A man sent a chilling text message to his mistress shortly after attempting to kill his wife during a skydiving trip.
Victoria Cilliers, an experienced skydiver, was making a parachute jump on Easter Sunday 2015 when things went horribly wrong. The jump had been a gift from her husband, Emile Cilliers, which later turned out to be part of a calculated plan.
Victoria and Emile had been going through a rough patch, but she saw the skydiving gift as a peace offering. Normally, skydivers have a regular parachute and a backup in case the first one doesn’t open. But during Victoria’s jump, both her main and backup parachutes failed, leading to a 4,000-foot fall.
Witnesses on the ground were so convinced she was dead that they brought a body bag to the scene. Miraculously, Victoria survived but suffered serious injuries, including a broken spine, pelvis, and fractured ribs, and was airlifted to the hospital.
While sitting by Victoria’s hospital bed during her recovery, Emile sent a chilling text to his mistress: “I can’t imagine anything like that happening to you, all I can think about is you.”
The mistress believed Emile and Victoria were separated. Meanwhile, Victoria initially thought her parachute failure was a tragic accident, but soon made a shocking discovery. Police informed her that evidence suggested her parachute had been tampered with.
Emile Cilliers at court for his trial in 2017
Emile was the prime suspect, having previously tried to kill Victoria and their children by leaving the gas on at home. Fortunately, Victoria smelled the gas leak and they survived.
Emile’s motive was to cash in on a life insurance policy and use the money to start a new life with his girlfriend. After a thorough investigation, Emile was convicted of two counts of attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 18 years.
This terrifying story is being recounted in the new Channel 4 docudrama, The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot.
