Gunter Uwents, a male, told investigators that he had never recovered from comments made about him in class by instructor Maria Verlinden when he was a little lad of seven years old in the early 1990s. Despite multiple Belgian police inquiries and hundreds of DNA samples, the murder of 59-year-old Verlinden at her house in Herentals in Antwerp in 2020 remained unsolved.
After thirty years, a man stabs an ex-teacher 101 times, claiming he felt humiliated by her
Gunter Uwents told investigators that he had never recovered from comments made about him in class by instructor Maria Verlinden when he was a little lad of seven years old in the early 1990s.Belgian prosecutors officially confirmed that a 37-year-old man who claimed he was humiliated by his primary school teacher confessed to stabbing her to death in 2020, three decades later.
Despite multiple Belgian police inquiries and hundreds of DNA samples, the murder of 59-year-old Verlinden at her house in Herentals in Antwerp in 2020 remained unsolved. Her husband had put out a public call for help witnesses.
She had been stabbed 101 times, according to reports. Her handbag, which was undisturbed on the dining table close to her corpse and contained cash, indicated that she had not been the victim of a violent robbery.
On November 20, 2020, sixteen months after the murder, Uwents acknowledged the crime to a friend, who contacted police, according to prosecutors. On Sunday, he was apprehended.
Uwents consented to have his DNA sample matched to traces discovered at the crime scene. He was bound to be picked up in the genetic-sampling dragnet as a former student.
According to the local prosecutor's office, Uwents gave "extensive justifications" for his actions, which amounted to a confession. He is alleged to have claimed that his instructor caused him to suffer in primary school.
"We'll see if the investigation corroborates what he has claimed," said one prosecutor. On Tuesday, Uwents appeared in front of a judge and was taken into jail on a murder charge. According to Belgian media, Uwents was a fervent Christian who aided the destitute.
