Father of family found on isolated farm had posted cryptic spiritual videos online
The Dutch father accused of keeping his children locked away on a rural farming property for nine years was a prolific user of social media and had his own website dedicated to his “spiritual and religious principals”.
Gerrit Jan van Dorsten, who was arrested on Thursday (local time), used the pseudonym John Eagles on Facebook to share a series videos of himself believed to be from the farm in Ruinerwold, in the Netherlands, where he and his family were discovered, according to DutchNews.nl.
He is accused of false imprisonment, abuse and money laundering, police from Assen, in the eastern province of Drenthe, said on Thursday.
One video shows the bearded van Dorsten exercising on a wooden contraption outside.
A photo from 2013 on the page shows him performing his “daily Tai Chi”.
He also shared many photos of what appears to be the farm the family were discovered on and appears to show an interest in North Korea and Kim Jong-un sharing several articles about the recluse nation.
Footage of van Dorsten was also obtained by De Telegraaf where he speaks about a “war between the spirits”
“We have gone through a very big war. That war was mainly spiritual and though this war has not entirely ended, still God has announced the end and the victory of the battle in spirit world. The final judgment in spirit world,” he says looking into the camera.
The footage is believed to have been filmed about 2006.
Poem online refers to ‘one cell’ residence
Another video on his Facebook page, which he claims to have composed the music for, shows a poem, entitled Rebirth Recipe, appear over the top of stock footage of the ocean.
“Searching for the origin, desiring for where things begin, immersed in the water of life, delivered from all the strife,” he writes.
“Once there was the first creation, it has begun in jubilation, it surely was our destination, to have joy in exaltation.
“The way is simple enough, freed from what made rough, what people say - thats you, and we like most our own bijou, back to one cell in the womb, coming out of the catacomb.
“Integral part of all that is finding the state of semper fidelis.”
His website Eagle Rock Wiki features a series of articles centred around “building a better world”.
In a section featuring the main topics of his “spiritual and religious principles”, van Dorsten references his desire to “end evil”.
The emergence of the material comes days after The Unification Church, widely known as the religious cult The Moonies, released a statement rejecting any involvement with the Van Dorsten family who were discovered last week hidden in a secret room at the property.
They did however say van Dorsten was affiliated with the church in the 1980s but left in 1987.
Father of imprisoned children refused bail
The family were only discovered by police when van Dorsten’s 25-year-old son Jan left the home and raised the alarm at a nearby bar.
The man who rented the farm property, Josef Brunner, 57, was arrested by authorities and has been charged with illegal imprisonment.
Van Dorsten was arrested later.
Detectives have said they are continuing to investigate the mysterious situation to discover what led to the family’s alleged detainment or if they were even held against their own will in the first place.
While residents reported seeing Brunner at the farmhouse regularly, neighbours say he would be at the property during the day, leave and not return at night.
It is believed he lived in a caravan near his carpentry workshop about four kilometres away.
Van Dorsten has been remanded in custody for a further 14 days following his first court appearance on Monday.
According to neighbours the two men briefly lived next door to each other in a nearby Dutch town of Hasselt in 2004.
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