Police will today stage a reconstruction of how a forklift driver killed his two daughters as revenge on his ex-wife for divorcing him over his violent behaviour.
Accused Chris Vanhaverbeke, 44, searched online for ways to strangle his daughters, Maud, 8, and Oan, 5, before writing a grim confession to his ex Astrid.
Police in Belgium seized the father after finding the bodies of the sisters at his home in Waardamme, Oostkamp, West Flanders, Belgium, on 16th November.
Details of a letter he wrote were made public as it was revealed a reconstruction of the double murder is due to take place later today (Dec 19) as police put together the events that led to the shocking double killing.
Vanhaverbeke had collected his daughters from school and taken them home, where he strangled them before writing a letter to his estranged wife and in-laws in which he said he was acting to get revenge.
In the horrific note, only found when he was already in police custody, he revealed that he intended to vanish after the killing.
Sickeningly, he reportedly also posted a photo of himself with his daughters along with a message announcing his act on Facebook.
The message ended with: “I’m sorry.”
Vanhaverbeke suffocated both children before placing the sisters’ bodies in their beds and then tried to commit suicide by driving into a street pole.
His estranged wife, worried when he had not returned the children as promised, tried calling him several times.
When he eventually answered one of her calls, he told her: “It’s too late. They’re dead. You’re not going to see them again.”
Astrid immediately called police, who rushed to the couple’s former home, where they found the body of one of the girls.
They found the second girl’s body in the next-door guesthouse owned by the former couple.
Vanhaverbeke and his car were nowhere to be seen, but following a search, he was found driving on the motorway from Ostend towards Bruges.
When police turned on their lights, Vanhaverbeke accelerated, swerved off the road, and crashed, suffering minor injuries. He was arrested.
Police believe the crime was premeditated, as on Tuesday (15th November), he had told his colleagues at the steel company where he worked as a forklift operator that it was his last day.
The lawyer for the mother of the two murdered girls, Patricia Scheirlynck, said: “The grief and pain that she and her family are now feeling is truly indescribable. What has been inflicted on them is inhuman. It was a perfectly ordinary divorce proceeding. It was not even contentious as he had accepted everything. My client never refused to give him contact with the children.”
She had however requested that his visitation rights be suspended for two weeks as a result of death threats he had made.
The mother had filed the initial complaint for violence in August followed by complaints about threats to her and their children in November.
Police discovered that in the days leading up to the killing, he had researched online the best ways to carry out a murder including looking up terms like “choking to death” and “family drama”.
The letter he wrote had been addressed to his in-laws where he knew his wife was staying with their daughters while the divorce was ongoing.
Vanhaverbeke was questioned by the investigating judge and his lawyer, Frederiek Wauters, said: “My client is very sorry.
“He realises what he has done and is a broken man. He is cooperating well with the investigation and has answered every question from the investigating judge. He went over the facts in minute detail.”
