Ronald Janssen

Belgian teacher Ronald Janssen was convicted in 2011 of three murders and received a life sentence. Further proceedings addressed additional violent sexual offenses.

The disappearance of Shana Appeltans

Ronald Janssen came under intense scrutiny after the 2010 disappearance and murder of 18-year-old Shana Appeltans and her boyfriend Kevin Paulus in Limburg. Investigators connected Janssen to the couple and began examining his history.

A third homicide

The inquiry also linked Janssen to the 2007 murder of Annick Van Uytsel, a young woman whose disappearance had remained unresolved. Evidence and Janssen’s statements transformed what had appeared to be separate cases into a serial investigation.

Conviction and sentence

In October 2011, a jury found Janssen guilty of three murders, kidnapping and related offenses. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. A later trial addressed additional rapes and violent crimes.

Why the case mattered in Belgium

The investigation revived public debate about how repeat sexual violence is tracked and how information from separate cases is connected. The case also received comparisons to earlier Belgian serial investigations, though each involved different facts and investigative failures.