Marc Dutroux's widely publicized trial ended with his conviction on all charges in 2004; he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
60 Facts About Marc Dutroux
2.
Marc Dutroux's accomplices included his wife, Michelle Martin; Michel Lelievre; Michel Nihoul; and Bernard Weinstein.
3.
Marc Dutroux was born in Ixelles, Brussels, on 6 November 1956 to Victor Dutroux and Jeanine Lauwens.
4.
Marc Dutroux spent part of his early childhood in Burundi, then part of the Belgian Congo, where his father worked as a teacher.
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Marc Dutroux later reported to have been abused by his mother and father.
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In 1972, Marc Dutroux's parents separated and his father left the family home.
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Shortly after graduating from school, Marc Dutroux left home himself and made his living as an electrician.
8.
Several years later, in 1976, Marc Dutroux married Francoise Dubois, with whom he had two children.
9.
In October 1980, Marc Dutroux visited a Charleroi skating rink and got into a physical altercation with another patron, Armand de Beyn, after repeatedly colliding with De Beyn's girlfriend.
10.
Marc Dutroux said he had abducted Axelle D with Marc Dutroux and Michelle Martin.
11.
Marc Dutroux had lived with Dutroux after being discharged from the military and having his marriage fail.
12.
Marc Dutroux had one or two accomplices in her abduction who were never found by police.
13.
Peteghem told police that Marc Dutroux filmed Elisabeth naked and took pictures of her.
14.
Marc Dutroux received a harsher sentence because he had committed several robberies with Peteghem.
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Marc Dutroux was thus additionally convicted for the brutal robbery of a 58-year-old woman.
16.
Marc Dutroux convinced the professionals that he needed sedatives for sleeping problems.
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Marc Dutroux later went on to use them to sedate his victims.
18.
Marc Dutroux owned seven small houses, most of them vacant, and used three of them for the torture of the girls he kidnapped.
19.
Marc Dutroux has been described by psychiatrists who examined him for trial as a psychopath.
20.
Marc Dutroux then buried Weinstein alive on his property in Sars-la-Buissiere.
21.
On 6 December 1995, Marc Dutroux, having been recognised by Rochow, was arrested for vehicle theft.
22.
An expert asserted that they would not have been able to survive the entire time Marc Dutroux was in prison on the total amount of food and water they were said to have been given.
23.
Marc Dutroux buried Lejeune and Russo's bodies in the garden of the house he owned in Sars-la-Buissiere, near to that of Weinstein.
24.
An eyewitness observed Marc Dutroux's van, described it and was able to identify part of the license plate.
25.
An initial search of Marc Dutroux's houses proved inconclusive, but two days later, Marc Dutroux and Lelievre both made confessions.
26.
That same day, Marc Dutroux led the police to the basement dungeon inside which Dardenne and Delhez were imprisoned; the girls were subsequently rescued.
27.
On 17 August 1996, Marc Dutroux led police to his house in Sars-la-Buissiere and, with his help, they were able to locate and exhume the bodies of Lejeune, Russo and Weinstein.
28.
In 1995, Marc Dutroux's mother wrote a letter to the authorities stating that she knew that Marc Dutroux had kidnapped two girls and was keeping them at his house.
29.
Some of them showed Marc Dutroux constructing the dungeon in which Lejeune and Russo were held.
30.
In October 1996, judge Jean-Marc Dutroux Connerotte was removed from the investigation by the Supreme Court due to concerns of his impartiality after he attended a fund-raising dinner for the victims' families.
31.
On 23 April 1998, Marc Dutroux was allowed to view his case files.
32.
When one officer went on a break, Marc Dutroux overpowered the other officer and was able to escape.
33.
In 2000, Marc Dutroux received a five-year sentence for threatening a police officer during his escape.
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Marc Dutroux had a record of dealing in stolen cars, selling arms to hoodlums and trafficking in prostitution.
35.
When Marc Dutroux finally was arrested, police found in his house video films of him raping little girls.
36.
In October 1996, more than 300,000 Belgians marched through the streets of Brussels after judge Jean-Marc Dutroux Connerotte was removed from the case.
37.
Marc Dutroux was removed for attending a fundraising dinner for the families of the victims, which the court system claimed damaged his impartiality.
38.
Marc Dutroux further claimed that Michel Nihoul was the organizer of their abductions.
39.
Marc Dutroux further denied the kidnapping, raping and murdering Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo.
40.
Marc Dutroux was not attracted to children, but he might have chosen to abduct younger victims because they were easier to manipulate and control.
41.
Marc Dutroux said that Dutroux had told her that he had murdered Weinstein.
42.
Marc Dutroux further testified that Lejeune and Russo starved to death in their basement in 1996 while Dutroux was in jail.
43.
Martin said that Marc Dutroux had already decided to abduct girls in 1985.
44.
However, the majority of Belgians, at the time of the trial, would have had no problem with Marc Dutroux receiving the death penalty.
45.
On 22 June 2004, Marc Dutroux received the maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while Martin received 30 years and Lelievre 25 years.
46.
Marc Dutroux resided in Zeebrugge until his death on 23 October 2019.
47.
Marc Dutroux has since been paroled, 16 years into her sentence, and was released into the care of the Poor Clares in Malonne.
48.
Marc Dutroux was given shelter, although she was not part of the community.
49.
Marc Dutroux has since then been granted temporary leave, but has violated the conditions of release.
50.
On 4 February 2013, Marc Dutroux requested the court in Brussels for an early release from prison.
51.
Marc Dutroux insisted that he was "no longer dangerous" and wanted to be released into house arrest with an electronic tag placed upon him.
52.
Marc Dutroux is currently being held in solitary confinement in the prison of Nivelles.
53.
In October 2019, Marc Dutroux won the pre-parole right to a psychiatric assessment, which was supposed to take place in May 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
54.
Marc Dutroux was accused of being the brains behind the child kidnapping and abuse operation around Dutroux.
55.
The Marc Dutroux case is so infamous that more than a third of Belgians with the surname "Marc Dutroux" applied to have their surname changed between 1996 and 1998.
56.
Michel Lelievre, the accomplice of Marc Dutroux, said that the two girls, Lejeune and Russo, were kidnapped as an order by a third party.
57.
Marc Dutroux told police that he had been threatened and could not risk saying any more.
58.
Marc Dutroux was in total worth 6 million Belgian francs.
59.
Marc Dutroux claimed to have been present at several unsolved murders of girls in the 1980s, and pointed to Dutroux and Nihoul as culprits.
60.
Marc Dutroux owned seven houses, four of which he used for his kidnappings:.