A former bodybuilder will face trial in Bruges on Friday for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, her grandparents and a photographer, Het Laatste Nieuws reported.
The accused Alexander Dean has been in prison since 2017 after a 24-hour manhunt following the discovery of the bodies.
What happened
Flashback to 22 July 2017, and the former bodybuilder posted videos online talking about how he wanted to end his life, hoping it would bring his former girlfriend, 19-year-old Maïlys Descamps, back to him.
Three days later, Descamps recorded a video on her phone showing her hiding in the bushes of her mother's house near Gistel, West Flanders, waiting for her grandparents Gery Cappon and Marie-José Vanleene. Descamps had called her mother, who was on holiday at the time, saying that she was afraid that Dean was inside their house.
Her mother called Descamps' father to check the house, as she had little faith in the police after failing to do anything about Dean previously harassing Descamps and threatening to kill her.
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Maïlys' video shows her grandparents arriving. She had decided to film as much as she could to make people believe her story. She believed Dean had broken into the house as the backdoor was open. As she walks through the door she was grabbed by Dean.
The footage went blank but 13 minutes and 23 seconds of sound was recorded. In it, Gery can be heard repeatedly asking Dean to leave his granddaughter alone. ''Maïlys is my granddaughter and my blood. There must be no tragedy," the grandfather implored.
''I'm doing it! I did it yesterday and I'll do it again today," came Dean's reply (referring to the murder of Ghent photographer Jeroen Verstraete a few hours earlier).
Let's talk
Dean forced his ex and her grandparents to sit and talk around a table. During the conversation, the phone rang several times as Descamps' mother called. Dean answered that he had come to talk.
A neighbour called by Descamps' mum banged the door to check that everything was okay. Dean slammed the door, after which the neighbour fled and called the police.
At 21:33, two police patrols arrived and discovered the bodies. Maïlys Descamps was sitting in a chair at the living room table. Her head was tilted backwards, her mouth and eyes were open and there was a large bloodstain near her heart.
Gery Cappon lay on his stomach on the left. On the right, Marie-José Vanleene and between them was a large bloodstain. The three were announced dead by a doctor.
Verstraete as a hostage
The ensuing manhunt for Dean was intensified after establishing a link between Maïlys Descamps and Jeroen Verstraete, a photographer in Ghent. He was found dead in an armchair in a dilapidated villa. His feet and hands were bound with black tape.
Dean claims that Verstraete had done a photo session with Descamps when she was 16 and had raped her. Descamps said they had only done a photoshoot and police found no evidence of any misconduct from other models that had worked with the photographer.
In a reconstruction, Dean showed that he waited for the photographer at home and attacked him with pepper spray before hitting him several times on the head with a baseball bat.
Verstraete managed to flee the building but Dean forced him back inside and made him undress to his underwear. Dean himself wore a balaclava. Responding to forceful interrogation from the bodybuilder, Verstraete denied hurting any girls.
The hostage situation would last for over eight hours. Dean says that they ate warmed-up salmon together and he "fed" Verstraete and let him drink with a straw. Dean claimed he took photos of Verstraete and "we both had to laugh about it."
Verstraete pleaded for his life, but by the early hours of the morning, Dean had had enough. Dean gave Verstraete an ultimatum because he wanted to catch his train. In Dean's account, they chose the least painful death and together opted for a stab in the heart. ''I let Jeroen smoke some cigars first and then let him drink whisky," Dean said.
No remorse
During the reconstruction, psychiatrists said that "no emotions were observed" and that Dean seemed at ease performing the reconstruction. On the contrary, Dean believes that he did a good deed, justifying his actions with ''Now no one can hurt Maïlys."
Dean is now in a high-security prison. According to a friend Dean had before the murders, the bodybuilder had said that he "felt like cutting a few people's throats" when he was depressed.
The trial will last two weeks.
