Johannes O.

Who was Johannes O.?

Johannes Franciscus Alphonsus Marinus Opdam was a Dutch murderer. Opdam was born in October 1916 in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies. In 1936, he moved to the Netherlands. There he studied medicine and married Arnolda van Eyl, a teacher's daughter.

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, 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 the 24th of September. Doctor Opdam claimed it was a brain tumor, but the colleague who performed the post-mortem disagreed and gave the cause of death as 'unknown'. Police were called to the case and a second examination of the body revealed Mrs. Opdam's body contained prussic acid. Johannes Opdam was arrested. During his trial, he at one point even accused his mother-in-law of committing the murder.

On June 8, 1954, Opdam was convicted to life in prison. In the prison in Leeuwarden Opdam continued his dirty affairs. There he 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 prussic acid 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.