Richard Klinkhamer

Richard Klinkhamer (Dutch: [ˈriʃɑrt ˈklɪnkɦaːmər]; 15 March 1937 – January 2016) was a Dutch murderer, who went on to write a book about how he could have committed the crime.[1] In 2000, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter after killing his wife and hiding her body.[2]

Richard Klinkhamer
Born(1937-03-15)15 March 1937
Ermelo, Netherlands
DiedJanuary 2016 (aged 78)
OccupationWriter
LanguageDutch
SpouseHannelore (1948–1991; her death)

Murder conviction
The Klinkhamers' former home, circa 2008

In 1991 Klinkhamer's wife, Hannelore (née Godfrinon), went missing from their home in Hongerige Wolf. A year later Klinkhamer went to his publisher with the manuscript for Woensdag Gehaktdag, which detailed seven ways in which he could have killed his wife. The manuscript in question was rejected by his publisher, Willem Donker, as being "too gruesome". Klinkhamer became the primary suspect in the police investigation for the disappearance of Hannelore: he was questioned several times and detained once. Nevertheless, the investigation yielded no concrete evidence against the writer.

In 1997 Klinkhamer sold the residence he had shared with his wife and moved to Amsterdam. In 2000 the new occupants of Klinkhamer's former home started renovation on the garden, and work crews discovered the skeletal remains of his wife in clay beneath a concrete floor in the garden shed. Shortly thereafter he was arrested and charged with his wife's murder, to which he confessed.[2] In 2001 Klinkhamer was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released from prison in 2003 for good behavior. Klinkhamer died in January 2016, aged 78.[3]

Bibliography
  • (1983) Gehoorzaam als een hond ISBN 90-236-5535-4
  • (1983) De hotelrat en andere verhalen ISBN 90-236-5581-8
  • (1993) Losgeld ISBN 90-6100-390-3
  • (1996) Kruis of munt ISBN 90-5526-047-9
  • (2007) Woensdag Gehaktdag ISBN 978-90-77895-91-7

References
  1. "'Woensdag gehaktdag' niet bij AKO". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). 3 October 2007. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  2. Will Woodward, "The lying Dutchman: how a crime writer confessed to his wife's murder", The Guardian, 2000.
  3. "Schrijver en moordenaar van zijn vrouw Richard Klinkhamer (78) overleden" (in Dutch), de Volkskrant, 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.

Further reading
  • Meijer, Martijn (2004) Klinkhamer: een leven tussen woord en moord ISBN 90-6801-431-5


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