Latest news with #CarmelDelaney
Irish Times
7 days ago
- Irish Times
Murder of Irish-American woman shocks wealthy Brussels suburb
The killing initially looked like a burglary gone wrong. Carmel Delaney, an Irish-American woman in her early 60s, had been stabbed to death in her home, in a wealthy Brussels neighbourhood popular with diplomats and business executives. The suspected murder – and the details that would later emerge – have gripped the Belgian public for weeks. Ms Delaney was born in New York, but her mother was originally from Ballyclerihan, Co Tipperary and her father from Dublin, so growing up she spent many childhood summers back visiting Ireland. A mother of four adult children, with two young grandchildren, Ms Delaney was someone who made friends easily. READ MORE There were hiking and travel companions, and tennis and bridge playing partners, in Brussels and the many other cities she had lived in throughout her life. 'She was so social,' an Irish relative of Ms Delaney said. Her husband, Chris Delaney, was a senior executive at US tire giant Goodyear, overseeing its business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, from Brussels, where the couple had lived for the last seven years. At a little past 8pm on March 17th, St Patrick's Day, Belgian police received an emergency call. Mr Delaney had opened the door of their apartment in the leafy Brussels suburb of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, to find his wife dead inside the home. An autopsy later revealed she had been stabbed about four times in the neck and chest, with some type of sharp object. Police investigating the crime scene suspected a possible burglary gone wrong. 'The victim's husband had discovered her body in their home and found that three luxury watches had been stolen,' the Brussels public prosecutor said in a statement. However, there was no obvious signs of someone forcing their way into the apartment. Then three weeks later came an arrest. A female colleague of Mr Delaney was taken in for questioning. The next day she was charged with murder. In a statement, the prosecutor confirmed a suspect who worked with Mr Delaney had been charged with murder and possession of a weapon. One line of investigation Belgian police had pursued was the possibility Mr Delaney and his coworker were involved in a romantic relationship, according to reports in local media. The prosecutor said they could not disclose further details. Some early hearings in the criminal case took place in front of a French-speaking judge, but it has since been transferred to a Flemish judge. A lawyer representing the accused did not respond to requests for comment. In the upmarket suburb where the Delaney couple lived, the killing has shocked locals. 'The whole area is one of the best in Brussels,' said a retired EU official who lives nearby. 'You would compare it with Blackrock in Dublin.' The street in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Brussels, where Carmel Delaney and her husband lived. Photo: Jack Power 'We say in French, it's something that can happen anywhere in the world', he said of Ms Delaney's killing. The area is popular with wealthy diplomats and officials who work in the nearby European Union institutions. Luxembourg's ambassador to the EU lives across the road from the Delaney's home, and the embassy of Kosovo is only a few buildings down from their apartment block. A team of four gardeners from a private firm were tending to rows of well-kept hedges that run along both sides of the whole street on Thursday afternoon. It's the sort of place you might expect to see a Porsche drive by – and, while The Irish Times was there, two did so within 20 minutes of each other. The owner of a small local business said she only learned of the tragedy when journalists from the Belgian media began to descend on the leafy street. Another woman on her way to work said Woluwe-Saint-Pierre was a very quiet area. 'It's not that kind of neighbourhood where you would expect ...' she said, before trailing off and stopping. Ms Delaney and her husband had been due to retire to the United States and return to New York, after careers that had seen them both work across the world. She grew up in Horseheads, a small village in upstate New York, before moving to Bardonia, which is closer to the city. Those who knew her said she had fond memories of summer trips back to Ireland as a child. Her parents had met on a blind date. Her mother, Maureen O'Dwyer, was the second eldest of 11 siblings, in a family that had a farm and stables in Ballyclerihan, keeping and breeding racehorses. Her father, Jim Gallagher, was from Dublin. After graduating from Cornell University in 1985, Ms Delaney got a job with consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G), where she worked for 15 years, across the US, Saudi Arabia, Poland and Ukraine. It was in P&G that she met Mr Delaney. The couple later moved to Sydney, Australia, where they lived for several years. Around that time Ms Delaney set up her own company, International Education Resources, which provided assistance to international students applying to study in the US. They had a holiday home in the Catskills, a mountainous part of New York state, where they spent summers hiking and winters skiing. 'They were a force,' one person who knew the couple said. Then in 2017 the pair moved to Brussels, as Mr Delaney was promoted to run Goodyear tyre and rubber company's Europe, Middle East and Africa office. The company has spent recent weeks firefighting the fallout of media coverage of Ms Delaney's killing, which often prominently mentions Goodyear. It is understood a team of 'crisis communications' consultants have been drafted in to help the firm. Mr Delaney is no longer employed by the US company and has since retired. During her time in the Belgian capital Ms Delaney became heavily involved in a women's social club, organising hikes and running its website. There she was known for her 'unwavering positivity', the Brussels Women's Club committee said in a message of condolence posted online after her death. 'Her life motto, 'bloom where you are planted,' embodied her ability to adapt, grow and thrive wherever life took her,' the group wrote. She made an effort to travel to Ireland at least once a year most of her adult life, one of her Irish relatives said. 'Carmel was a wonderful girl ... We loved her'.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Millionaire tire boss' affair with younger assistant turns deadly as he returns home to find his wife murdered
