Murder File

On 18 November 2006, 38-year-old Els crashed during a parachute jump. However, after investigation, this turns out not to be an accident, but pure sabotage. In Belgium, everyone sympathises with the mega-trial that follows four years later. A case about lovers, sabotage, lies and a lack of hard evidence.

Sandra van Raalten is found dead in one of the fitting rooms of boutique Manouk on the Westzijde in Zaandam on 30 November 1984. She is bound hand and foot with strips of curtain and her mouth is gagged with a handkerchief. The first suspect is Zaandam bicycle shop owner Rob van Zaane. He hangs out with Sandra a lot and has a penchant for SM and thus tying up. He is convicted and yet later acquitted when two other suspects come into the picture: Kemal and his friend Sukrija. They were washing their bloodied hands in buckets of water on the Zaanse dike. But where are these men really? It is a nerve-wracking trial surrounding the innocent bicycle mechanic, who is given a 12-year prison sentence because of his friendship with Sandra and his penchant for SM.

A woman is found dead on the floor in her Leiden kitchenette. The circumstances are unclear until X-rays are taken. Her head is found to contain a BIC biros. Did she fall with a pen in her hand or was she murdered? People assume the former, until a psychologist comes forward. Her son is said to have confessed to shooting the pen at his mother with a crossbow during a therapy session. He denies. Is it an accident or the perfect murder?

After Tjipke's sudden death in 2012, his family became suspicious. His wife Ada S. also had to suddenly bury her first husband Ruud eight years earlier. The children sound the alarm just as Ada is preparing the murder of her third husband. Ada is convicted and is still in prison.

What exactly happened on 7 December when 18-year-old model Ivana Smit fell from the 20th floor of a building in Malaysia? Was there an overdose involved? Did the American couple who last saw her have anything to do with her death? And perhaps the most important question: was the Dutch woman alive when she fell?

Tjeerd and Jessica are married on a prenuptial agreement: if they divorce, Jessica gets nothing. But if Tjeerd dies, she and the children get everything. One morning, Tjeerd is found dead in a meadow. After attending a festival with friends, he was lured to the meadow by his wife with the promise of having sex there. 'Unexpectedly taken away from us, after many years together, my dear husband' reads Jessica's obituary to Tjeerd. Soon after, she is arrested. According to the police, the main question is not whether she did it, but from whom she got help.

On the night of 10-11 February 2013, Kim Stoker (24) was gruesomely killed in her flat in the Emmermeer district of Emmen by her boyfriend Arjan. He had seen after a party how she had changed her status on Facebook to single. It earned her 30 stabbings. Two years later, Arjan is sentenced to 12 years in prison, not for murder but for manslaughter. He will be released on 8 February 2021. How do you cope with your daughter's death when her killer is back drinking beer in the pub?

The 23 year old Stephany is crying while she is being interrogated by the police. Stephany is being accused of helping getting rid of a body. The body suddenly appeared in the hallway while her husband Marius woke her op with tears in his eyes and hyperventilating. They were both in bed for about two hours, after a night of partying and drinking. Marius had just heard stumbling in the kitchen and he went downstairs to see what was going on. Downstairs he saw a man he knew, just like everyone in his residence Beverwijk. It was 'Skipper', the happy wanderer who was always walking around town while dancing or jokily scaring people. Marius was mad because Skipper was in their house so he kicked him. This eventually escalated to a true nightmare.

The experts investigate the case of Melissa Ulrich. On May 23rd 2006 the 19 year old Melissa dies in a gruesome way in a fire in her apartment in Arhem. The fire appears to be lit by someone else so the Police is hunting down the killer. Who was able to tie up this defenseless woman and pour her over with Spiritus? Why is her boyfriend one of the suspects for a while and which person from is group of friends appears to know more about this crime? What happend on that Tuesday morning?