Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
The Parachute Murder is the name given by the Belgian media to a spectacular crime that led, in 2010, to a sensational trial for premeditated murder linked to a fateful love triangle. The defendant was 26-year-old primary school teacher and amateur skydiver Els Clottemans, known to everyone simply as Babs. She was accused of murdering 38-year-old mother-of-two Els Van Doren by sabotaging her parachutes. The motive for the murder was Marcel Somer, also a skydiver, who was having an affair with both women. Although Els Van Doren was married to a jeweller from Antwerp, he tolerated her extramarital affair. Els Van Doren was an experienced skydiver who, like Els Clottemans and Marcel Somer, was a member of the ‘Paraclub Zwartberg’ skydiving club; they would go on group jumps almost every Saturday afternoon. This was also the case on 18 November 2006. A total of 12 members of the skydiving club flew over Flanders in a Cessna. Once the required altitude had been reached, Els Van Doren, Els Clottemans, Marcel Somer and another man jumped out of the aeroplane, holding hands. When the quartet let go of each other’s hands to deploy their parachutes, neither Els Van Doren’s main nor her reserve parachute opened. She hurtled towards the ground at 200 kilometres per hour and eventually landed in a garden in the town of Opglabbeek, near Hasselt. Els Van Doren was killed instantly. The police later established that the lines of both parachutes had been tampered with. The prosecution presented virtually no forensic evidence during the trial, and the case was based solely on circumstantial evidence. Of particular importance was the video recording of Els Van Doren’s death, as she had attached a camera to her helmet before her jump. The footage showed that Els Van Doren had tried frantically, first to pull the cord of her main parachute and then that of her reserve parachute. This ruled out suicide. Els Clottemans quickly came under the investigators’ scrutiny when the explosive love triangle came to light. Furthermore, one month after the incident, prior to her second statement to the police, she had attempted suicide by taking tablets. Clottemans had also had the opportunity, a week before the fatal jump, to sabotage the parachute of her rival and friend, Els Van Doren. Both women had spent the weekend at the lovers’ hideaway in Eindhoven. However, whilst Els Van Doren shared the bed with Marcel, Els Clottemans was forced to sleep on the sofa. The young woman, who was madly in love with Marcel, could not cope with this humiliation; prior to her crime, she had made anonymous threatening calls to her rival. Els Clottemans was charged with the murder of her rival, Els Van Doren. Her trial began on 24 September 2010 with the selection of the jury and ended on 20 October 2010 with a sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment. Throughout the trial, Els Clottemans had maintained her innocence but shown no remorse whatsoever. After 16 years in prison in Ghent, Els Clottemans was released on condition in October 2021. She must wear an electronic tag for monitoring and is not permitted to travel to the province of Antwerp, where the victim’s relatives live.
