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The Brabant Killers Attacks (1982–1985)

UNSOLVED1982Brabant province, Belgium3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
File:Monument slachtoffers bende van Nijvel.3.jpg
File:Monument slachtoffers bende van Nijvel.3.jpg — Credit: Jari Asselman · CC BY-SA 4.0

Between 1982 and 1985, an unidentified gang later known as the Brabant killers (French: Tueurs du Brabant; also called the Nijvel Gang, or Bende van Nijvel) carried out a series of armed robberies and shootings concentrated in Belgium's Brabant province. By the end of the spree, 28 people were dead and 22 more had been injured, making the case Belgium's most notorious unsolved crime. Investigators believed the gang's active core consisted of three men, nicknamed the Giant (a tall man thought to be the leader), the Killer (the group's main shooter), and the Old Man (a middle-aged driver); none of the three has ever been identified, and the case remains formally unsolved.

The violence began with a December 1981 burglary of a Gendarmerie weapons store in Etterbeek and escalated through 1982 and 1983 into armed robberies of grocery and supermarket stores, a weapons dealer, and a restaurant, in which shop staff, customers, a taxi driver, a restaurant caretaker who was tortured before being killed, and police officers were killed or wounded. Proceeds were often modest — several raids netted less than $35,000 — and in at least one robbery nothing at all was stolen even though the owner was killed. After a roughly two-year lull, the gang carried out its deadliest attacks: on 27 September 1985, two Delhaize supermarkets were robbed within about twenty minutes of each other in Braine-l'Alleud and Overijse, killing eight people combined. On 9 November 1985, a raid on a Delhaize supermarket in Aalst left eight more dead, including three members of one family — Gilbert Van de Steen, his wife Thérèse, and their daughter Rebecca — while their nine-year-old son, David, was critically wounded in the same attack but survived. No further attacks have been attributed to the gang after 1985.

The investigation was hampered by lost physical evidence and rivalries among the Belgian agencies involved. A separate group of suspects charged early in the case had those charges dismissed after it emerged that an exculpatory forensic ballistics report had been withheld from the defense. Decades later, allegations surfaced that retired detectives who had led the original inquiry manipulated evidence connected to a 1986 discovery of weapons in a canal outside Brussels; the retired officers who had ordered that search were formally questioned in 2019.

Because nearby gendarme patrols did not intervene during the November 1985 Aalst robbery, media coverage and some authors have linked the attacks to NATO's clandestine stay-behind network in Belgium and to a since-disbanded far-right paramilitary group, theorizing a political motive behind the killings. An official parliamentary inquiry, however, found no substantive evidence that the stay-behind network was involved in the killings or had been infiltrated by criminal groups, and no such connection has been officially established.

Belgian authorities formally closed the investigation on 28 June 2024. In January 2025, prosecutors announced that a new lead had emerged and confirmed the criminal probe remained active; a court in Mons separately approved a request to hear from two additional witnesses who were present at the 1985 Aalst attack. The identities of the Brabant killers remain unknown.

Key facts

Victims
Thérèse Van de Steen, Gilbert Van de Steen, Rebecca Van de Steen, David Van de Steen
Date
1982
Location
Brabant province, Belgium
Case status
unsolved

Case timeline

  1. 1981-12-31

    Burglary at a Gendarmerie barracks in Etterbeek; automatic weapons, ammunition, and a car were stolen.

  2. 1982-08-14

    Armed robbery of a grocery store in Maubeuge, France; two French police officers were shot and seriously wounded.

  3. 1982-09-30

    Armed robbery of a weapons dealer in Wavre, Belgium; fifteen firearms were stolen and a police officer was killed at the scene, with two others shot and seriously wounded later.

  4. 1982-12-23

    Armed robbery of a restaurant in Beersel, Belgium; the caretaker was tortured and killed.

  5. 1983-01-09

    Robbery and murder of a taxi driver in Brussels, Belgium.

  6. 1983-03-03

    Armed robbery and murder at a supermarket in Halle, Belgium; one staff member was killed.

  7. 1983-09-10

    Armed robbery and murder at a textile factory in Temse, Belgium; a worker was killed and his wife severely wounded.

  8. 1983-09-17

    A couple was murdered at a self-service gas station they had stopped at; two responding gendarmes were shot, one fatally.

  9. 1983-10-02

    Armed robbery of a restaurant in Ohain, Belgium; nothing was stolen but the owner was killed.

  10. 1983-10-07

    Armed robbery of a supermarket in Beersel, Belgium; one customer was killed.

  11. 1983-12-01

    Armed robbery of a shop in Anderlues, Belgium; the shop's owner and his wife were killed.

  12. 1985-09-27

    Armed robbery at the Delhaize supermarket in Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium; three people were killed and two wounded.

  13. 1985-09-27

    Armed robbery at the Delhaize supermarket in Overijse, Belgium, roughly twenty minutes after the Braine-l'Alleud attack; five people were killed and one wounded.

  14. 1985-11-09

    Armed robbery at the Delhaize supermarket in Aalst, Belgium; eight people were killed, including Gilbert, Thérèse, and Rebecca Van de Steen, and their son David was critically wounded but survived.

  15. 1986-11

    Weapons and other items linked to the gang's crimes were discovered in a canal outside Brussels.

  16. 2019

    Retired officers who had ordered the 1986 canal search were officially questioned on suspicion of manipulating the investigation.

  17. 2024-06-28

    The investigation into the case was officially closed.

  18. 2025-01-28

    Federal prosecutors announced that a new lead had emerged and confirmed the criminal probe remained ongoing.

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • Thérèse Van de Steen

    VICTIM

    Killed with her husband and daughter during the 9 November 1985 armed robbery at the Delhaize supermarket in Aalst.

  • Gilbert Van de Steen

    VICTIM

    Killed with his wife and daughter during the 9 November 1985 armed robbery at the Delhaize supermarket in Aalst.

  • Rebecca Van de Steen

    VICTIM

    Killed with her parents during the 9 November 1985 armed robbery at the Delhaize supermarket in Aalst.

  • David Van de Steen

    VICTIM

    Nine years old at the time; critically wounded in the same 9 November 1985 attack that killed his parents and sister. He survived and was raised by his grandparents.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Archival records

  • File:Monument slachtoffers bende van Nijvel.3.jpg

    archival location

    File:Monument slachtoffers bende van Nijvel.3.jpg

    Credit: Jari Asselman · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Places

Brabant province, Belgium

50.8503, 4.3517

View on the map

Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Between 1982 and 1985, an unidentified gang known as the Brabant killers carried out a series of armed robberies and shootings across Belgium's Brabant province, killing 28 people and injuring 22 in one of the country's most notorious unsolved crime sprees. Despite decades of investigation, including a 2024 closure and a 2025 reopening around a new lead, the gang's members have never been identified.
Where did the crime happen?
Brabant province, Belgium.
What is the current status of the case?
Status: unsolved.
More cases in Belgium

Sources

  1. ENCYCLOPEDICBrabant killersWikipedia · 2026-07-12
  2. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — The GuardianThe Guardian · 2026-07-12
  3. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — ReutersReuters · 2026-07-12

Record history

First published
JUL 13, 2026