For someone that claims all the wonderful things his revolutionary machine is able to do, he sure is resorting to some dubious tactics to convince people. No need for ridiculously incomplete reports or R500 000 challenges. Just show us that it works in a properly controlled test. If it works he will be rich beyond his wildest dreams in no time, and he can then donate any amount he wishes to charity.
He is perfectly aware not many people in SA can spare anywhere near R500 000 - let alone the relatively small skeptic community. This is not a serious challenge, just another puff of smoke to confuse the gullible.
But not all people can see through these deliberate deceptions. Too bad some of them have important sounding degrees.
Whatever else he might be – scoundrel, con-artist, knave and opportunist – you have to hand it to Krügel: he certainly knows how to promote himself. Every few months or so he creates a bit of a stir, one just big enough to keep the story gently simmering. If he actually had anything real, he’d’ve quietly gotten on with the business of stunning the world instead of wasting time and effort on trying to convince everyone through his silly horse-and-pony show. I think the first commenter on the “Prometheus Unbound” blog story gets it right in suggesting that Krügel’s latest manoeuvre is just a trick that will allow him to say later on, “See? These sceptics wouldn’t meet my challenge!” One has to concede that he engineered it all quite adeptly.
I’ve just concluded a bit of electronic snooping: Download the ‘report’ PDF from daniekrugelfacts.com, right-click on the file and view the properties. You will see that the author of the pdf has been captured as AM Koorts. Now, this could mean nothing, as computers get names and get shuffled around (especially at universities), but I was able to find a Prof AM Koorts from the University of Pretoria with a simple Google search.
Anyone else know this person, or know of any previous links with Danie Krugel?
Please note that this might be complete coincidence, as the name in the pdf document comes from the machine name on which the pdf-creator software is run. It could just be the name of whoever handles Danie’s website, or a friend or neighbour who converted the document to pdf. Interesting, nevertheless.
In his report Mr Harrison also concluded that information about the child's whereabouts provided by a former South African policeman was "likely to be of low value".
Danie Krugel, who claims to have invented a device for finding missing people, visited Praia da Luz last July on the invitation of Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.
On Tuesday, Flanagan‘s wife, Heather, 68, called in the help of Danie Krugel of Bloemfontein who uses a machine he developed that helps him “triangulate” the position of missing people using their DNA. Although Krugel‘s machine indicated a certain area in which to look, this proved fruitless.
From The Independent on Saturday: Desert search of hope
Winter, 35, was bludgeoned with a baseball bat by her estranged British boyfriend, Mark Arnold, before he loaded her into the boot of his car and drove off into the desert.
...
"The police here don't give us anything. When I first heard there were four cars and eight guys on the search, I thought it was good. But when we went to the desert, we saw the vastness of it. You need a lot of guys."
...
The family is considering asking local human body tracker Danie Krugel, who was involved in the search for Madeleine McCann, to help. Krugel has said he will help if approached.
Seems like a perfect case for Danie to show how his machine works, open desert and a DNA sample to work with. Why would the good Mr Krügel not offer his services from the start though? Why wait till he is approached by the family? Probably waiting till the price is right...
Maybe the vast amounts of oil in desert will interfere the outcome?
From Carte Blanche: Secret Science Tested
For our second experiment we hid a can filled with crude oil on a farm outside Bloemfontein after Danie had taken a sample for his test. We took the GPS reading and contacted him once we had left the area.
The previous test Danie conducted with crude oil was over a distance of a few metres, but this time he was doing it from 6 kilometres away and from the other side of this dolomite hill!
It only took 15 minutes before he phoned back with the co-ordinates.
Only if he puts an oil sample in his scam contraption…
Heard on the radio today that the family did ask for his help and he is on his way to Dubai. Hopefully his detective skills will help them out, but he will no doubt claim that his machine did the work. I guess you can’t blame the family for clinging to even false hope. That blame is squarely on the shoulders of the unscrupulous Danie Krügel, who once again will prey on the emotions of people in need to further his own fortune.
Controversial inventor wants to look for missing woman (my bold)
Controversial inventor Danie Krugel says the relatives of a missing South African woman in Dubai have a good chance of finding her with him on their side.
35-year-old Kerry Winter went missing in Dubai last month.