A millionaire tire executive's affair with his personal secretary turned deadly when she allegedly stabbed his wife to death. Chris Delaney, 63, who has served as the president of Goodyear's Middle East, Africa and Europe division since 2017, returned to his apartment in an upscale neighborhood of Brussels on March 17, and found his 61-year-old wife, Carmel Delaney, dead on the floor, the Wall Street Journal reports. As he did not speak French, Delaney - who made $5 million a year - called his alleged lover Greet Vandeput, 54, who alerted the local police. At first, Brussels police had believed Carmel's death was the result of a burglary - noting that the victim was caught on surveillance footage arriving at the apartment at around 8pm when she was confronted by a masked intruder. Police claimed that suspect threatened Carmel to gain access to her home before stabbing her three times inside the apartment and fleeing with three valuable watches worth tens of thousands of Euros, the Brussels Times reported at the time. Due to the theft, authorities said it appeared the burglary was targeted. But two days after Camel's upstate funeral on April 2, Belgian police arrested Vandeput - and discovered that the American executive and his assistant were having an affair. Goodyear executive Chris Delaney's wife, 61-year-old Carmel Delaney, was stabbed to death on March 17 Brussels police have since arrested Chris' alleged lover Greet Vandeput, 54, for her murder The breakthrough apparently came after one of Vanderput's friends came forward with their suspicions that the assistant killed Carmel. It remains unclear, though, what exactly Vanderput and her friend discussed or why her friend came to suspect her. But the tip wound up paying off when police searched both the home she shares with her husband outside of the city and a nearby horse stable where she kept two horses. There, police found the missing watches hiding behind a corrugated metal shed in a paddock. Her motivation for allegedly killing Carmel remains unclear - though the Wall Street Journal notes that it came shortly after the assistant was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery. She is now charged with murder and 'port d'arme par destination' - a legal term in Belgium referring to the use of an improvised weapon. Chris was also questioned by police in connection with his wife's murder, but has not been charged, sources familiar with the investigation told the Journal. However, both he and Vandeput have been fired from the Ohio-based tire manufacturer, with sources telling the Journal he received no severance pay. Chris has served as Goodyear's Middle East, Africa and Europe president since 2017 He returned to the apartment he and his wife shared in an upscale neighborhood of Brussels (pictured) on March 17 to find his wife dead on the floor A spokesperson for Goodyear now says it would cooperate with authorities if asked His departure from the company was first announced in a one-paragraph regulatory filing on April 4 - the same day as Vandeput's arrest. The company simply said at the time that Chris was taking a leave of absence and was being replaced in his role by the company's chief financial officer. It did not mention anything about the events that led to his departure. But a spokesperson for Goodyear now says it would cooperate with authorities if asked. Chris had joined Goodyear in 2015 in Shanghai, where he helped to expand the tire business' reach. He was promoted two years later, at which point he and his wife moved to Brussels. Vandeput, meanwhile, worked at Goodyear for more than a decade following earlier roles at AstraZeneca and Siemens. Carmel ran a consultancy agency helping international students apply to US schools Friends of the couple have described them as being extremely close, charismatic and generous. They had met while working at Procter & Gamble, and moved around the world together over the years - from Poland to Saudi Arabia and China - while Carmel ran a consultancy agency helping international students apply to US schools. 'I've cried every day since she died,' Beryl Barlow, an expat from England who was a member of the Brussels Women's Club with Carmel told the Journal. 'She was incredibly persuasive. She was a diplomat,' Barlow added. 'She was a little gold nugget and now she's gone.' Longtime friend and former colleague James Lafferty said he did not judge Chris for having an affair - noting how the couple supported him through his own marital difficulties. 'What I know is that they loved each other dearly and he did not want anything to happen to Carmel,' Lafferty insisted. The couple were recently pictured smiling onboard a train, with the caption on Carmel's memorial page reading: 'Carmel & Chris, the dream team xx.' Chris has since returned to the United States, while Carmel's friends in Brussels plan a memorial ceremony for June. She is survived by her father, Jim Gallagher; her husband and their four children.
