The court has found Ilonka B. guilty of the murder of her partner Willem. This happened on Tuesday, March 26. The 57-year-old woman will be behind bars for 18 years – about 4 years longer than the public prosecutor demanded against B at the beginning of March.
This has to do, among other things, with the fact that it is a ‘very serious life crime’, the judge said while pronouncing the sentence. Ilonka B., who has been declared fully accountable, was not present in the court in Arnhem during the ruling. Willem’s family does. They responded ‘visibly relieved and emotional’ to the punishment, the report said The Gelderlander.
William’s disappearance
But what exactly happened between Ilonka and Willem? From September 16, 2022, Ilonka’s partner Willem disappeared without a trace. His family and friends didn’t hear from him and started to worry. Ilonka B. was also surprised, as she pretended. According to her, Willem got into a car with a Belgian license plate and disappeared into the northern sun. However, his family had serious doubts about Ilonka’s story. After all, Willem had left important things behind. Think of a driver’s license, ID card, telephone.
Yet Ilonka stuck to her story. She had even told the neighbors that she ‘missed him so much’. However, this did not stop her from going to a terrace here and there in the months after Willem’s disappearance. As if nothing had happened.
A gruesome discovery
The shock was even greater when the police raided Ilonka’s home on May 23, 2023. The reason was said to be a terrible stench in the area. The neighbors even suffered from a real fly plague. Once inside Ilonka’s home, officers found the source of that odor: Willem’s body. His remains were found in the crawl space of the home. It turned out that he had died as a result of brutal violence.
In the period that followed, it became clear that Willem was killed with an ax. He was hit on the head several times with an axe, which was purchased by Ilonka a week before the gruesome act.
He was gone for a while, she said. Got into someone’s car, she said. And he would come back again. Ilonka B. from Elst did not seem to be very worried after her partner Willem suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth. Local residents saw her happily walking through the village and sitting on terraces. In the meantime, it started to smell ominously under her home. And now, months after the mysterious disappearance, we know why.
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Willem’s corpse lay in the crawl space of his ‘love’ Ilonka B for months.
Cold-blooded murder
Ilonka stated during the criminal case that she was ‘systematically’ raped by Willem. Also on the morning of September 16, 2022. During the alleged violence, she allegedly felt something hard – the ax – under Willem’s pillow, and grabbed it and used it. But all the evidence in the case points elsewhere, to a cold-blooded, premeditated murder. She killed him and destroyed evidence.
The court also blames Ilonka B. for hiding the body in the crawl space after the murder and ‘normally’ living her life. For months, that is.
It remains to be seen whether B. will appeal against the ruling. She has 2 weeks to make that decision.
