The body of the Dutch Maria van der Zanden from Putten was found in Germany after 29 years. The young woman had been missing since 1994. The case again received the attention of the Peter R. de Vries Foundation.
A match has been found between Maria and a previously unknown dead woman from Germany. The Peter R. de Vries Foundation and the police report this in a press release on Wednesday. After a comparison of fingerprints, it was determined that the unknown woman was indeed Maria.
The woman’s body was found by the German police at the end of August 1994. He then assumed suicide.
At the beginning of last year, the Peter R. de Vries Foundation contacted the East Netherlands cold case team in early 2022 to bring the matter back to the attention. The foundation offered a reward of 250,000 euros for information leading to her discovery. It was not paid out because Maria’s body was found thanks to police work.
Previously no DNA match possible
The then 22-year-old Maria disappeared on August 6, 1994, after she left her parental home on her bicycle. She would be home around dinner time, but the woman did not return.
At the end of August 1994, the German police found the lifeless body of a woman in a reservoir near Soest. The German police stated that she most likely died by suicide.
The investigation then did not lead to the identification of this woman, after which she was eventually buried in an unnamed grave. In 1994 no DNA was taken. The international sharing of DNA from the Netherlands would therefore not have led to a match before.
2023-05-24 08:21:44
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