Police have begun digging up the garden of a home in Nieuwendijk in Brabant in their search for a young woman who disappeared in 1984.

Germa van den Boom, who was 19, was living in the family home and disappeared after going out with friends for the evening. The rest of her family were away and she was alone for the first time.

A neighbour dropped Germa off at home in the early hours of Sunday morning. When she failed to turn up for church the next day, the alarm was raised. On Monday the police were drafted in and found signs of a struggle and traces of her blood.

The investigation has been restarted following a tip made to the Peter R de Vries foundation, which was set up to investigate cold cases. The foundation, last year offered a €250,000 reward for information leading to the case being solved.

The house now under investigation was lived in by one of Germa’s relatives at the time she disappeared.