Johannes Franciscus Alphonsus Marinus (John) Opdam (1916-1983) was a Dutch

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

er.

Early life

Opdam was born in October 1916 in

Surabaya Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

. In 1936, he moved to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. There he studied medicine and married Arnolda van Eyl, a teacher's daughter.

First murder

During his wife's vacation in 1951, Opdam had an affair with the couple's maid, Nellie. Mrs. Opdam found out, but being a devoted

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, there was never any question of a divorce. Instead, Nellie was sacked. This did not stop Opdam from continuing his affair with the girl. In 1952, Mrs. Opdam's health declined steadily until she died on 24 September. Doctor Opdam claimed it was a

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

, but the colleague who performed the

post-mortem An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death ...

disagreed and gave the cause of death as 'unknown'.

Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

were called to the case and a second examination of the body revealed Mrs. Opdam's body contained

prussic acid Hydrogen cyanide (formerly known as prussic acid) is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structural formula . It is a highly toxic and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an industrial s ...

. Johannes Opdam was arrested. During his trial, he at one point even accused his mother-in-law of committing the murder.

Prison, second murder

On 8 June 1954 Opdam was sentenced to life in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

. In the prison in

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

Opdam met Arie Lodder, who was also convicted for killing his wife. They agreed upon writing notes confessing each other's murders, to be used when one of them would die. In February 1958, Arie Lodder was found dead in his cell, which was next to that of Doctor Opdam's. Lodder too had been poisoned with

and on his body a note was found that he had taken a medicine Doctor Opdam had given him. In the meanwhile, both Doctor Opdam and the prison director had received a letter from Lodder, claiming that it was Lodder who had killed Mrs. Opdam. Opdam had obtained the chemicals to poison Lodder from his cousin-in-law. It is also possible that Lodder's parents had the poison delivered to the prison in Leeuwarden, thinking it was a medicine for their son. The letters and the trick did not set Opdam free, however. On the contrary, in 1961, he was again sentenceded to life in prison, this time for the murder of Arie Lodder. He remains the only person in Dutch judicial history to have been sentenced twice to life in prison for two different murders.

References

*J.H.H. Gaute and Robin Odell, ''The New Murderer's Who's Who'', 1996, Harrap Books, London *Hans van Straaten, ''Moordenaarswerk'', 1990, Amsterdam (''Dutch'') *Lennaert Nijgh, ''Moord & doodslag'', 1990, Schoorl (''Dutch'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Opdam, Johannes 20th-century Dutch criminals 1916 births 1983 deaths 20th-century murderers People from Surabaya Dutch people convicted of murder 20th-century Dutch physicians People convicted of murder by the Netherlands Poisoners Dutch prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the Netherlands Uxoricides Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies