Picture doing something you’ve done hundreds of times before, but this time things don’t go as planned. Now imagine that activity involves jumping out of an airplane, 4,000 feet above the earth. As you plummet towards the ground your parachute doesn’t open! Listen to the amazing story of Victoria Cilliers and the twisted tale of her attempted murder.
Apple Podcasts
Stitcher
Pandora
Spotify
Google Podcasts
iHeartRadio
TuneInEarly Life
Emile Cilliers was born in South Africa in 1980 to mother Zaan, a pre-school teacher, and father Stolz, an engineer. He grew up in a loving family and was always charming, athletic, and charismatic. At 16 he met Nicolene Shepherd, she was 13 at the time and the two began a relationship. Nicolene liked the fact that an older boy was interested in her. She describes him as being handsome and confident with an easy charm.
“He was charismatic and romantic. We used to go out for our monthly ‘anniversary’ and he would give me a long-stemmed rose every time.”
His romanticism was what helped Nicolene overlook his womanizing. He loved ladies and cheated on her often but she always let it go. In June of 2000, at 16 she gave birth to their first child Cilene. Emile proposed to Nicolene using her grandmother’s ring. Nicolene put the engagement on hold when she found out he was cheating with her best friend. Through all of this she stuck with Emile and was ready to continue their life together with their child.
Towards the end of 2000, Emile went to the UK on a “working holiday”. It was the dream of both Nicolene and Emile to one day live in the UK. Emile began working in pubs and bars in Oxfordshire while Nicolene remained in South Africa. In 2002 Emile returned to South Africa and their relationship was back to normal. Soon, Nicolene fell pregnant with their second child, Trevor.
Emile returned to the UK, to begin setting up a life for their family in the UK.
Betrayal
It came as a shock to her when, within the year, Emile’s mother sat her down for a chat announcing that he had married another woman, Carly Taylor. In 2006 Nicolene moved to the UK to pursue a better life for her and her children. It was then that their 6-year-old daughter asked to meet her father. Nicolene contacted Emile (getting his info through his mother). He told her that he had only gotten married to secure a visa and that he and Carly were now separated and were getting a divorce. He was now an instructor with the Royal Army and was doing well in the UK.
At hearing this, Nicolene took him back and they picked up right where they had left off. It was about a month later when Emile accidentally left his cell phone at Nicolene’s place. When it rang, she answered and it was Carly. Carly explained that they weren’t separated at all, but were still very much married and had 2 children together. The women then decided to confront him together.
“Once he had got over the initial shock, he stood there looking between us — trying to play us off in his usual self-assured way. His next words were something to the effect of, ‘Well, here we are. Which one of you wants me?’
Carly decided to stay with him, but within 3 years their marriage broke down and they divorced.
Meeting Victoria
Victoria Cilliers was raised by her mother, Veronica, and father, Michael just East of Edinburgh. In her teenage years, her mother developed cancer. Victoria completed her first Skydiving jump at a charity event at age 16. She would go on to become an instructor and complete 2,600 jumps. It was later that year following her first jump that she would lose her mother.
At 22, she joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as a physiotherapy officer. Victoria Cilliers served in a field hospital in Kosovo rising to the rank of Captain. Four years later she married Captain Liam Fitzgerald-Finch. Apparently, the couple spent a lot of their time apart and Victoria had suspicions that her husband being unfaithful. She eventually walked out on the marriage.
In January 2009 Emile injured himself while skiing on a work/army related trip. He would go through rehabilitation with Victoria in Aldershot. He divorced Carly in (November?) 2009 and Victoria and Emile began officially dating in March 2010. While vacationing in South Africa in 2011 Emile proposed to Victoria Cilliers and they would marry 3 months later. Soon after they married Victoria gave birth to their first daughter. She suffered deeply from postnatal depression and I don’t believe she returned to work.
Suspicions Arise
She started to become concerned with Emile’s behavior. She found condoms in his car and in the house and saw messages from other women referencing a “club.” This would turn out to be a house in Salisbury that hosted swingers parties twice a month.
What she didn’t see was an account with Fab Swingers. Emile was looking for single women and couples aged 18-55 where he arranged multiple liaisons. He also frequented sex-workers. These infidelities continued and in November 2014 escalated into an affair.
While Victoria was home, heavily pregnant with their 2nd child and caring for their toddler, he went on a ski trip to Austria. Emilee used Tinder and met Stephanie Goller, a 36-year-old skydiving instructor. He told Stephanie that his marriage was over. Victoria had cheated and the child she was expecting wasn’t even his. When he returned from the trip he told Victoria that he thought they had “gotten married too soon and he didn’t know what he wanted anymore.” A few weeks later he took Stephanie to stay at a spa (over $700/night) in Berlin telling his wife he was there for work.
Debt Collector
Around the same time, a debt collector showed up at Victoria and Emile’s home. He had been using a loan shark and they were there now to intimidate him and his pregnant wife. Victoria Cilliers knew that Emile had debt, she had even lent him 19,000 pounds ($37,000) to help pay it off (which he was using to take his new woman to a spa). He had expensive taste wanting a large home ($474,000) new cars, expensive clothing, etc. But he had promised, before they were married, never to use a loan shark.
He had taken out several high-interest loans with payday loan companies. Emile asked friends for money, promising to pay it back. He transferred three lots of £2,000 from Victoria’s savings account to his own, without her knowledge. When she noticed the transactions, Cilliers told her that her account had been hacked. When the bank investigated this apparent fraud, it found the IP address was the family’s home computer.
