Remains of missing Belgian plumber found in The Netherlands
The remains of a 56-year-old plumber from Lint in Antwerp Province have been found in The Netherlands. The man had been missing since last June. Previously the police had said that the man’s body had been cut into pieces and dumped. Police in The Netherlands searched a stretch of the Rheine-Scheldt Canal near to Steenbergen in the Dutch province of North Brabant.
The search started last week and came about as a result of a tip. Last Thursday detectives found a tub that had been filled with concrete on the bottom of the canal, near to Nieuw-Vossemeer (North Brabant). The find was instrumental in them being able identify the remains of Johan Van der Heyden, who had been missing since early June 2019.
Previously the police had said that Johan Van der Heyden’s body had possibly been chopped up into pieces and that his remains were then possibly taken away in a barrel.
After this they had possibly been thrown of a bridge into the Rheine-Scheldt Canal.
Now the Dutch Forensic Institute confirms that the remains found in the barrel were those of Johan Van der Heyden.
Seven people, including Mr Van der Heyden’s girlfriend, have already been detained in the case. They are believed to have taken him and a woman hostage and driven them across the border into The Netherlands in Mr Van der Heyden’s own van. Theft is a possible motive for the murder.