Wall Street Journal
17-05-2025
- Wall Street Journal
An Affair, a Murder and the Shattering of an Expat Dream
BRUSSELS—Until one night in March, Carmel and Chris Delaney lived lavish lives of successful expat business executives. The native New Yorkers met when they were starting their careers decades ago, got married and raised four children while hopping between companies and continents, making friends at every stop. They celebrated Thanksgiving in Australia, met up with friends in Munich and vacationed on the lush Greek island of Corfu. They moved to Brussels in 2017, when Chris was promoted to a top job at Goodyear GT -2.45%decrease; red down pointing triangle Tire & Rubber, earning about $5 million a year to oversee a large swath of the iconic American company's international operations. Carmel was a consultant who helped foreign students navigate the college-admissions process and get into U.S. schools. After decades of living abroad and moving around the world together—Europe, Saudi Arabia and China—they decided that Brussels would be their last overseas stop. Chris, 63, and Carmel, 61, were renovating an apartment in Manhattan near where their oldest son lives with his family. As Chris prepared to retire, they were looking forward to spending time with their grandchildren. Those dreams ended when Chris came home from work on March 17 to their wealthy neighborhood in Brussels and found a body on the floor of their apartment. Carmel had been stabbed to death. At first, news reports blamed a masked intruder and characterized Carmel's death as a robbery gone wrong. CCTV footage showed a person wearing a mask entering the apartment building before Carmel came home that evening, police said. While there was no sign of forced entry to the apartment, three luxury watches were missing. Mourners gathered on April 2 at Carmel's funeral at a small church in upstate New York to pray for Chris and the couple's daughter and three sons. Tributes poured in from Sydney to Dublin, Munich to New York on online memorial pages for Carmel and her loving husband. Two days later, Belgian police arrested a woman named Greet Vandeput—Chris's executive assistant at Goodyear. Police had discovered the American executive and his Belgian assistant were having an affair. An autopsy revealed four wounds to Carmel's chest and torso, prosecutors said. They charged Vandeput with murder and port d'arme par destination, a charge indicating the use of an improvised weapon. Vandeput, married and in her 50s, is in police custody. Her lawyer didn't respond to requests for comment. Chris Delaney also didn't respond to requests for comment; a lawyer he has retained in Brussels said his client is unavailable. The arrest was prompted by a tip from a friend of Vandeput's, who came to the police with shocking news: After a conversation between the two, the friend suspected Vandeput had killed Carmel. Police haven't said exactly what Vandeput and her friend discussed or why the friend came to suspect her. But the next day they raided Vandeput's home and a nearby riding stable where Vandeput kept two horses. At her house, they took her under arrest and crime-scene investigators donned orange and white jumpsuits to comb her property for evidence. When they got to the stable 10 miles outside of the city, police say that the tip from Vandeput's friend helped them know where to look: behind a corrugated metal shed in a paddock where Vandeput's chestnut horse, named Kazan, is often left to graze. It was there that the police found the three watches. Chris Delaney has been questioned by police as a witness, said a person familiar with the matter. Goodyear says it will cooperate with investigators if asked. Neither the boss nor the assistant is still employed by the tiremaker, the company said. Chris received no severance. A Goodyear spokesman declined to comment further. The crime has captivated the Belgian media partly because it happened in a well-to-do neighborhood called Woluwe-Saint-Pierre. It's home to expats, executives and diplomats. Porsches and Mercedes line wide, quiet streets and modern apartments with balconies stand alongside well-kept, century-old buildings. A Flemish tabloid is calling Carmel miljonairsvrouw, or the millionaire's wife. Carmel and Chris Delaney were expats who went all-in wherever they were. They met at Procter & Gamble, where they both started in the New York sales office, and worked in Poland, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia. 'Her net was far and wide, whether it was Kyiv or Australia or Poland, everyone just adored her,' said Kary Clancy, who lives in Palm Beach, Fla., a longtime family friend whose children attended the elite Lawrenceville boarding school in New Jersey with the Delaney children, now in their 20s and 30s. Born in Queens, N.Y., as part of an extended Irish-Catholic family, Carmel was raised in Horseheads, a small town in upstate New York. During summers at a family farm in Ireland, she learned to ride and later owned two race horses. She went to Cornell University and soon after landed at P&G. Chris grew up in Huntington, N.Y., a wealthy Long Island suburb, and studied history at Trinity College in Connecticut. He started his career as a sales representative at P&G in 1983. 