THE PEOPLE BEHIND SWORN TO SECRECY
Don and René Leichel play different but complementary roles in an independent project built to distinguish established evidence, supported interpretation, testable questions and hypothesis.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Sworn To Secrecy emerged from a years-long quest to answer one exceptional question: What can truly be established about the Shroud of Turin, and how far can the evidence take us without going beyond what the evidence itself allows?
The brothers Don and René Leichel play different but complementary roles in this endeavor. Don is the author, researcher and conceptual initiator. René is the producer and director of the documentary and is responsible for translating the written research into an audiovisual production structured according to legal principles.
HOW WE WORK
The project is deliberately structured so that sources, counterarguments, uncertainty and interpretation remain visible to the viewer.
Their professional backgrounds do not lie in theology or Shroud scholarship itself. Precisely for this reason, they have opted for a method that makes sources, counterarguments and uncertainties transparent.
A distinction is made between what has been established, what is supported, what is still testable and what remains a hypothesis.
DRL Services BV is an independent Dutch family-owned business. In addition to publishing and distributing books, the company handles website development, audiovisual production, international presentation and modern digital production methods.
For specialized tasks, the company collaborates with selected professionals.
The Leichel family has a direct connection with Dutch organ building. Friedrich Leichel & Zonen installed several organs in Friesland in the nineteenth century, including the Leichel organ in the Lambertus Church in Arum, which was fully restored in 2024.
In 2026, that family history became part of Sworn To Secrecy in an unexpected way. A special organ interpretation of Handel’s For unto us a Child is born from Messiah is being recorded on a Leichel organ for use in the documentary. Music plays an important role throughout the series, creating a distinctive connection between family heritage and a modern investigation of the Shroud of Turin.
TWO BROTHERS · TWO ROLES
AUTHOR · RESEARCHER · CONCEPTUAL INITIATOR
Don Leichel lives in Tauranga, New Zealand. His interest in ancient history, Biblical chronology, archaeology and the Shroud of Turin developed into several books, including The Man Clothed in Linen and Sworn To Secrecy.
In his work, Don seeks not to treat historical, scientific and Biblical information as isolated claims, but as separate lines of investigation that only gain significance when they are carefully compared with one another. His questions concerning the age, origin, image formation and possible identity of the man in the Shroud form the substantive foundation of the documentary.
CEO · PRODUCER & DIRECTOR · PUBLISHER
René Leichel, Don’s brother, lives in Sneek, Friesland, and is CEO of DRL Services B.V. Within Sworn To Secrecy, he is responsible for the production and direction of the documentary, its technical and visual development, editing, international presentation and the practical translation of the research into a coherent cinematic structure.
René has a long professional background in entrepreneurship, management, accountancy, insurance and consultancy. Within the documentary project, that experience primarily serves a methodological purpose: structuring information, checking sources, identifying inconsistencies, monitoring processes and drawing conclusions only when the underlying evidence carries sufficient weight.
As a producer, René works with modern audiovisual techniques, artificial intelligence, web technology, image generation, subtitling and international distribution. The documentary is produced entirely within an independent production environment, with specialist expertise brought in whenever the subject matter requires it.
CONTINUE THE INVESTIGATION
Enter the documentary platform or explore the books that provided the source material and central questions behind Sworn To Secrecy.