Gerrit Jan Heijn (14 February 1931,

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Za ...

– 9 September 1987) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

businessman, who was a top manager of

Ahold Koninklijke Ahold N.V. was a Dutch multinational retail company based in Zaandam, Netherlands. It merged with Belgium-based Delhaize Group in 2016 to form Ahold Delhaize. History Growth in the Netherlands The company started in 1887, when Al ...

until his death in 1987. His grandfather was Albert Heijn, who founded the family business, and his older brother was also named Albert Heijn, who was the founder of Ahold. His son, Ronald Jan Heijn, played for the Dutch national

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

team.

Death

On 9 September 1987, he was kidnapped near his

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

Bloemendaal Bloemendaal () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Bloemendaal is, together with Wassenaar, the wealthiest place in the Netherlands. In October 2015, after persistent problems with the local governa ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

by Ferdi Elsas. Although Elsas murdered him only a few hours after the kidnapping, he pretended that Heijn was still alive for a long time and asked for ransom. He sent the Heijn family Gerrit Jan's

glasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses (clear or tinted) mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms (known as temples or ...

and severed

little finger The little finger, or pinkie, also known as the baby finger, fifth digit, or pinky finger, is the most ulnar and smallest digit of the human hand, and next to the ring finger. Etymology The word "pinkie" is derived from the Dutch word ''pink ...

. Elsas was caught when he started spending banknotes of the ransom he received, of which the numbers had been recorded. He served a prison sentence and was freed in 2001. Elsas gave directions to Heijn's body, which was buried in the woods near

Renkum Renkum () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. The municipality had a population of in and has a land area of . Renkum is situated along the river Rhine. The municipality Renkum is part of the ''Stadsregio'' (English: City reg ...

. Gerrit Jan Heijn was

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

on 9 April 1988 in

Driehuis Driehuis is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Velsen, and lies about 8 km north of Haarlem. History It was first mentioned in 1680 as Drie Huysen, and means "three houses". Driehuizen dev ...

. Elsas was hit by an

excavator Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. They are a natural progression fro ...

on 3 August 2009 while riding his bicycle near the town of

Vorden Vorden is a former municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands, about 10 kilometres south-east of Zutphen. On 1 January 2005 the municipality merged with Hummelo en Keppel, Steenderen, Hengelo en Zelhem, to form the new municipality Bronck ...

, Gelderland and died in a hospital at

Zutphen Zutphen () is a city and municipality located in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It lies some 30 km northeast of Arnhem, on the eastern bank of the river Ijssel at the point where it is joined by the Berkel. First mentioned in the 1 ...

Other

The 2004 movie '' The Clearing'' is loosely based on Heijn's kidnapping and murder.Contemporary auditing: real issues and cases
p.402, by Michael C. Knapp, (Aug 18, 2008),

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heijn, Gerrit Jan 1931 births 1980s missing person cases 1987 deaths 20th-century Dutch businesspeople Dutch chief executives in the retail industry Dutch murder victims Formerly missing people Kidnapped businesspeople Kidnapped Dutch people Male murder victims Missing person cases in Europe People from Zaanstad People murdered in the Netherlands

Death

Other

See also

References