This situation carried on with Emile and Stephanie exchanging thousands of messages through WhatsApp? And meeting for “holiday weekends.”
Back With Carly
By 2015, he was in a relationship with Stephanie but had also rekindled a romance with his first wife Carly (who was living 1.5 miles from his home with Victoria).
On March 29, 2015, he texted Carly to set up a meet for them to have sex (in Victoria’s car). He slept at the barracks (which he did or claimed to do somewhat often, complaining about the 45 min commute to his home). The next morning Victoria woke up in their home while their children slept, their son only a few weeks old. She smelled gas when she came down to the kitchen. Victoria found a gas leak due to a damaged fixture connecting the gas line to the stove. When she texted Emile to let him know what happened she jokingly said, “You’re not trying to bump me off are you?”
Skydiving
Victoria Cilliers was really struggling, she just had a baby a few weeks before and felt her husband pulling away more and more. Emile suggested they go for a skydiving jump the coming weekend to help cheer her up. This would be her first jump in over a year. They went to Netheravon airfield on Saturday, but bad weather prevented them from jumping. Cilliers had collected a parachute rig from the kit store for Victoria.
Before heading home, rather than return Victoria’s rig to the store, Cilliers put it in their locker. He said it was so Victoria could save time the following morning. She jumped from an altitude of over 4,000 feet. When she tried to open the main parachute it was full of twists and would not open. She cut it away and attempted to deploy the reserve chute but it didn’t work. One witness said the reserve canopy looked like a bag of washing while another said Victoria Cilliers was being thrown around like a rag doll.
At 4:27 she hit the ground. She landed in a field and was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Nobody watching thought she had a chance. Miraculously, she survived and was airlifted to the hospital with fractures to her pelvis, several vertebrae, and ribs. This was only possible due to how light she was and the fact that she landed in the middle of a field that had been plowed that morning.
Was the Parachute Tampered With?
Within hours of the fall, the team of skydiving professionals inspected the equipment and could tell that it may have been tampered with. The next day they contacted the police and sent them the video of the equipment inspection that they did. Investigators sent the equipment for inspection by the British Parachute Association. Unfortunately, they had no leads or proof that this unfortunate incident was not just an accident.
A couple of days later Victoria’s friend contacted the police. She told them all that was going on in Victoria’s marriage which focused the police’s attention on Emile.
Four weeks after the fall, Victoria Cilliers was still in the hospital but was finally ready to be discharged. During her stay, Emile visited sometimes but was very cold and uninterested. At one point she was about to go in for one of several major operations. As they were taking her back she told Emile she loved him, but he neglected to say it back. She was cleared to go home for a week. Emile said that he was too busy with work to be able to care for her. His employer even offered him “compassion leave” but he refused.
No Mechanical Flaws
At the same time, police received a report from the British Parachutes Association showing that there was no mechanical flaw. This meant the parachute had been tampered with. The main chute could not open because the lines had been wrapped completely around it. Meanwhile, the emergency chute had two SLinks missing, meaning only 1 side of the chute could be held.
Prior to any jump, equipment must be inspected and given the all-clear. Victoria’s equipment had been checked by Emile.
Emile Questioned
On April 22nd Victoria Cilliers was released from the hospital and on the 28th Emile was brought in for questioning. The first interview lasted 6 hours, and Emile talked for 6 hours. He told them about his high sex drive and having to go outside of the marriage because he couldn’t have sex with his wife more than twice a week. He never claimed he was innocent, but he didn’t give them anything to go on either.
There was not enough physical evidence and they let him go on the condition that he does not return to the home he shared with Victoria. Initially, Victoria was not cooperative with the police. To get her on board they told her about Stephanie and that Emile had called into question the paternity of their child. Victoria broke down and finally started believing the police. As they were leaving they asked if there is anything we should know about.
It was then that she told them about the gas leak from the previous week. There was blood below the pipe and they sent the blood and pipe for forensic testing. It wasn’t until September 2015 that Emile was brought in for a 2nd interview. Police tried to dive deeper into his relationship with Stephanie. They cited texts from January 2015 stating that he would be “free to be random and spontaneous come April.”
Later in September, Emile was brought in for a 3rd interview. Police were finally able to link the grips he had used to loosen the gas pipe to him.
Trial
The trial lasted 6 weeks. Emile always showed up looking pristine in a 3 piece suit. He looked arrogant like nothing could touch him. Phyllida Wilson, a lecturer in psychopathy was watching the case from the public gallery. She said Cilliers displayed “all the signs” of a psychopath.
It came out during the trial that Emile was over £22,000 in debt and was looking to collect £120,000 from Victoria’s life insurance policy ($272,000). He was unaware that she had changed the beneficiaries on her life insurance so that it would only go to her children.
Emile was found guilty on both counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to 18 years to life. In sentencing, Mr. Justice Sweeney scolded Cilliers saying he was “of quite exceptional callousness and a person who would stop at nothing to gratify your own desires”.
Resources
- Daughter of sergeant who tried to kill Scottish wife glad he’s in jail
- Army sergeant Emile Cilliers found guilty of trying to kill wife
- Parachute plot: The ex-girlfriend who walked away
- ‘Shocking betrayal’: the soldier, the lover and the sabotaged parachute
- British sergeant jailed for life for tampering with wife’s parachute
- Sex, lies and payday loans: The parachute murder plot
- Parachute murder bid: Emile Cilliers jailed for life