Belgian police dig for possible child victims

Child rapist seen in videotapes

August 24, 1996
Web posted at: 9:50 p.m. EDT

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- Belgian police aided by dogs trained to find bodies excavated two sites on Friday in their search for evidence in an alleged child pornography network that may extend to other European countries.

Also Friday, investigators seized between 300 and 400 video cassettes showing a suspect in the disappearances of several young girls as he sexually abused children, Public Prosecutor Michel Bourlet said.

Bourlet confirmed media reports that convicted child rapist Marc Dutroux could be seen on some of the videos.

Dutroux, 38, was arrested August 15 after two girls, 12 and 14, were found alive but sexually abused, in his cellar. He later led police to the bodies of two 8-year-old girls buried in his garden on another property.

Dutroux admitted to kidnapping two other teen-agers, who remain missing. Investigators believe the two may have been sold into prostitution abroad.

"We started digging again today at Sars-La-Bouissiere and Marcinelle," said Maj. Jean-Marie Boudin, spokesman for the Belgian Gendarmerie's special missing children squad.

Marcinelle is a suburb of Charleroi, where the two kidnapped young girls were rescued from a makeshift dungeon. The bodies of the 8-year-olds were found buried at a house in Sars-La-Bouissiere.

CNN's Patricia Kelly describes the makeshift dungeon 1MB QuickTime movie

Both houses are owned by Dutroux, an unemployed father of three who is suspected of masterminding a child kidnapping and pornography operation.

Five other people have been arrested, including Dutroux's second wife, Michelle Martin, charged as an accomplice. The others have been charged with abduction and illegal imprisonment of children or are suspected of criminal association.

The hunt for kidnapped youngsters has now covered 11 houses, although the main focus has been on the one at Sars-La-Bouissiere in southern Belgium.

Officials involved?

The scandal prompted many Belgian politicians and campaigners to ask whether people in high positions had protected child sex traffickers.

"The fact that 300 to 400 videos have been found indicates this was not a family enterprise," Marie-France Botte, a prominent campaigner against pedophilia, said on television.

"It's clear that internationally -- and we put Belgium in there with other countries -- for sex trafficking in children to work ... offenders have to have protection. There must be political and financial support," Botte said.

Bourlet vowed, "All the persons that have been identified (on the videos) will be prosecuted." He gave no numbers or names.

Detectives visit other countries

Dutroux led police to the bodies of youngsters Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, who starved to death, after he was arrested following the rescue of Laetitia Delhez and Sabine Dardenne from his Charleroi house.

Dutroux admitted he abducted An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks, and the search for them has been extended to other countries because Dutroux paid frequent visits to the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Police said a Belgian police officer visited Bratislava to talk with Slovakian detectives about An and Eefje and other disappearances. He also planned to go to Prague.

At least 15 children have vanished in Belgium in the past six years. Seven have been found dead, six are still missing and two have been rescued.

The discovery of the bodies of Julie and Melissa triggered national outrage. Petitions being circulated in Belgium call for reinstatement of the death penalty and demand that those convicted for child sex offenses never be paroled from jail.

Dutroux, an unemployed electrician, was released from prison in 1992 after serving 3 years of a 13-year sentence for raping five girls. Bourlet described the suspect as "very intelligent ... very seductive."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• Missing kids: Belgian parents take action - August 21, 1996
• Belgian police target possible pedophile network - August 20, 1996
• Belgian police widen probe into child sex scandal - August 19, 1996

Related sites:

• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Child Quest International
• Missing Kids International

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