Belgium seeks Fourniret links in a dozen unsolved cases

8 July 2004

BRUSSELS – Belgian prosecutors have confirmed that they are formally investigating possible links between suspected French serial killer Michel Fourniret and a dozen unsolved cases of murder or disappearance, it was reported on Thursday.

The news follows statements made earlier in the week which said Belgian police wanted to investigate links between the French carpenter and up to 15 unsolved cases.

At a press conference late on Wednesday afternoon prosecutors in the Belgian city of Dinant confirmed they had re-opened a dozen unsolved files following Fourniret’s confession to nine murders last week.

But they gave no more details about their investigations.

“We will not say anything else about these cases for the moment,” Dinant’s deputy prosecutor Philippe Moradini told reporters.

French investigators are already looking into 30 unsolved cases they believe Fourniret may be linked to.

Fourniret himself has continued to deny any involvement in the murder of an un-named au pair girl who is thought to have worked for him and his wife in the early 1990s.

It is still not clear who the au pair girl was but according to some reports, based on statements by Fourniret’s estranged wife Monique Olivier, she may have been an orphan who lived either in Brussels or came from France.

Fourniret also continued to insist on Thursday that he not killed anyone between 1990 and 2000, despite statements from his estranged wife Monique Olivier that he had committed murders during that period.

Subject: Belgian news