Major dna testing planned to finally solve 1999 schoolgirl murder

The public prosecution department in Leeuwarden is planning a major dna investigation in an effort to finally solve the 14-year-old murder of a teenage girl.


Marianne Vaatstra, 16, was murdered in Friesland in 1999 and her body dumped in a field. Despite an extensive police investigation, her killer has never been found.
Television crime journalist Peter R de Vries in May broadcast information about a Playboy cigarette lighter found in Vaatstra’s bag which contains dna traces that match the traces found on the schoolgirl’s body. Tip offs following the broadcast showed the lighter was on sale in the local area at the time, including in the village of Zwaagwesteinde where she lived.
Survey
Now the department wants to organise a major dna check on people living near where Vaatstra was found in the hope of finally finding her killer. No-one would be forced to give up their dna, the department said in a statement.
An earlier dna investigation in the case involved 900 samples. It is not clear how many people the prosecution department hopes to test this time round.
The national forensic institute is also carrying out research in the national dna bank to to try to find relatives of the probable killer.

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