Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
7 July 1997 is a date that has gone down in Belgian criminal history. On that day, driven by rage and jealousy, Remy Lecrenier committed a brutal series of murders in the small village of Bas-Oha near Liège. The events of that day and the subsequent developments shook the country and left a deep mark. Remy Lecrenier was born in 1968 and was 29 years old at the time of the murders. He was a passionate gun enthusiast and karate expert, which made him a potentially dangerous individual. Lecrenier, who was unemployed and had a habit of pursuing other women, lived with his 23-year-old girlfriend Vinciane Tellier and her family in a house in Bas-Oha, an idyllic village some 50 miles from Brussels. On the morning of 7 July 1997, Lecrenier was due to pack his bags, as Vinciane had ended the relationship and met another man. This sparked an uncontrollable rage within him, which ultimately culminated in a horrific massacre. Lecrenier could not bear the thought of Vinciane being with someone else and resolved to punish her and her family. Lecrenier began his murderous rampage in the early hours of the morning. His first attack was on Laurence, Vinciane’s 19-year-old younger sister. He shot her with his Colt .45, seriously injuring her. But that was not enough: whilst she lay in her own blood, he raped her and then killed her with a shot to the temple. Vanessa, the 21-year-old middle sister, was his next target. She tried to flee, but was shot down by Lecrenier with a single shot to the back. After killing her, he laid the two bodies side by side in one of the bedrooms and covered them with a quilt. After committing the first two murders, Lecrenier went to the bank to withdraw his savings. He then returned to the scene of the crime to continue killing in cold blood. At 3.00 pm, Geneviève Tellier, the mother, arrived home. As she opened the door, she was immediately pursued by Lecrenier and killed with a shot to the back of the neck. He hid her body in the cellar of the house. At around 6.30 pm, Vinciane finally returned home. She suddenly found herself face to face with her enraged ex-boyfriend, who was holding a gun. Attempts to calm him down or even disarm him failed. Lecrenier raped Vinciane, then ended her life with two shots. In a final grotesque gesture, he fired a crossbow bolt into her body, which earned him the nickname ‘The Crossbow Killer’. He then left a note for her father, Philippe: ‘I’ve gone completely mad because of your eldest daughter.’ After the massacre, Lecrenier fled to the south of France. An international arrest warrant was issued, and the police launched a large-scale manhunt. He managed to evade arrest for four days, but was eventually recognised by Belgian tourists at a campsite near St Tropez on 11 July 1997 and handed over to the police. On 7 December 1999, Remy Lecrenier was found guilty by a jury in Liège of four counts of murder and two counts of rape, and sentenced to life imprisonment. The case sparked an intense debate in Belgium about domestic violence and the handling of firearms. Lecrenier spent 19 years in prison before being released on 4 July 2016, subject to strict conditions and electronic tagging. His lawyer emphasised that this was not an unconditional release and that the conditions would be reviewed regularly. The Remy Lecrenier case remains etched in memory as one of the most disturbing crimes in Belgian criminal history. The brutality of the murders and the circumstances that led to them have raised many questions about the nature of violence and the protection of victims. It is a grim reminder of the destructive power of anger and jealousy, and of the need for early intervention and support for those at risk.