'You wore a jacket and tie every day and made an appointment to see your boss,' he would recall in a LinkedIn post four decades later. Chris spent more than two decades at the company. By the mid-1990s, he was heading P&G's marketing operation in Poland, where Carmel had accompanied him, said James Lafferty, who worked closely with both the Delaneys at P&G in the 1990s. The unit needed help and P&G hired Carmel as a brand manager for Old Spice deodorant, he said. 'She was a star, and he was a star,' said Lafferty, who remained friends with the couple when their professional paths diverged. He recalls the Delaneys' tight relationship and playful banter. By 2004, they had left P&G. Chris took an executive role overseas at Campbell Soup and Carmel started her own consulting company, International Educational Resources, to advise international students applying to U.S. boarding schools and universities. She ran the business for the next 20 years as the couple moved in expat circles in Asia and Europe. He joined Goodyear in 2015 in Shanghai, helping to expand the company's business in China before moving to the Brussels office in 2017. 'My family and I have been lucky to get the opportunity to live and travel extensively, as my wife and my careers brought our family to six countries on four continents,' he wrote on LinkedIn in November 2022. 'Despite the cultural differences we learned to love, underneath we have found that people are more similar than different.' In Brussels, Chris was in charge of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He was now a senior executive for a classic American brand. Goodyear's blimps have flown above major sports events for decades and its name has been synonymous with tires ever since they graced Henry Ford's Model T. After Covid, his unit was slow to recover from pandemic shutdowns and the Russia-Ukraine war. In 2023, Chris oversaw a restructuring of his division that slashed the workforce by 15%. The couple had an apartment near Woluwe Park, a hilly English-style park with majestic trees and long, winding paths. Carmel joined the Brussels Women's Club. She ran its website and led many of the English-speaking group's walking tours of the city. 'I've cried every day since she died,' said Beryl Barlow, an expat from England who is a club member. Barlow gave bridge lessons and Carmel was among her students. 'She was incredibly persuasive. She was a diplomat,' said Barlow. 'She was a little gold nugget, and now she's gone.' On Carmel's online memorial page, photos and testimonials show meals with friends on a boat in Sydney, ski trips at the Delaney home back in Windham, N.Y., playtime in a pool with grandchildren and homemade pizza. In one recent photo, the Delaneys are smiling in a train car, Chris in a blue V-neck sweater and Carmel with a matching scarf. The caption: 'Carmel & Chris the dream team xx.' A circle of friends has rallied around Chris, said Lafferty, the friend from their P&G days. He said he doesn't judge Chris for having an affair, and appreciates that the couple supported him through his own marital difficulties. 'What I know is that they loved each other dearly and he did not want anything to happen to Carmel,' Lafferty said. The Delaneys' eldest son, Sean, declined to comment. Other Delaney family members couldn't be reached for comment. Chris isn't fluent in French, so police said when he discovered his wife's body after work on March 17, he called someone who could help: his executive assistant. Vandeput contacted the police at 8:22 p.m. Vandeput had worked for Goodyear for over a decade, after previously holding executive assistant roles in Brussels for British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and a subsidiary of German industrial conglomerate Siemens. Vandeput lived with her husband and their two dogs in a small brick house with green shutters and a chicken coop out front. Their middle-class, Dutch-speaking neighborhood is just outside Brussels near the airport, where conversations are interrupted by roaring jet engines. On Monday, her husband answered the door and declined to comment. Like Carmel, Vandeput has a passion for horses. She keeps two of them—a bay and a chestnut horse—at a gray concrete boarding stable that holds about 60 horses in total, behind the home of the stable's owner. She would visit the stables twice a day to ride and look after the horses, said the owner. Vandeput had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and undergone surgery, he and police said. The owner said that a friend of Vandeput's had been taking care of her horses while she was hospitalized, and that same friend was the one who had tipped off police. Once police and investigative magistrates have completed their probe, a judge will decide whether to send her case to trial or drop the charges. Chris has returned to the U.S. Carmel's friends in Brussels are planning a memorial for June. On one of Carmel's memorial pages, one friend shared an inscription from a gravestone in Ireland: 'Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, Love leaves a memory no one can steal.' The same day as Vandeput's arrest, April 4, in a one-paragraph regulatory filing, Goodyear said Chris Delaney was taking a leave of absence and being replaced by the company's chief financial officer. The filing said nothing about the events that led to the change. Write to Sharon Terlep at and Noemie Bisserbe at
