Bio

Camille-Joseph van Laethem was born on December 23, 1901. He lived in the village of Thy-le-Château in the municipality of Walcourt, Belgium. The other villagers called him "Canada," which meant "Potato" in the local dialect.

People in Thy-le-Château knew him as a violent and quarrelsome troublemaker. He had more than one run-in with the police, but those encounters did not lead to lasting consequences.

He worked as a farm laborer in earlier years. Later he lived on a disability pension and did odd jobs to get by. When his pension was cut off after other income was discovered, he blamed his neighbors for informing the authorities.

He had disputes with neighbors over small matters, including pigeons. He also took actions against a neighbor, Aimable Walbrecht, by spreading tar on tobacco plants in the garden and pouring a bucketful into the cellar. He accused neighbors of causing his loss of pension.

Murder Story

Camille-Joseph van Laethem carried out the Thy-le-Château massacre on November 5, 1953, in the village of Thy-le-Château in the municipality of Walcourt, Belgium. Six people died in that event.

Van Laethem was born on December 23, 1901. Villagers called him "Canada," which means "Potato" in the local dialect. He was known in Thy-le-Château as a violent and quarrelsome troublemaker who had more than one run-in with the police.

He had been a farm laborer and later lived on a disability pension while doing odd jobs. When his pension was cut off after his other income was discovered, he accused his neighbors of informing the authorities. He spread tar on tobacco plants in Aimable Walbrecht's garden and emptied a bucket in Walbrecht's cellar. He also had a dispute with neighbors over pigeons.

The exact sequence of events on the evening of November 4, 1953, is not fully known. Between about 7:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., van Laethem entered neighbors' houses in the "Versailles" district armed with a rifle and a knife. He shot the men in the head and stabbed the women in the neck.

He killed Aimable Walbrecht, age 53, and seriously wounded Mrs. Walbrecht. He shot Oscar Brousmiche in his kitchen and very seriously wounded Oscar's wife, Emilie Brousmiche. His last victims were Charles van der Beeken, age 70, and his wife Léonie, who were killed while playing cards. Van Laethem left his knife embedded in Mrs. van der Beeken's back.

After the attacks, he locked himself in a barn a few dozen meters from his home and shot himself in the mouth. The crime was discovered the next morning when acquaintances found the bodies. The two injured women were taken to the hospital and died shortly afterward.

List of victims:
- Oscar Brousmiche
- Emilie Brousmiche
- Charles van der Beeken, 70 years old
- Léonie van der Beeken- Aimable Walbrecht, 53 years old
- Mrs. Walbrecht