ANDRAS PANDY

András Pándy (born June 1, 1927, Chop, Ukraine)

is a convicted Belgian serial killer of Hungarian origin. He is currently serving a life sentencefor the murder of his two wives and four children, after he was arrested when his daughter, partner in crime and former lover Ágnes confessed being involved in at least five of the murders. A former clergyman, he was dubbed "Father Bluebeard" by some of the Belgian press.

Disappearances

Pándy met his first wife, Ilona Sőrés, in 1957. In the wake of the communist era, they fled from Hungary to Belgium. A year later, daughter Ágnes was born; sons Dániel and Zoltán were born in 1961 and 1966, respectively. A year later, the couple divorced when Pándy accused Ilona of infidelity. She moved away from the house, taking her sons, but leaving her daughter behind, who soon became the victim of an incestuousrelationship with her father.

At the beginning of the 1970s, Pándy began courting other women through dating services, often giving them a false name and job description, using the motto "European Honeymoon" in the ads. By the end of the decade, he visited Hungary again, meeting his future second wife, Edit Fintor, a married woman with three children, Tünde, Tímea and Andrea. He seduced the woman, who, according to her then-husband, was effectively eloped by Pándy to Belgium.

Disappearances began in 1986: first, wife Edit, then her 13-year-old daughter Andrea - Pándy claimed to Edit's lover they moved to Germany. In 1988, his ex-wife Ilona and her sons disappeared - Pándy first claimed they moved to France, later claimed South America. Finally in 1990, after sending Ágnes to a vacation with his children, Tünde disappeared - Pándy later claimed that he threw her out of the house.

Ágnes's confession

Ágnes bottomed out in November 1997: after reporting her father in 1992 for sexual abuse, she turned herself in to the police, confessing the murders of the disappeared relatives. According to her, she was solely responsible for the murder of her mother Ilona, and took part in the murder of Dániel, Zoltán and Andrea. (She refused to mention Tünde's case.) The modus operandi presented by her was, in two cases, murder by a handgun, and head trauma caused by a heavy blunt object. The corpses were then dismembered, partly dissolved in acid in the basement, and partly taken to a local abattoir.

Tímea's escape

In 1984, Pándy began another incestuous relationship with his stepdaughter Tímea. Ágnes, in a fit of jealousy, tried to bludgeon Tímea to death like the others, but was startled. Tímea fled the house, and soon immigrated to Canada.

Arrest, trial and conviction

Pándy was arrested October 16, 1997 - a date coinciding with a demonstration for the victims of another Belgian serial killer, Marc Dutroux. The case got worldwide media coverage, especially after Pándy's deadpan reaction to his surroundings. Pándy was sentenced to life in prison. When Pándy turned 80, prison authorities began looking to put him in a retirement home.