Two cold-case murder investigations from the 1990s were revived on Tuesday after a 55-year-old Flemish man already jailed for murder spontaneously confessed to them before a judge.
The man, referred to as Stephaan DL, has been serving time for the 1992 murder of Ariane Mazijn, a woman who lived in the apartment building where DL worked as a window-cleaner, according to De Morgen.
Mazijn was found strangled in her Antwerp apartment with several knife wounds on her chest. Her murder case remained unsolved for years, but DL, who had initially denied any involvement in it, ultimately confessed to it when authorities were able to make a DNA match after he was arrested for theft in 2017.
On Tuesday the convict requested to be brought before a judge, to whom he confessed he was responsible for two additional murders in the 1990s.
DL, who had previously made use of his right to remain silent, said he had killed a 28-year-old woman in the town of Ranst in 1993, and, a year later, a 46-year-old woman in Antwerp a year later.
The identities of the man's victims were not made known, but the public prosecutor's office will include this information in the judicial investigation into the women's murders.
During his hearing, DL also confirmed authorities' suspicions that he was responsible for the murder of Eve Poppe, a widely reported-on cold case from 1992, which was reopened this spring after DNA evidence was obtained.
Like Mazijn, Pope was found dead in her Antwerp home, strangled and with knife wounds across the chest.
DL's lawyers confirmed his client's confessions to Flemish media, and said they would refrain from commenting further out of respect for the affected and in order for the investigations to continue as smoothly as possible.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
