Still unknown DNA traces from the Dutroux case are at the Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI) for comparison with the case of Tanja Groen, who has been missing since 1993. The Public Prosecution Service in Maastricht confirmed reports about this The Limburger.
Student Groen disappeared on the night of August 31 to September 1, 1993 after a party during the introduction week at student association Circumflex in Maastricht. The then 18-year-old student from Schagen in North Holland was on her bicycle to her room in Gronsveld, where she never arrived. Since then, every trace of her has been missing.
About two years ago, the Netherlands submitted a request for legal assistance to the Walloon justice department to be allowed to compare traces with the Dutroux case. Unknown DNA traces and hair were found in homes and a car belonging to the Belgian serial killer. The cold case team wants to know whether there is a connection between the two cases by comparing traces.
Dutroux
The Belgian serial killer’s method, in which he pulled girls with bicycles and all into a van – such as 12-year-old Sabine Dardenne in May 1996 – could fit in with Groen’s disappearance. The Belgian justice department already investigated in 1997 whether Tanja Groen was one of the victims of Marc Dutroux. Her parents and those of numerous other missing young people were invited at the time to view approximately 4,500 pieces of clothing and toys that had been seized from Dutroux and his co-suspects. This confrontation with ‘material evidence’ yielded nothing.
Yet two years ago, a request for legal assistance was submitted again. The spokeswoman for the Public Prosecution Service in Maastricht confirmed that the traces have been transferred to the NFI to be inventoried. “Then we will look at what investigations are still possible,” she said. ,,It takes time. There’s no telling how long this will last. Any further investigations will also take time.” She didn’t want to say more about it. It remains unclear why it took so long for the Dutch legal assistance request to be met. The Public Prosecution Service does not want to say anything about that.
Searches
In recent years, several unsuccessful searches have been made for Groen. In June 2014, bones linked to the student were found in the woods in Gronsveld, but they turned out not to be hers. In the autumn of 2019, the cold case team of the police in Limburg received information about the place where Groen’s body may have been buried. The police investigated that place, but without results.
There was also a new search on the Strabrechtse Heide in the municipality of Heeze-Leende, a place that has consistently featured in witness statements since the 1990s. But once again there appeared to be no traces that would indicate that Groen was buried in a specifically demarcated area, which had emerged from information in the investigation file.
In December 2022, the Peter R. de Vries Foundation withdrew the reward for the golden tip surrounding the disappearance of Tanja Groen. There was a reward of 1 million euros, but the golden tip did not come.
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Tags: DNA Dutroux case compared traces Tanja Groen Belgian serial killer method Domestic
