Belgian Teen-Agers Kill Grandmother on Birthday, Police Say
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CHARLEROI, Belgium — Two Belgian teen-agers murdered their grandmother on her birthday--but it took them several attempts to do so, police said Monday.
They first gave Solange Deval a present of chocolate eclairs laced with Valium, but she did not die, police said.
They then allegedly forced the 62-year-old woman to inhale tear gas from a small cannister used by women to fend off attackers. But again she did not die.
They finally killed her when they knocked her out with chloroform, beat her with a broom handle and strangled her, a police spokesman said.
Gravedigger Frans Mahau, the father of the pair, has confessed under questioning to plotting with his children to murder Deval in her home, the spokesman said. The motive was unclear.
Police said they have arrested the teen-agers, both 17, but have not yet charged them.
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