_discovered = Port of Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium

| resting_place = Brasschaat, Flanders, Belgium

| known_for = Homicide victim

}}

On the evening of 17 December 1991, Belgian teenager Katrien De Cuyper ({{IPA|nl|kɑˈtrin də ˈkœypər}}) disappeared in Antwerp. Six months later, her body was discovered in the port of Antwerp. In 2006, a 35-year-old man from Kessel, who had written to a magazine saying that he was with her on the night she disappeared, was arrested and charged with her kidnapping and murder; he was released four months later due to a lack of evidence.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf19122006_058|title=Verdachte in zaak Katrien De Cuyper op vrije voeten|date=19 December 2006|work=Het Nieuwsblad|access-date=20 May 2018|language=nl-BE}} The case remains unsolved.

Disappearance and body discovery

On Tuesday, 17 December 1991, Katrien De Cuyper, a fifteen-year-old girl from Brasschaat, went to visit a friend in Lange Lobroekstraat in Antwerp. After the visit, her friend stayed behind and let her walk to the bus stop alone as it was raining.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/g1q105nev|title=Verdachte gaf Katrien laatste lift|last=Eeckhaut|first=Mark|date=11 August 2006|work=Het Nieuwsblad|access-date=20 May 2018|last2=Neyt|first2=Geert|language=nl-BE|last3=Verhaeghe|first3=Tonny}} De Cuyper telephoned her parents at 21:30 to tell them she would take the bus home. She missed the bus and was last seen at 22:45 at Les Routiers café on the IJzerlaan, where she made a phone call to an unknown person.{{Cite book|title=De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux|last=Bulté|first=Annemie|last2=De Coninck|first2=Douglas|last3=Van Heeswyck|first3=Marie-Jeanne|year=1999|isbn=9789052405360|location=Belgium|pages=382}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/ghacs6tt|title=Ze zijn vermoord maar door wie?|date=27 February 2005|work=Het Nieuwsblad|access-date=22 May 2018|language=nl-BE}} On 19 June 1992, her naked, buried body was discovered during groundwork in the port of Antwerp. Investigation showed that she had been strangled.{{Cite news|url=https://leiden.courant.nu/issue/LLC/1992-06-23/edition/0/page/4?query=|title=Nieuw verhoor verdachte na vondst van derde lijk|date=23 June 1992|work=Leidse Courant|language=nl|location=Brussels|access-date=20 May 2018}}

Investigation

= Letters to ''Blik'' and Regina Louf confession =

A month after De Cuyper's body was found, weekly magazine Blik received a letter from an anonymous sender claiming that they had given her a lift after she missed her bus the night she disappeared.{{Cite news|url=http://www.lesoir.be/archive/recup/katrien-de-cuyper_t-19920725-Z05M28.htmlhttp:/archives.lesoir.be/katrien-de-cuyper_t-19920725-Z05M28.html|title=Katrien De Cuyper: Lettre anonyme|date=25 July 1992|work=Le Soir|access-date=20 May 2018|language=fr-BE}} The following October, Blik received another letter from the same sender, as did De Cuyper's parents the month after. In February 1997, Regina Louf (also known in Belgium as "Witness X1") wrote a letter to police confessing to killing De Cuyper.{{Cite news|url=http://www.lesoir.be/archive/recup/%252Felle-s-accuse-du-meurtre-de-katrien-de-cuyper-x1-longue_t-19980128-Z0ET7R.html|title=Elle s'accuse du meurtre de Katrien de Cuyper: X1 longuement interrogée à Anvers|last=Surmont|first=Eddy|date=28 January 1998|work=Le Soir|access-date=20 May 2018|last2=Vantroyen|first2=Jean-Claude|language=fr-BE}} Louf said that De Cuyper had been held in a castle north of Antwerp in which children would be raped, tortured and killed by what Louf described as a "paedophile network", and that she had been ordered to kill the teenager during an orgy.{{Cite news|url=https://www.volkskrant.nl/mensen/belgie-smacht-naar-de-waarheid-over-x1-gruwelijke-getuoigenissen~ba0a69f3/|title=België smacht naar de waarheid over X1; Gruwelijke getuoigenissen|last=de Graaf|first=Peter|date=28 January 1998|work=De Volkskrant|language=nl-NL|access-date=20 May 2018}} No concrete evidence was found to support Louf's testimony.

= Arrest of Karl V.R. =

In August 2006, a 35-year-old man from Kessel identified as Karl V.R., who had been arrested for stalking, was charged with the kidnapping and murder of De Cuyper. Police searching his house found child pornography on his computer and a box which contained newspaper clippings of articles about De Cuyper's disappearance and murder and copies of the letters sent to Blik and to her parents in 1992. Furthermore, V.R.'s DNA had been found on the stamp on the envelope of one of the letters. In March 2002, his brother had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend.{{Cite news|url=https://www.demorgen.be/plus/verdachte-in-moordzaak-katrien-de-cuyper-vrij-b-1412182734292/|title=Verdachte in moordzaak Katrien De Cuyper vrij|date=20 December 2006|work=De Morgen|access-date=20 May 2018|language=nl-BE}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.lesoir.be/archive/d-20060812-W284WL?referer=/archives/recherche?datefilter=anytime&sort=date+asc&start=30&word=Katrien+De+Cuyper|title=Le meurtre de Katrien De Cuyper élucidé?|last=Surmont|first=Eddy|date=12 August 2006|work=Le Soir|access-date=20 May 2018|language=fr-BE}} V.R. admitted that he wrote the letters but said that they were fabricated and that he only wrote them for publicity.{{Cite news|url=http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf11092006_039|title=Aanhouding verdachte in moordzaak Katrien De Cuyper verlengd|date=11 September 2006|work=De Standaard|access-date=20 May 2018|language=nl-BE}} In September 2006, De Cuyper's remains were exhumed for further tests.{{Cite news|url=https://www.hln.be/nieuws/binnenland/lichaam-katrien-de-cuyper-opgegraven~aad625fb/|title=Lichaam Katrien De Cuyper opgegraven|date=21 September 2006|work=Het Laatste Nieuws|access-date=20 May 2006|language=nl-BE}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.lesoir.be/archive/d-20060921-W27DJ2?referer=/archives/recherche?datefilter=anytime&sort=date+asc&start=30&word=Katrien+De+Cuyper|title=Exhumation du corps de Katrien De Cuyper|date=21 September 2006|work=Le Soir|access-date=20 May 2018|language=fr-BE}}

On 19 December 2006, V.R. was released from custody as the investigation had found no evidence against him other than the letters. In 2007, he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for possession of child pornography.{{Cite news|url=https://www.hln.be/nieuws/binnenland/ex-verdachte-moord-katrien-de-cuyper-krijgt-zes-maanden-cel~a3b95be2c/|title=Ex-verdachte moord Katrien De Cuyper krijgt zes maanden cel|date=2 November 2007|work=Het Laatste Nieuws|access-date=20 May 2018|language=nl-BE}}