Willeke Dost was only 15 years old when she went missing. Now, she is presumed dead. In 1992, the theory was that most likely Willeke had run away but now police think that she was murdered shortly after she disappeared. They now also believe that the original crime scene is near the foster parents’ farm.
This switch in theory did not come easy. In fact, it was an uphill battle that reached the highest politicians in the country. Due to Dost’s “missing status” her case never got the priority it would have gotten if the assumption had been “possible homicide.” Thanks to the assistance of PI Robert van Hoove, police arrested Willeke’s foster mother(66) and her son(38). The foster-father has passed away.
van Hoove analysed all the interviews that the foster parents gave to police and the media. He noticed their unusual remarks about Willeke. The foster parents stated that they suspected that Willeke had been the victim of a “loverboy” and that the “Bijlmer ramp” was harmful to her.
The Bijlmer ramp refers to the airplane disaster on October 4, 1992, where a Boeing 747 cargo plane from EL AL (flight 1862 of the Israeli airline) crashed into the apartment flats in Amsterdam Bijlmermeer. The disaster cost 43 lives, including the three-man crew and the only passenger on the plane. Aside from the 43 recorded deaths, there were possibly more victims among the illegal apartment dwellers in the Bijlmermeer flats.
Police has closed off the area around the farm in Koekange. Teams of detectives are walking the grid in hopes to find traces. A white forensic tent was set up and heavy digging equipment was moved to the farm. There is a clip on YouTube about the search but it is in Dutch.
On January 15, 1992, Willeke left her foster parents’ farm early in the morning by bike. Willeke’s biological parents died in a fatal car crash in 1976 when Willeke was an infant. She was temporarily placed with her grandmother but grew up in various foster families until in 1986; she was placed with the foster family in Koekange. They already had a daughter and two sons. There is no information whether the daughter or the other son were arrested as well or their whereabouts.
A week before she disappeared, Willeke allegedly told a girlfriend, Geke Crediet, that she was pregnant, according to Geke’s mother who repeated that statement on national television in 2004. Her foster father denied that that statement held any truth. He has since passed away.
H/T Jacques.