Death of Nicole van den Hurk

Death of Nicole van den Hurk

Nicole van den Hurk
Date c. 6 October 1995 (body discovered 22 November 1995)
Location Eindhoven, North Brabant, Netherlands
Type Homicide
Burial 28 November 1995 (1995-11-28)
Eindhoven, North Brabant, Netherlands
Suspect(s) Andy van den Hurk (1996, 2011)[1]
Ad van den Hurk (1996)[1]
Jos de G. (2014[1]–16[2])
Accused Jos de G.
Charges Rape, manslaughter
Trial 2 November 2015 – 21 November 2016 (2015-11-02 – 2016-11-21)
Verdict Guilty (rape)
Innocent (manslaughter)
Sentence 5 years' imprisonment

The death of Nicole van den Hurk occurred between 6 October and 22 November 1995 in the Dutch province of North Brabant. Fifteen-year-old Nicole van den Hurk (4 July 1980 – c. 6 October 1995) disappeared on 6 October 1995 on her way to Woensel shopping centre in Eindhoven, where she was working a holiday job. Following a search for her by the police in and around the area, her corpse was found in the woods between Mierlo and Lierop on 22 November, six-and-a-half weeks after her disappearance.

After being closed in 1996, the case was re-opened in March 2011 after Van den Hurk's stepbrother Andy confessed to killing her.[3] He was released a month later due to a lack of evidence and later retracted his confession, saying he made it to get Nicole's body exhumed.[4] After the remains were exhumed in September 2011, DNA linked the crime to a man identified as Jos de G., who was arrested in January 2014.[5][6] Charged with rape and manslaughter, De G. was acquitted of manslaughter but found guilty of rape in November 2016, and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.[2]

Background

Nicole van den Hurk was born on 4 July 1980 in Erkelenz, Rhineland, Germany, to Angelika Tegtmeier.[7][8] In 1982, they moved to Veldhoven, North Brabant, Netherlands, with Tegtmeier's boyfriend, Dutch singer Ad van den Hurk, whom Tegtmeier married in Eindhoven later that year.[7]

According to an article published by Eindhovens Dagblad dated 24 May 1996, Ad was not Nicole's biological father.[7] It was unknown who the father was until July 1981, when a test on a sample of blood from a German friend of Tegtmeier's, who was by then married to another woman, tested positive, and his name was added to Nicole's birth certificate in April 1982.[7] After Tegtmeier and Nicole moved in with Ad, Ad was legally recognised as Nicole's father, while the biological father remained in Germany.[7] The biological father paid alimony monthly, even after Tegtmeier's suicide in 1995.[7] He had not known that Ad had become legally recognised as Nicole's father.[7] Ad disputed the claims made by the newspaper and threatened legal action against it, saying he was "firmly convinced" he was Nicole's biological father.[7] The German father stated that this could not be true, saying that Nicole was born before Ad met Tegtmeier.[7]

After Ad and Tegtmeier divorced in 1989, Ad won custody of Nicole.[7][8] At the time of her disappearance, Nicole lived with Ad and his wife Jolanda,[8] and was staying at her grandmother's house in Tongelre.[9]

Disappearance, search and body discovery

Van den Hurk left her grandmother's house in Tongelre in the early morning of Friday, 6 October 1995, and began cycling to Woensel shopping centre, where she was working a holiday job at the bakery.[10] When she did not arrive at work, her boss telephoned her, and received no response.[10] At 18:00, a team of police officers searching for her found her bicycle in the river Dommel, close to Eindhoven's water treatment plant.[1] Between then and 10 October, a team of divers from the local fire brigade searched the Dommel around the area; the police questioned Van den Hurk's family and friends, along with a group of five children whom they had detained for violence towards cyclists and pedestrians on the Wasvenpad, where Van den Hurk was last seen and near where her bicycle was found; a platoon of policemen from the Mobiele Eenheid searched for clues in the Eckart forest near the water treatment plant and from a police plane and students at Van den Hurk's school were questioned.[1] On 11 October, two of the Dommel's overflow drains were searched, following a tip from a psychic consulted by Van den Hurk's stepparents, to no avail.[1] By this time the police had almost a hundred tips.[1] The river banks of the Dommel, from the Wasvenpad to the channel in Son, were searched on 17 October.[1] After finding no trace of Van den Hurk, the team stopped searching the Dommel.[1]

