Belgium - Balen - Heidi De Schepper - 26yo- missing since 2010, only found out she’s missing in 2024

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Did partner of murdered Heidi De Schepper make confessions? Why Nick M. (55) finds himself in tight spots

Last week, both murder suspects were expected back before the Turnhout courtroom for their further arrest. Nick Geys' arrest was extended. His lawyer had not asked for release either. She considered that inappropriate as long as all investigative acts are not completed.

The 55-year-old Nick M. from Antwerp's Balen, the then partner of Heidi De Schepper, who has been missing since 2010, will know today whether he will have to stay longer in prison for murder. The Turnhout chamber would normally have made its decision last week, but Nick M.'s lawyer asked for a week's postponement. Does that have to do with developments in the investigation? Be that as it may, the statements of the two other suspects in the Heidi case do not speak in favor of Nick M.

The case against Nick M. was not heard last week. At the request of his lawyer, his case was postponed by one week to today. Hilary Rombouts (lawyer) would not say why she asked for a postponement. Possibly it has to do with developments in the investigation, and Hilary Rombouts wanted to study those developments before arguing the case before the chambers. More clarity on that may come today.

During the first weeks after his arrest, Nick M. has already denied that he ordered Nick Geys to kill Heidi. Will he continue to do so? Or has he made confessions in the meantime? That will possibly be revealed today.

By the statements of Nick Geys and Michael D., Nick M. finds himself in tight straits by all accounts. According to sources, Geys stated that he committed the murder because he was “threatened” by Nick M. If he did not kill Heidi, he would be in “big trouble,” it said. In short, he allowed himself to be intimidated by Nick M. and did not stand firm. In addition, Michael D. also points to Nick M. as the one who helped bury Heidi's body. D. admits that he witnessed how her body was dumped. He was there when Geys and M. drove to the sandy area near the Poeierstraat in Balen. Once there, D. saw that a pit had been dug. He states that he thought it was to dump garbage, until he saw the two men throw Heidi's body into the pit.

Heeft partner van vermoorde Heidi De Schepper bekentenissen afgelegd? Waarom Nick M. (55) zich in nauwe schoentjes bevindt
 
‘Our dogs find bodies, even after 50 years": our court reporter out with volunteers searching for Heidi De Schepper

‘We feel resentment from the police, but that doesn't stop us.’ A group of volunteers are now searching for the murdered Heidi De Schepper themselves with their own trained sniffer dogs. They are exploring the area where the court previously searched fruitlessly with diggers. Court reporter Faroek Özgünes went exclusively along for the ride. ‘If she is buried here, we will definitely find her,’ he said.

It is noon on Sunday. At the end of Poeierstraat, a business park in Balen, a procession of cars is parked, tailgate up. They are volunteers from Search And Rescue Dog Association Luky, a non-profit organisation that, according to its own mission statement, is ‘ready 24/7 to search plains, forests and even water for missing persons’. Inside the open case, a metal cage is visible, containing a patiently waiting dog. The animals are specially trained to find the body odour of both living and deceased persons.

Seven volunteers and five search dogs descended on Balen to help search for Heidi De Schepper (26). The young mother of two young children disappeared without a trace in the summer of 2010. No one seemed to have missed her either.

Since an investigative report in FAROEK in January this year and subsequent tips, the disappearance case has become a murder case. Three men were arrested on 28 February 2025, two of them are still in jail: her then partner Nick M. and his friend Nick G. who confessed to Heidi's murder. The third man helped hide the young woman's body.

Curious eyes
It was at the behest of the latter two suspects that the court dug for days in the woods on Poeierstraat in Balen. The search has been over for several weeks, with no results. Screens to keep prying eyes away have since disappeared. The site, an open plain surrounded by trees and low bushes, is again freely accessible and looks tidy. To the side, a number of tree stumps lie on top of each other. Around the trees, the earth is visibly churned up. Nothing suggests that this is a possible crime scene.

‘This is an ideal area to search,’ said Patrick De C*ck, president and inspirer of the SARDA-Luky tracker dog association. ‘It is manageable and not incredibly large. Our animals are trained to search for bodies. If Heidi De Schepper is buried here, our dogs will find her, that's for sure,’ De C*ck insists.

Resentment at police
The non-profit organisation was founded in 2017 and had an eventful start, says De C*ck. ‘In August of that year, Andy Peetermans disappeared in Heers. A police search yielded nothing. At the family's request, a few days later we went on a search with our two dogs Luna and Kyryah (hence the abbreviation LUKY) and after ten minutes we had already found him in a place that had already been searched. That led to resentment from the police at the time and they are present to this day whenever we offer our help anywhere.’

’ If someone asks me to search some places, we do it,’ Patrick says. ‘Are we giving those people hope? Absolutely not. We are just going to do our best. We spent four years actively searching for the missing Elke Wevers, as far away as France. I am also working on a number of cases, such as Paolo Guarragi (65) from Genk who has been missing for 10 years. There is Willeke Dost in IJmuiden in the Netherlands. There, I am stuck with a private domain that I am not allowed to enter and therefore do not have permission to search. I recently did another search in Herselt in the disappearance case of Ilse Stockmans. We searched a number of cellars and gardens there. These are cases I spend 20 to 40 hours a week on. Because searching someone is almost 80% preparation and 20% the dog's work. But you have to train your dog so much and work with it every day to possibly get results.’

