Gerrit Jan Heijn (original) (raw)

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Gerrit Jan Heijn
Born (1931-02-14)14 February 1931Zaandam, Netherlands
Died 9 September 1987(1987-09-09) (aged 56)Doorwerth, Netherlands
Spouse Hank Engel ​(m. 1956)​
Children 4, including Ronald Jan
Relatives Albert Heijn Jr. (brother)Albert Heijn Sr. (grandfather)

Dutch businessman (1931–1987)

Gerrit Jan Heijn (14 February 1931, Zaandam – 9 September 1987) was a Dutch businessman, who was a top manager of Ahold until his murder in 1987.[1] 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 team.

On 9 September 1987, he was kidnapped near his villa in Bloemendaal, Netherlands by Ferdi Elsas. Although Elsas murdered Heijn within a few hours of his 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 and severed little finger. 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. Gerrit Jan Heijn was cremated on 9 April 1988 in Driehuis. Elsas was hit by an excavator on 3 August 2009 while riding his bicycle near the town of Vorden, Gelderland and died in a hospital at Zutphen.

The 2004 movie The Clearing is loosely based on Heijn's kidnapping and murder.[2]

  1. ^ Obituary: Grocer who felt empathy for the shopper, Phil Davison, Financial Times, 21 January 2011(registration required)
  2. ^ Contemporary auditing: real issues and cases, p.402, by Michael C. Knapp, (Aug 18, 2008), ISBN 0-324-65805-2