On October 6, 1995, 15-year-old Nicole van den Hurk disappeared on her way to work in Eindhoven, a city in the Dutch province of North Brabant. Her body was discovered in a wooded area on November 22, 1995.
In 2011, van den Hurk’s stepbrother confessed to killing her, but he was released a month later due to lack of evidence. He later admitted that he had falsely confessed in order to have her body exhumed for DNA tests.
Nicole’s Early Life
Nicole van den Hurk was born on July 4, 1980, in Erkelenz, Germany, to a single mother named Angelika Tegtmeier.
Following Nicole’s birth, her mother started a romantic relationship with a man from the Netherlands named Ad van den Hurk, and the trio relocated there, where the couple tied the knot at a later time. Nicole and her mother’s last name, Tegtmeier, were changed to van den Hurk to match her new stepfather’s last name.
In 1989, Ad van den Hurk and Angelika Tegtmeier divorced, and Ad was granted custody of Nicole. Nicole was raised by her stepfather and subsequently by her stepmother, alongside their other children. One of Nicole’s step-siblings, named Andy, would later play a role in a breakthrough in the cold case.
Nicole Goes Missing
On the early hours of Friday, October 6, 1995, the 15-year-old girl embarked on a bike ride to the Woensel shopping center, where she was employed in a temporary position. However, she never arrived at her destination.
Later that day, at 6:00 pm, the police found her bicycle submerged in the Dommel River. From that moment until October 17, the authorities conducted searches in the river and a nearby forest. On October 19, her backpack was discovered near Eindhoven’s canal, and the following day, the canal and its southern banks were scoured. These areas were searched again between October 28 and 29.
The girl’s stepfather refuted the notion that she had fled to Germany, where her extended family resided. By November 20, the police had received approximately 300 tips.
On Wednesday, November 22, a pedestrian came across her body in the forest.
Every effort to identify her killer was unsuccessful. Finally, the case was declared cold and nearly abandoned.
Nicole’s Stepbrother Re-awakens the Case
In 2011, the victim’s stepbrother, Andy, moved to England. On March 8th of that year, he confessed to the murder via a Facebook post and was detained by British authorities.
He was extradited to the Netherlands on March 30th, but was released five days later due to insufficient evidence, with the Facebook post being the only incriminating factor.
Later, he retracted his admission and alleged that his father was the actual perpetrator. During a 2016 interview, Andy stated that he had falsely confessed to the crime to spark renewed interest in his stepsister’s case and to have her body exhumed for DNA analysis.
Despite the false confession, a new cold case team was assigned to the investigation in early 2011, and they continued their efforts to solve the case.
In September of that year, Nicole’s remains were exhumed to obtain DNA samples, and the reward for information about the killer’s identity was raised from 25,000 guilders to €15,000. Within a week of this increase, the police disclosed that foreign DNA had been discovered on the remains and that they had received over twenty new leads.
Investigators Find Success
Two clear male profiles were identified from the DNA evidence found in the remains, with one belonging to Nicole Van den Hurk’s boyfriend at the time of her murder and the other to an unknown male.
The cold case team investigating Nicole Van den Hurk’s murder discovered a link between the modus operandi used in her case and another rape that took place in September 2000 in the same area where Nicole’s body was found.
In that case, a young woman was taken from her bicycle and raped at knifepoint, and the perpetrator was convicted of the crime in 2001.
The similarities between the two cases gave the detectives enough reason to compare a previously taken DNA sample from the suspect with the DNA profiles obtained from Nicole’s remains. This led to the arrest of Nicole’s killer.
A 46-year-old man named Jos de G. was arrested by the police on January 14, 2014.
This case was a bit difficult considering the duration between when she died and when her body was exhumed for DNA extraction.
On October 9, De Ge was given a twelve-year prison sentence for the rape and murder of Van den Hurk.
Credits: Vocal Media