The murdered lord of the castle
On January 31, 2012, Elisabeth Gyselbrecht reported her 34-year-old husband Stijn Saelens missing after she found a pool of blood and a 9-millimeter cartridge at the entrance to Carpentier Castle in Wingene, where she lived with her husband and four children not far from the Belgian city of Bruges. It turned out that the blood did indeed come from her husband. The blood trail showed that he had been dragged from the house into the garden and loaded into a car. What had happened to the Belgian castle owner and why? Investigators quickly turned their attention to Stijn Saelens’ father-in-law, the respected doctor André Gyselbrecht, and his friend Pierre Serry, as André Gyselbrecht had been at loggerheads with Stijn for some time. The suspicion against the two grew stronger, which is why they were arrested. At the same time, three Chechens were arrested in Wallonia. They were believed to have been hired by André Gyselbrecht’s friend because André wanted his son-in-law dead. It was suspicious that they had a detailed map of the castle in their car. However, due to lack of evidence, the police had to release them all. Two weeks after the disappearance of Stijn Saelens, who worked as a real estate agent, his body was found in a well covered with logs in a wooded area of Maria-Aalter, where Pierre Serry owned a chalet. Serry had recently had the well dug by his cousin. This could not be a coincidence! The autopsy revealed that the 9-millimeter bullet had pierced Stijn’s right lung and that he had died of internal bleeding. But what was the motive for the contract killing? André Gyselbrecht and his wife had reported their son-in-law for sexually abusing their children in October 2011. However, the judicial authorities did not pursue these allegations because they were too vague. In addition, Stijn wanted to emigrate with his wife and children to Australia to join the Russian community “Ringing Cedars of Russia,” where he wanted to work as an organic farmer. André Gyselbrecht and his wife feared that their grandchildren would become victims of this alleged sect. In fact, André Gyselbrecht, who spent five years in pre-trial detention, confessed that he had ordered the murder of his son-in-law Stijn Saelens in order to protect his grandchildren from his sexual assaults. He was therefore sentenced to 21 years in prison in the second instance. The contract killing was arranged by his friend Pierre Serry, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison for this. The hitman Evert de Clercq also received 19 years and his accomplice Roy Larmit was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The case attracted a great deal of media attention and was dubbed the “castle murder” due to the wealthy Flemish origins of the victim and the main suspect.
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