Willem van Eijk was a convicted Dutchserial killer known as "Het Beest van Harkstede". He was convicted twice for a total of five murders.
Youth
Willem van Eijk was born in 1941 in the small village of Korteraar, South Holland, then under the German occupation of the Netherlands. During his time at an elementary school in Ter Aar, he was an outcast and referred to as "Gekke Willempje", something he later used to justify his actions. During this time of extreme bullying, Willem started to collect morbid items, such as dead bugs and frogs. He soon gained notoriety in his home village for his cruelty towards animals; especially dogs, cats, and ducks. Still a loner when attending high school, Van Eijk committed petty crimes. During this time he started to dream about raping and killing women.
Victims
Cora Mantel - In 1971 he picked up the 15-year-old Cora Mantel from Uithoorn. Having missed her bus ride home after meeting with her boyfriend in Amsterdam, Van Eijk found her hitchhiking. He raped and strangled her with her own shawl, before dumping her body in a ditch near Uithoorn. Her body was found on 22 June 1971. Because on the morning of the murder she was to start her new job at a jewelry store in Aalsmeer, the jeweler was, for a short period of time, a suspect.
Aaltje van der Plaat - On 19 August 1974 the lifeless body of 43-year-old Aaltje van der Plaat was found near a road inside a cornfield. She had suffered multiple stab wounds, her belly was ripped open, and her left nipple was cut off. Willem van Eijk lived in a houseboat named De Vrijheid at the end of the road. Several witnesses had seen Van Eijk ride his moped on the evening the body was found, near the area where the body was found. The police arrested Van Eijk, and he immediately confessed to the murders of Cora and Aaltje.
In 1975, Van Eijk was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment and TBS. The details of the murders, as revealed during the trial, were so astonishing to the public that several judiciary guards vomited. Psychiatric reports explained that Van Eijk had severe childhood trauma as a result of bullying and rejection by women. During his therapy at the Van Mesdagkliniek, psychiatrists speculated that his deviant behavior was the result of brain damage sustained during his birth. In 1980, while still in remand, he married his penfriend Adri. In 1990 he was released and together they moved into a house in Harkstede. Psychiatrists believed that his relationship with Adri would prevent him from reoffending, but warned that subsequent female rejections could trigger a relapse. The relationship turned out to be a downward spiral for Van Eijk.
Antoanella Bertholda Fatol - In November 1993 in a ditch near the village Enumatil the corpse of a 23-year-old prostitute was found. It turned out to be Michelle Fatol. During sex Van Eijk strangled her with his bare hands.
Annelies Reinders - On 21 January 1995 the body of the 31-year-old prostitute Annelies Reinder was found in the Eemskanaal near Appingedam.
Between his release and his second arrest there were eight prostitutes, and several other young women murdered in and around the area of Van Eijk's residence. In 1997, Van Eijk was a suspect for the murder of Anne de Ruyter de Wildt, and in 2000 for the murder of Marianne Vaatstra; however, DNA tests proved his innocence in these cases. Several years later both murderers of these two women were caught.
Sasja Schenker - On 17 July 2001 the lifeless, naked body of the 34-year-old prostitute Sasja Schenker was found in the Slochterdiep near Harkstede. Her clothes were found several months later near Van Eijk's house. They were found to have been thrown into the canal in a plastic bag weighted with stones.
Because Schenker's clothes were found near Van Eijk's house, he became a prime suspect and on 12 November 2001, police arrested Van Eijk. He soon confessed to the murders of Michelle Fatol, Annelies Reinders, and Sasja Schenker. Police also suspected him of the murders of Shirley Hereijgers, Antoinette Bont, and Jolanda Meijer; however, Van Eijk did not confess to those, and there was no concrete evidence for his involvement. The ground around his house was excavated; however, there were no bodies found. As of 2013, Jolanda Meijer is still missing.
Possible victims
Between 1993 and 2001, several other bodies were found. In 1995, the torso of 24-year-old prostitute Antoinette Bont was found in the Winschoterdiep. Other body parts were later found in a sports bag. Two years later, in 1997, the body of 19-year-old prostitute Shirley Hereijgers was found. Around the same time, Jolanda Meijer, Hereijger's friend and colleague also disappeared. Several other men were suspected of these killings, but all turned out to be innocent. Willem van Eijk never confessed to killing these women, however, it is publicly believed he is responsible.
Trial and sentence
At the start of the trial, Van Eijk was represented by lawyer Willem Anker, much to the astonishment of the relatives of Shirley Hereijgers, as Willem Anker also represented them. When Van Eijk was officially declared a suspect in murdering Shirley, Willem Anker dropped his client. After going through a series of other lawyers, Van Eijk was sentenced, on 7 November 2002, to life imprisonment for the murder of the last three victims. Van Eijk appealed, but the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld the ruling. Van Eijk several times requested clemency, which in the Netherlands can only be given by the head of state, and all of the requests were denied.
