Obscura: A True Crime Podcast

In 1995, 8-year-olds Melissa Russo and Julie Lejeune disappeared while playing in their neighbourhood in the south of Belgium. The following month, 17-year-old An Marchal and her 19-year-old friend Eefje Lambrecks disappeared on the north coast of the country while on a holiday with friends. There had been no sign of any of the girls, and their anguished families were without any answers. In mid-1996, 12-year-old Sabine Dardenne and 14-year-old Laetitia Delhez were abducted a month apart. Thanks to observant members of the public, police arrested unemployed electrician Marc Dutroux, his wife Michelle, and their accomplice Michel Lelievre for the abduction of Sabine. Unbeknownst to the Belgian public, Marc had already been convicted of raping 5 young women in the 1980s and had served prison time - but had been released well before the end of his sentence. Free to wander the street and do as he pleased, Marc took up where he’d left off. But this time, he made sure that at least 4 of his victims wouldn’t live to