Demolition of serial killer Marc Dutroux’s house gets underway in Sars-la-Buissière
Work to demolish a house owned by the serial killer Marc Dutroux has got under way in the Hainaut village of Sars-la-Buissière. Work to demolish the house has started more than 26 years after the bodies of Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo (both 8 years old) were found in its garden .
The Mayor of Lobbes, of which Sars-la-Buissièreiis a part, told the Francophone public broadcaster RTBF that “After talks with Julie and Mélissa’s parents we have started demolition work. We want to provide the site with the serenity that it merits”.
The house in Sars-la-Buissière is one of the houses that Marc Dutroux used as a base to carry out a catalogue of crime that shocked Belgium and the world in the 1990’s. After talks with the families of Mélissa Russo and Julie Lejeune it has been decided that no memorial plaque will be placed at the site once demolition work on the house has been completed.
On Monday, labourers started work to empty the house and get it ready for demolition. One the demolition work has been completed a lawn will be laid at the site.
The Francophone socialist Mayor of Lobbes Lucien Baudin told journalists "After more than 25 years the wish of many is being granted and the house is being demolished. It is the end of a sad and difficult chapiter for our region”.
Another house owned by Marc Dutroux in the Marcinelle district of Charleroi (Hainaut) was demolished last year. There a memorial garden will be laid to remember the serial killers’ victims.
Crimes that shocked Belgium
Marc Dutroux shocked Belgium in the 1990’s with the kidnap, false imprisonment and rape of 5 girls and 1 young woman: Julie Lejeune (8), Mélissa Russo (8), An Marchal (17), Eefje Lambrecks (19), Sabine Dardenne (12) and Laetitia Delhez (14). Four of his victims were murdered. Only Laetitia Delhez and Sabine Dardenne were rescued alive. Marc Dutroux was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004.