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. DRL Services BV handles the publication, production, technical infrastructure, and international distribution.
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. The documentary does not ask the viewer to believe the filmmakers, but to weigh the evidence for themselves.
The Leichel family also has a special historical connection to Dutch church and organ culture. Members of the extended family built church organs in the Netherlands during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including instruments in Friesland that still exist today. For Don and René, this family history serves as a personal and cultural backdrop, but it is explicitly kept separate from the scientific and historical arguments surrounding the Shroud.
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.
Author | Researcher | Conceptual Initiator of Sworn To Secrecy
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.
Don's complete author biography can be found via the Author Bio menu at the top of this page.
CEO, DRL Services B.V. | 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.
Don and René share one fundamental principle: the strength of Sworn To Secrecy should not depend on who they are, but on whether the evidence presented can withstand scrutiny.
