In cooperation with
RTV Utrecht
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NOS News•Tuesday, 18:29•Amended Tuesday, 18:51
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A 58-year-old Dutchman was arrested at the JFK airport in New York last weekend in connection with a murder case from thirty years ago. New DNA testing in the case led to his arrest. The suspect, American by birth, moved to the Netherlands at the end of the last century.
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The murder of which the Utrechter is suspected is that of the then 25-year-old Laurie Houts from Mountain View in California. Houts was found dead in her car on September 5, 1992; she appeared to have been strangled.
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De Utrechter, who is CEO of an American software company with a branch in Nieuwegein, was also a suspect in this case at the time. However, there was not enough evidence against him at the time, so he could go free.
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Homes searched
Modern DNA techniques offered the California Public Prosecutor’s Office new leads to reopen the case. The Dutch judicial authorities received a request from the US to have the man’s home and company searched. A spokesperson for the Central Netherlands Public Prosecution Service confirms to RTV Utrecht, after reporting by De Telegraaf, that a search has been carried out in both Utrecht and Nieuwegein this weekend.
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The victim and the suspect knew each other because Houts had a relationship with the Utrecht resident’s roommate. He would have been jealous of the woman because of her relationship with his roommate.
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The suspect had no alibi for the night in which Houts was killed. His fingerprints were found on the outside of the car, but police at the time were unable to prove that he had actually been inside the vehicle.
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New proof needed
Cases were filed against the Utrechter twice, but both times the man was acquitted due to lack of evidence. The police think that it is now more likely to successfully prosecute him, because with the help of new techniques the man’s DNA has been found on the rope that was used to strangle Houts.
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