Seventeen years after the murder of a prostitute in the Amsterdam Bijlmerpark, the police arrested a suspect. The 60-year-old American was extradited to the Netherlands last week. Yesterday he was brought before the examining magistrate.
The 42-year-old Yvette Looijs was violently killed in November 2003. Her body was found in the Bijlmer Park. She led a nomadic life in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, had been addicted to hard drugs for a few years and had sex in exchange for money, the police report.
The police started a search for an American who would have been her last customer and would have told other people that he had hit Looijs in the Bijlmerpark and left her there. After a broadcast of Opsporing Verzocht, several people were arrested, but ‘the American’ who the police was looking for was not among them.
Dig in memory
After a few years, the case became a so-called cold case. In 2017, Amsterdam cold-case investigators came across important information in an investigation into another case. This gave new leads, which led to the suspect. After living in the Netherlands for a few years, he lived in America again.
The police would like to know what exactly happened in the park. “Hopefully the suspect will explain more about that,” says the team leader of the Amsterdam cold case team. “However, that does not alter the fact that we call on everyone to dig into his or her memory again or perhaps they know more about this case. Even after seventeen years, all information is welcome with us.”
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