The police received a letter from an anonymous sender reporting a sighting of a car on the Wasvenpad around the time Van den Hurk disappeared.[1][10] During the time Van den Hurk was missing, the police also investigated in Germany, questioning her extended family.[1] On Thursday, 19 October, Van den Hurk's rucksack was found in the berm between Eindhoven's DAF-complex and the Kanaaldijk-Zuid.[1] On 20 October the police searched the Eindhovensch Kanaal with a sniffer dog and its south side.[10][1] On 25 October, the number of tips increased following a broadcast of TV programme Crime International by RTL 4.[10][1] During the weekend of 28–29 October, on the initiative of TV programme Deadline, broadcast by TROS, detectives again searched the areas they had searched between 6 and 20 October.[1] By 7 November, the police had received 250 tips.[10][1] There were strong suspicions that Van den Hurk was in Germany and a substantial possibility that she had run away according to them; stepfather Ad van den Hurk did not believe this hypothesis.[10][1] On 17 November, the corpse of a female found in Belgium was identified as not being that of Van den Hurk.[10][1] A further forty tips were received on 20 November after a broadcast of TV programme Hier en Nu, and the following day friends of the Van den Hurk family announced the founding of Opsporing Vermiste Kinderen, which aimed to collect money to print pamphlets with Nicole's picture.[1]

On Wednesday, 22 November, six-and-a-half weeks after Van den Hurk's disappearance, a passerby found her corpse in the woods between Mierlo and Lierop.[8][11] She was buried on 28 November at a funeral attended by approximately one thousand mourners.[12] The Public Prosecution believed that she most likely died from a stab wound which caused internal bleeding, but the exact cause of death was never determined.[13]

Investigation and arrests

The police had received a telephone call on 24 October 1995 from an anonymous caller who said they knew the name of Van den Hurk's killer, but the call was disconnected before they could give details.[10] An unsuccessful attempt was made to trace the caller by national television in January 1996.[10] Later, with the investigation stagnating, the team of detectives was reduced to four.[10][1] In February, Celine Hartogs, a girl from Eindhoven arrested in Miami for drug trafficking, who knew the Van den Hurk family, told police that she had been forced to smuggle heroin by men who she said were involved in Nicole's death.[1] Hartogs was questioned in Miami in March before she returned to the Netherlands.[1][14] The police said her story was flawed and did not help the investigation.[1] Meanwhile, Passie magazine offered a sum of money for details of the killer, and it was suggested on TROS programme Deadline that Van den Hurk could have been killed by the same person who killed another girl from Eindhoven, Manuela van Beek.[1] Between May and June 1996, Van den Hurk's stepbrother Andy and stepfather Ad were arrested in connection with the killing, before being cleared of any involvement.[1][10][11]

By 2011, Andy van den Hurk had moved to Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. On 8 March 2011, he wrote on Facebook that he had confessed to killing Nicole, and was subsequently arrested by British police.[3][15] Ten days later, he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on extradition proceedings,[3] and the verdict was that he was to be extradited to the Netherlands after a seven-day period during which he was allowed to appeal.[16] In an interview with Eindhovens Dagblad, his father, Ad, Nicole's stepfather, who was living in Spain, doubted the truthfulness of Andy's confession, saying he was "begging for attention".[15][17] Three days after the verdict was passed he told Omroep Brabant that he believed his son was the killer;[18] his ex-wife Jolanda van der Weijden disagreed with him about this.[19] By 25 March, Andy had not appealed the decision,[20] and was subsequently extradited to the Netherlands on 30 March and held at the police station on the Mathildelaan in Eindhoven for questioning.[21][22] He appeared in the court of Den Bosch on 1 April, where the judge decided that he would be released, as the only evidence provided by the judiciary was the confession Andy posted on Facebook.[23] The judiciary appealed the decision, but this was rejected[24] and he was released on 5 April.[25] Some days after his release, Andy retracted his confession, telling Omroep Brabant that he was "almost certain" that it was his father who killed Nicole, and that prior to her death, Ad had raped and impregnated her – these accusations were denied by Ad.[26][27] In April 2016, Andy said in an interview that he falsely confessed to bring attention to the crime and get Nicole's body exhumed to be examined for DNA tests which could help solve the killing.[4]

