Remains of Britta Cloetens found in Dinant

Twelve years after her disappearance, the remains of missing Britta Cloetens have been found, the Antwerp public prosecutor's office said on Wednesday. Tijl Teckmans was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his involvement in her death in 2015, but he refused to say where he had dumped her body.

Britta Cloetens, a 25-year-old Belgian woman, was last seen on 23 April 2011 on Boomsesteenweg in the Wilrijk district of Antwerp. The investigation showed that on that day she had visited a car dealership where Teckmans worked. He later testified that he made sexual advances towards her while showing her a car. When she did not respond, he hit her on the head with the car's boot door. Britta did not survive the blow. Teckmans testified that he put her body in the car and drove to the Ardennes, where he dumped her body. However, he could not or would not remember the exact location.

The police did all they could to locate Britta's body, but it was a hunter who found her in December 2022 in a forest near the Walloon town of Dinant. The Disaster Victim Identification unit investigated the site and found more remains. On Wednesday, DNA tests confirmed a match with Britta.

^{#FlandersNewsService | Rescue workers searching for the body of Britta Cloetens in the Belgian town of Puurs in 2012 © BELGA PHOTO CHRISTOPHE KETELS}