Corpse smell comes up
‘Many people think a dog walks through the forest and can pick up a scent somewhere, but that's not how it works,’ De C*ck explains. ‘I have several augers that I use to make holes in the ground, 60 to 70 cm deep. If there is a body there, the body smell comes up. The dogs are trained to recognise the smell of human remains. Even after 50 years.’

‘The smaller the search area, the better, says Patrick. ‘The area they have already excavated, I leave aside. There they may have gone down to a depth of a metre. I have already studied some old maps and want to concentrate on a strip of about 400 square metres where the road stops.’

One by one, the dogs make a round of the site with their handler. They sniff without stopping along the trees, among the bushes and through the tall grass. No reaction, but the handlers didn't expect that either in this first exploration.

Buzz
One of the volunteers, Behzad (63), walks the grounds with a kind of long ruler. With each swing, a hum is heard. ‘That's a magnetometer,’ explains Behzad (63). ‘The device reacts to metal. It is useful if the person you are looking for is also wearing something made of metal. But we are not sure about that.’ No one asked them to come to Balen. ‘We do this of our own accord,’ volunteer Monique (62) says.

‘I have a Malinois Shepherd with whom I have been training to track for about six years. I noticed that Benji liked tracking and that's how I joined the club. For the dog, it's a good mental challenge. After a training session, the dog is usually exhausted, more so than after a three-hour walk.’

Removing uncertainty
‘For myself, too, it is nice because you are always in nature,’ Monique says. Being able to find someone who is missing is a great challenge. If you can help the family with it, it gives satisfaction. Removing uncertainty is very important. That's what you do it for.’

Betsy (63) got to know the association last December during a walk in Opgrimbie through another member Sandy (52) who trains there with her Australian shepherd Snowy. ‘This is my first search,’ she says. After all, there is nothing better than helping to find people. If you can do your bit that way. It would be very exceptional if we find Heidi. Then the family can say goodbye.’

What is striking, the age of the volunteers is around 60. ‘It is difficult to find young people still willing to put all their free time into searches and training with their dogs,’ Patrick explains. ‘Our dogs are also getting older, the oldest are 12, 10, 8 and 7 years old. We do have two young animals joining us now.’

Giving something back
Evi (35) from Hoeselt is the youngest of the volunteers and stands out a bit: ‘I have not been a member of the association for very long. I work at a vet and some members are patients there. They told me about this and I was immediately interested. I like being able to give something back with the dogs. My dog Gaston is a basset fauve de Bretagne, actually more of a hunting dog, that goes out. It's only a five-month-old puppy, it still needs a lot of work, but I'm definitely going to come back.’

The trip to Balen was mainly for training and to explore the domain. This Sunday, they will return to Poeierstraat to thoroughly tackle the grounds.

“Onze honden vinden lichamen, zelfs na 50 jaar”: onze gerechtsreporter op stap met vrijwilligers die zoeken naar Heidi De Schepper
 
Carovb5 said:
Sadly “Public Prosecution Service asks volunteers to wait with the search for Heidi De Schepper: “We want to let the planned search take place first”

They could work together instead of next to eachother.
Parket vraagt vrijwilligers te wachten met zoekactie naar Heidi De Schepper: “We willen eerst geplande zoekactie laten plaatsvinden”
Click to expand...
Interesting, especially this part:

‘In the course of next week, at the request of the investigating judge, another search of the premises will continue. That was planned earlier. If that yields nothing, the non-profit organisation is free to search the site itself. But we want the planned search to take place first.’

That could mean they have new leads from the court from the suspects currently still being held. In any case, let us hope they find her soon 🤞
 
anijs6 said:
Interesting, especially this part:

‘In the course of next week, at the request of the investigating judge, another search of the premises will continue. That was planned earlier. If that yields nothing, the non-profit organisation is free to search the site itself. But we want the planned search to take place first.’

That could mean they have new leads from the court from the suspects currently still being held. In any case, let us hope they find her soon 🤞
Click to expand...

Indeed, new information from the investigation, and they will be searching a spot they haven't searched before: source.
 
The new search for the body of the missing Heidi De Schepper has again yielded nothing. However, there was hope after a scanner indicated a new location in the industrial area in Balen, where the body could possibly lie.

The search came following the deployment of a defence scanner, the prosecutor's office said. Last week, it was used to examine mainly the paved parts of the search area.

This revealed 1 hot spot: a driveway of a company on the Poeierstraat in Balen. The scanner showed that there was something under the driveway, but what, was not clear. But it turned out to be a false alarm.

Nieuwe zoektocht naar vermiste Heidi De Schepper levert opnieuw niets op
 
Police distribute search notice in Heidi De Schepper case: detectives request info on digging in Balen

As part of the search for the body of murdered Heidi De Schepper, police have circulated a search notice. The detectives are specifically asking for information about digging works or other alterations on the industrial estate in the Poeierstraat in Balen, since 2010.
[...]
Police are now looking for people who know about digging or other alterations at the site, since 2010. ‘If you have any knowledge of this and did not report it to the police because you thought it was not important, the investigators are asking you to still do so,’ it sounds. ‘Every little detail could be important in the search for the body.’

Do you have more information about this case? You can reach the police via the online form or by calling the freephone number 0800/30.300.

Politie verspreidt opsporingsbericht in zaak-Heidi De Schepper: speurders vragen info over graafwerken in Balen
 
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