A secretary at Goodyear has allegedly been arrested on suspicion of murdering the wife of a top company executive in Brussels last month, in an attack Belgian media have claimed was the result of jealousy following an affair between the secretary and the executive.
The 61-year-old woman and wife of the Goodyear executive was initially reported to have been stabbed to death during a robbery in the district of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre on 17 March.
On Saturday, an investigating judge ordered the arrest of a 54-year-old woman. According to Belgian media reports, the woman detained worked as a secretary for the senior Goodyear executive.
Belgian newspaper Nieuwsblad alleged that investigators believe the woman was having an affair with her boss – and may have murdered her rival out of jealousy.
On Friday, investigators searched a villa in Steenokkerzeel near Brussels, Belgian newspaper De Standaard reported, where the suspect lives with her husband, who was left stunned by his wife’s arrest.
According to the details released by Belgian authorities last month, the top Goodyear executive was not at home at the time of the attack on his wife and found her lying on the floor when he arrived. She had reportedly been stabbed four times.
On Saturday Nieuwsblad reported that the man initially called his secretary in panic, and it was she who then alerted the emergency services.
At the scene of the crime, everything initially indicated that the woman had been killed during a robbery. Expensive watches and jewellery were missing from the flat. Surveillance camera footage also showed a masked person who had been in the neighbourhood hours before the crime. It remains unclear whether this individual has anything to do with the murder.
The Goodyear executive, who is originally from the US, was responsible for all branches of the tyre manufacturer in Europe – including the firm’s premises in Luxembourg – as well as Asia and Africa, from 2017 until recently.
(This article was originally published by Luxemburger Wort. Translation, editing and adaptation by John Monaghan)