Van den Hurk's remains were exhumed on 9 September 2011 to allow the Netherlands Forensic Institute to examine them for the killer's DNA.[28] On the same day, the reward for her killer's details was increased from 25,000 guilders to €15,000 by the judiciary.[29] On 13 September, the police announced on AVRO TV programme Opsporing Verzocht that DNA had been found on the remains,[29] and by 15 September they had received more than twenty new tips.[30] They were still unable to solve the crime[31] and on 16 November, Van den Hurk's remains were returned to her grave.[32] Towards the end of 2012, the case was re-opened with the help of the NFI,[31], and on 17 January 2014, the police arrested a 46-year-old man identified as Jos de G.[33] in Helmond, after his DNA matched traces found on the remains and at the crime scene.[34][31] De G. had previously been convicted of three rapes, being sentenced to three years preventive detention and compulsory treatment for one of them.[33][34] He was known to have left his ex-girlfriend's home after a fight on 5 October 1995, a few hours before Van den Hurk's disappearance,[35] but claimed innocence.[36]

Court hearings and trial

The case was first brought to the court of Den Bosch on 24 April 2014, where public prosecutor Erna Vrijhoeven announced that a woman had told police that she was kidnapped and raped by De G. in 1987.[35] De G.'s lawyer Job Knoester disputed the reliability of the DNA evidence, as DNA from other people, including Van den Hurk's ex-boyfriend, was also found on her remains.[35] He argued that Van den Hurk may have consensually had sex with De G., had had multiple sexual partners, and may have been pregnant at the time of her death.[37][38] At a pre-trial hearing on 3 July, the Openbaar Ministerie (Public Prosecution Authority) dropped the murder charge against De G. and he was instead charged with manslaughter along with rape.[39][36] At a later hearing on 2 December, the defense team filed a request for recusal against the court, after it was ruled that investigators were not obliged to release all files connected to the original murder inquiry.[37] Defense attorney Knoester deemed the court "biased".[37] The request was denied later that month.[38] At the eighth pre-trial hearing on 5 October 2015, De G. continued to maintain his innocence, saying he had no contact with Van den Hurk between her disappearance and the discovery of her body, although he may have had consensual sex with her a few days before she went missing.[40]

The trial began at the court of Den Bosch on 2 November 2015.[41] On 9 November, experts from Netherlands Forensic Institute and the Independent Forensic Services testified on the reliability of the DNA evidence.[42] Investigators had been unable to obtain a full DNA profile from semen found on Van den Hurk's remains.[42] While the expert from the IFS said this was unusual, the expert from the NFI disagreed, citing the fact that her body was in an advanced state of decomposition when it was discovered.[42] On 12 November, the court suspended the trial for two weeks to allow investigation into a statement made by a witness who said De G. once told them that he had killed a girl, believing he could have been talking about Van den Hurk.[43][44] The following day, Jolande van der Graaf of De Telegraaf published an interview with the witness and another, in which said they said they heard De G. say he strangled a girl while the three were patients in Veldzicht mental institution in the mid-2000s.[44] De G. denied this when they testified this in court in April 2016, and Knoester argued that they made these statements in order to claim the €15,000 reward offered by the Public Prosecution.[45]

DNA from at least three people was found in a trace of sperm on Van den Hurk's remains after they were exhumed in 2011.[46] The NFI believed the DNA to belong to her stepbrother Andy, her then-boyfriend and De G..[4] With experts disagreeing on the reliability of the sample, it was announced in March 2016 that scientists from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research in Auckland, New Zealand would re-analyse the DNA using a mathematical and statistical method (instead of a laboratory test) as part of a programme named "STRmix".[4] According to Eindhovens Dagblad, this was the first time the method would be used in a Dutch case.[46] On 19 April, the court heard that it was 2.28 million times more likely that the DNA belonged to De G. and two others, than three other people.[47]

