Overview
- Marc Dutroux kidnapped, raped and tortured children in a makeshift dungeon, where eight-year-olds Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo later died of starvation after Michelle Martin failed to feed them.
- Previously sentenced in 1989 to 13 years and six months for five sexual assaults, he was released after roughly three years for good behaviour.
- In 1996 he abducted 12-year-old Sabine Dardenne and 14-year-old Laëtitia Delhez; police arrested Dutroux on August 13, 1996, and rescued both girls.
- Investigators recovered victims’ remains and a large cache of child pornography at properties linked to Dutroux across Belgium.
- Accomplices including Michelle Martin, Michel Lelièvre and Michel Nihoul were prosecuted, and reporting states Dutroux is serving a life sentence, with one article citing 2004 and another incorrectly listing 2024 as the sentencing year.