Piece Of Art

A subtle pivotal point in the case unfolding in Dendermonde hit soon after the authorities had searched through the little old Flemish streets and then took Kim de Gelder into custody. The revelation, not too surprisingly, came to me that the entire scenario had literally unfolded like a film. The events of the Joker killer who came calling at the "Fabeltjesland" (fairyland) crèche (daycare) took a twist into the phantasmagoria between reality and cinema at one specific temporal spot in the news. Perhaps you caught it too? The police arrested the assumed killer, who worn makeup like Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight (Gelder = Ledger). Then they placed him in custody in Bruges . What? A joker kills kids in a daycare nursery named "Fabeltjesland" and the authorities take the supposed baby killer to the "fairytale-like" city of Bruges. My stream-of-consciousness flowed roaring along much like the rumblings heard in the River Dender. Hairy wat...

Discussions - and broader attention from the Drudge Report to the English media - regarding the Dendermonde Joker killer - continued on January 26, 2009. There were new speculations of a possible 4th killing, more on the suspect's copycat behavior, and continued interest in the strange links between Heath Ledger's and Kim de Gelder's names. Belgian police now believe the man they are holding for the January 23rd daycare killings in Dendermonde may also have stabbed to death a 73-year-old woman who lived nearby on January 16th. "There are very clear indications of links between the murders in Dendermonde and the death of the elderly woman," said spokesman Christian du Four. No details were forthcoming, although the suspect is due in court on Tuesday. (Update: Kim de Gelder has admitted to the court that he killed three at the daycare, but says he was not the person who killed the elderly woman, earlier.) By Monday, the earlier links that had been being detailed f...

There is little denying now that the Dendermonde Joker is a Heath Ledger/Joker copycat from the film The Dark Knight . The 20-year-old accused daycare baby killer Kim de Gelder is a big fan of movies, but now sits on suicide watch. Concurrently, The Dark Knight re-opens around the world, beginning on Friday, January 23, 2009, on giant IMAX screens everywhere . De Gelder has been variously described by former workmates as a "film freak" and "movie addict." Joker copycats did show up before de Gelder, but the couple of incidents picked up by the media in 2008 were actually minor in nature. Talk of a Dark Knight curse has certainly been in the air from the beginning. The Dark Knight is dedicated to both the 28-year-old Heath Ledger, who died of an accidental overdose last January 22, 2008, and Conway Wickliffe, 41, a stunt supervisor who died in a freak accident in London while setting up a car crash. Other weird deaths have been associated with the film. On Sep...