On 12 October 2016, the Public Prosecution demanded that De G. be sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment.[13] They did not believe that De G. had engaged in consensual sex with Van den Hurk, citing a pubic hair found on her coat and arguing that she had no time for a relationship prior to her death.[13] Two days later, Van den Hurk's family's lawyer Richard Korver filed a recusal request against the jury on behalf of the family on the basis that the jury "[were not taking] them seriously" and had not given Nicole's stepbrother Tommy the chance to speak.[48][49] This was denied on 19 October.[49] On 21 November 2016, De G. was found guilty of rape and sentenced to five years' imprisonment following a unanimous verdict, while he was absent from court.[50] In determining the penalty, the court took into account the finding that De G. was legally insane at the time of the crime.[51] He was found innocent of manslaughter as the court took into account the possibility that another of the three people whose DNA was found, who was never definitively identified, was involved in the death.[50]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Beenen, Carin (17 March 2011). "Chronologisch overzicht moordzaak Nicole van den Hurk". Eindhovens Dagblad (ED.nl) (in Dutch). Netherlands. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Dit moet je weten over de zaak-Nicole van den Hurk". NU.nl (in Dutch). Netherlands. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Young, Richard (18 March 2011). "Cold case murder – Stevenage man hands himself in". The Comet/Comet 24 (thecomet.net). Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Maas, Amy (10 April 2016). "Dutch police turn to Kiwi scientists to help solve 1995 cold case". Stuff.co.nz. New Zealand. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  5. ↑ "Aanhouding voor 18 jaar oude moord op Nicole van den Hurk". NU.nl (in Dutch). Netherlands. 17 January 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  6. ↑ "Verdachte moord Nicole van den Hurk is tbs'er". NU.nl (in Dutch). Netherlands. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Ad van den Hurk niet de vader van Nicole". Eindhovens Dagblad (ED.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. 24 May 1996. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Belleman, Saskia (2 November 2015). "Familie Nicole hoopt op einde lijdensweg". De Telegraaf (telegraaf.nl) (in Dutch).
  9. ↑ "Vrijspraak Jos de G. voor doden Nicole van den Hurk, 5 jaar voor verkrachting". Boevennieuws.nl (in Dutch). Netherlands. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Graven, Henrieke (18 March 2011). "De zaak Nicole van den Hurk op een rij". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  11. 1 2 "Na 21 jaar komt OM met strafeis in moordzaak Nicole van den Hurk". Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS.nl) (in Dutch). Netherlands. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  12. ↑ "Belangstelling uitvaart Nicole enorm". Eindhovens Dagblad (ED.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. 29 November 1995. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  13. 1 2 3 Pieters, Janene (12 October 2016). "Suspect could face 14 years in prison for 1995 rape, murder". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  14. ↑ Deadline (TROS), 8 February 1996.
  15. 1 2 Kagie, Sandra (18 March 2011). "Verdachte aangehouden in zaak Nicole van den Hurk". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  16. ↑ Graven, Henrieke (18 March 2011). "Verdachte moord Van den Hurk wordt toch uitgeleverd". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). London. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  17. ↑ "Ad van den Hurk: 'twijfel over verklaring zoon'". Eindhovens Dagblad (ED.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. 17 March 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  18. ↑ Jansen, Rob (21 March 2011). "Vader: mijn zoon vermoordde Nicole van den Hurk". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven.
