Police divers find body of missing Rotterdam teenager who vanished a week ago

Photo: politie.nl

Police divers have found the body of missing Rotterdam teenager Orlando Boldewijn who disappeared a week ago after going on a date via gay dating site Grindr.

The 17-year-old was found in the water in the Ypenburg suburb, close to where he was last seen. Police say they began searching the water using sonar and divers on the ‘basis of new information’.

His body will now undergo a post mortem examination to try to establish how he died. Police spokesman Roland Ekkers told broadcaster NOS that there are currently no suspects.

Police have already talked to one of the teenager’s dates, a 20-year-old man from The Hague, who said he dropped Orlando off to meet his second date in Ypenburg.

His friend Noha den Hartog, who first reported him missing, said Orlando had arranged other dates on Grindr, an app used predominantly by gay men, but never with two people at the same time.

‘Orlando told his mother he was with me,’ she said. ‘He often did that, but usually he always told me where he was. This time he didn’t.’

She also cast doubt on the last text message Orlando sent to his mother, in which he said he was on his way home. ‘The language in the message wasn’t what we were used to from him,’ Den Hartog said. ‘Usually he shortens lots of words, but in that message he didn’t do it once.’

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