Belgian police finds out a mother-of-three has been missing for 14 years

The Belgian police recently discovered the disappearance of a young mother in the Antwerp region who had not been seen since 2010. No one had ever contacted the authorities about her disappearance, not even her partner.

Missing mother Belgium investigation
© Police fédérale / X
Missing mother Belgium investigation

The Belgian police reported the disappearance of a mother on Saturday 26 January 2025, but one piece of information stands out: the woman disappeared 14 years ago, but her wanted poster has only just been shared. The reason why is simple: nobody ever alerted the authorities, not even her partner.

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Heidi de Schepper, who was 26 in 2010 and a mother of three from the Antwerp region, vanished overnight, never to be seen again.

Heidi suddenly disappeared overnight

Kristof Aerts, a spokesperson for the Antwerp public prosecutor's office, explained:

She seems to be a loving and involved mother, which makes her sudden disappearance very strange.

According to their information, Heidi lived with her partner and their three children, who were all young at the time.

However, no alarm was raised, either by her partner or her family. According to the sources gathered, the young woman had ‘isolated herself from her family’ and had very few, if any, close friends in her community. Her partner's only statements to the investigators were that ‘Heidi had suddenly disappeared overnight’, and that ‘all her belongings had disappeared too’.

This worrying silence raises a number of questions. Why didn't he react sooner? Why didn't he report Heidi's disappearance? The absence of an immediate alert has fueled confusion and doubt about the circumstances of her disappearance.

Those around him also seem to have been taken by surprise, as if no one had noticed the young woman's absence apart from her partner. It's a mystery that remains unsolved.

Police alerted by a friend

According to the latest information, the police were alerted to this case last year by a friend of the young woman, who was trying to get back in touch with her. But when he realised that there was no way of getting in touch with her, he became concerned. Kristof Aerts declared:

Has she started a new life somewhere else? Is this an act of desperation? Or is it criminal? We are not ruling out any option at this stage.

Today, the authorities are unveiling this story in the hope of gathering as many leads as possible. By sharing this case publicly, they are hoping, among other things, that someone, a witness, or even a family member of one of Heidi's friends, will be able to provide information crucial to solving this mystery. The police are convinced that the key to making progress in the investigation may lie in the testimonies of family members and local residents.

A free emergency number, 0800.30.300, and an online form available on the federal police website have been set up in order to make the testimonies necessary for the investigation more widely available.

The question that remains unanswered is whether Heidi wanted to disappear voluntarily or whether she was the victim of a criminal act. For the moment, investigators are not ruling out any hypothesis and are continuing to gather information. The disappearance of this young mother raises many questions, but the authorities remain determined to solve this mystery and bring justice to Heidi de Schepper and her three children, who are still waiting for answers about what happened to her.

This article has been translated from Oh!MyMag FR.

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Sources used:

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