  19. ↑ Jansen, Rob (22 March 2011). "Stiefmoeder: Andy niet moordenaar Nicole van den Hurk". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl). Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  20. ↑ Spierts, Twan (25 March 2011). "Andy van den Hurk wordt snel uitgeleverd". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). Stevenage. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  21. ↑ Vermonden, Ronnie (30 March 2011). "Zaak Nicole van den Hurk: stiefbroer Andy in Nederland". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  22. ↑ Young, Richard (31 March 2011). "Stevenage man extradited in Dutch murder case". The Comet/Comet 24 (thecomet.net). Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  23. ↑ Janssen, Hans (1 April 2011). "Justitie in beroep: Andy van den Hurk niet vrij". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). Den Bosch. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  24. ↑ de Vries, Jan (4 April 2011). "Andy van den Hurk vrijgelaten: onvoldoende bewijs". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). Den Bosch. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  25. ↑ Vossen, Asja (5 April 2011). "Andy van den Hurk op vrije voeten". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  26. ↑ Spierts, Twan (15 April 2011). "Andy van den Hurk: ‘Nicole was zwanger toen ze werd vermoord’". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  27. ↑ van Hoof, René (15 April 2011). "Ad van den Hurk ontkent beschuldigingen". Omroep Brabant (omroepbrabant.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  28. ↑ Beenen, Carin (9 September 2011). "Lichaam Nicole van den Hurk opgegraven". Eindhovens Dagblad (ED.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  29. 1 2 Beenen, Carin (13 September 2011). "'Doorbraak in zaak Nicole'". Eindhovens Dagblad (ED.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  30. ↑ "Ruim twintig nieuwe tips over zaak-Nicole". Eindhovens Dagblad (ED.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. 15 September 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  31. 1 2 3 Newmark, Zack (17 January 2014). "Arrest made in teenage girl's 1995 murder". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  32. ↑ Dohmen, Hub (16 November 2011). "Lichaam Nicole van den Hurk herbegraven". Eindhovens Dagblad (in Dutch). Eindhoven. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  33. 1 2 "Jos de G suspected in Van den Hurk murder". NL Times (nltimes.nl). 23 January 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  34. 1 2 "Van den Hurk murder suspect a repeat offender". NL Times (nltimes.nl). 21 January 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  35. 1 2 3 Zech, Maxime (24 April 2014). "Court hears details of cold case murder". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  36. 1 2 Newmark, Zack (4 July 2014). "Homicide charge dropped in Van Den Hurk murder". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  37. 1 2 3 Pieters, Janene (2 December 2014). "Defense wants recusal in Nicole van den Hurk murder case". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  38. 1 2 Newmark, Zack (24 December 2014). "Judge bias claim tossed in trial of teen's alleged killer". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  39. ↑ "OM laat moord vallen in zaak Nicole". De Telegraaf (telegraaf.nl) (in Dutch). Den Bosch. 3 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  40. ↑ "Suspect reiterates denial in 1995 rape, murder; Lawyer: Consensual sex possible". NL Times (nltimes.nl). 5 October 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  41. ↑ Pieters, Janene (2 November 2015). "Nicole van den Hurk murder case in court 20 years after crime". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  42. 1 2 3 Pieters, Janene (9 November 2015). "Murder suspect challenges DNA evidence in teen’s 1995 rape, murder". Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  43. ↑ Pieters, Janene (12 November 2015). "New witness in 1995 teen girl’s murder delays closing arguments". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  44. 1 2 Pieters, Janene (13 November 2015). "New witness: De G. confessed to strangling teen girl". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  45. ↑ Pieters, Janene (20 April 2016). "Journalist ordered to testify in 1995 Nicole van den Hurk murder". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  46. 1 2 Pieters, Janene (31 March 2016). "DNA evidence re-examined in 1995 rape, murder". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  47. ↑ Pieters, Janene (19 April 2016). "Court hears DNA evidence in 1995 murder". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  48. ↑ Pieters, Janene (14 October 2016). "Family demands new judges in 1995 rape, murder case". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  49. 1 2 Pieters, Janene (19 October 2016). "Recusal denied: Judges to stay on 1995 rape, murder trial". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  50. 1 2 Newmark, Zack (21 November 2016). "Jos de G. guilty of rape, not murder in '95 death of Nicole van den Hurk". NL Times (nltimes.nl). Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  51. ↑ van Rooij, Bart-Jan (22 November 2016). "Toch nog hoop op 'meer' bij familie Nicole van den Hurk". Eindhovens Dagblad (ED.nl) (in Dutch). Eindhoven. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
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