She was last seen being beaten and bundled into her car allegedly by her former boyfriend. He was arrested several days later.
Krugel, the man dubbed ‘the locator’ says his willing to fly to Dubai to look for Winter.
The former policeman claims to have invented a device which uses a person’s DNA to track them down.
Last year, Krugel tried to find the remains of five girls who were kidnapped by notorious paedophile Gert van Rooyen almost two decades ago and missing British girl Madeline McCann.
Raymond Boucher’s niece Odette was one of the victims – he’s skeptical about Krugel’s invention.
But Krugel says his high success rate is enough to keep critics quiet.
Good to see the media is at least reporting accurately on this fraudster. Danie, as you can see, the critics are not quiet at all, just as you have, contrary to what you believe, a pathetic success rate…
I wonder for what reason though, if it is because they don’t want any interference, then fine. But if it is for political reasons, or that they think this machine is somehow special, then they are acting silly as well.
Even though Krügel’s machine is super secret, and maybe that is why they don’t want to let it in, I can assure them they need not worry. A clock radio has more advanced electronics than that glorified contraption of his.
I think there are several links to DK’s failures to be found in moonflake’s blog entries on DK. Sadly, the blogger is presently on a sabbatical for an indeterminate period. IIRC, there were three such entries on DK, but there’s a search facility provided by the WordPress hosting software.
(I’m posting this here so as not to “contaminate” the DK success rate thread.)
Thanks. Yeah, moonflake is missed. I haven’t had time to go through his/her blog yet, but will do so when I can. In the meantime don’t be afraid to contaminate the success thread, I will edit it as I see fit
I meant to answer this before but it fell through the cracks in my head. A conspiracy theorist might say that the Dubai police have something to hide and are worried that Krügel will find something they would rather leave undiscovered. Call me gullible, but somehow I don’t think that’s the case…
Yes, I think it’s simply that Krügel refuses to open his magic box for purposes of inspection and therefore they won’t let him enter. They’re worried about woo-woo (or some other similarly devastating narcotic) being smuggled into the country because they’ve got too much of their own as it is.
That would explain why a clock radio, unlike Krügel, actually works reliably.
The family have asked Danie Krugel, known as "The Locator", to assist with the search and have given him a sample of Winter's hair to help track her through his Matter Orientation System.
But Krugel has said he can't conduct any tests unless he is in Dubai. This week, however, the UAE authorities refused to allow Krugel and his instruments into the country.
...
"If I go to them [the Dubai police] and say it has been 23 days now [that Kerry is missing], and that we now have someone to assist [Krugel], they say his equipment is illegal. I don't know if they've even tried."
As suspected, the Dubai authorities won't let in his super secret MOS. Come on Danie, just show them that it's no more than a high school science project with fancy lights - I'm sure after the laughter died down they will let you continue to go play in the desert.
I must say, your locator is not much of a locator if you have to actually go to the object you want to locate...
Anyway. Hopefully the Winters will now be spared the expenses of shipping DK and his MOS around and focus on better ways to find what they are looking for. I am sickened by the way DK keeps taking advantage of their desperation and feeding them false hope.
Read that again: “Krügel … has … a system that can track missing people anywhere in the world using a strand of hair.” As bluegray V has pointed out, why the need, then, to enter the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at all? He could measure from SA and perhaps one or two other countries further north that aren’t so fussy about importing handheld woo-woo boxes if Krügel needs to improve his triangulation.
Notice also that Mark Arnold’s fate could potentially depend on Krügel’s utterances: if Krügel says, on no sound basis, that Arnold was lying and Krügel is taken seriously, Arnold could face undeserved vilification and bad treatment, and that’s hardly justice (because it’s not based on solid evidence) even if Arnold had a hand in Kerry’s disappearance. Worse yet, what if Krügel subsequently turns out to have been wrong? How will he make up for the anguish he has caused Arnold and Kerry’s family and friends?
The family of missing Durban woman Kerry Winter is still hoping that international manhunt expert, Danie Krugel, can assist the investigation.
*Sigh* "international manhunt expert"??? ::)
Really [i]Barbara Cole[/i], an expert implies some skill and success in that field. DK is an expert in deceiving gullible journalists like yourself, something I would not advertise if I were serious about journalism...
