Police use hologram to solve 15-year-old murder: ‘Unique and exciting’

As of today, the Amsterdam police are making a final attempt to solve a fifteen-year-old murder case. In the Red Light District, the 2009 murder of 19-year-old Hungarian sex worker Bernadette ‘Betty’ Szabó is drawing attention in an innovative way. Police are hoping to get new leads using, among other things, a hologram.

A building on Korte Stormsteeg will be completely dedicated to the business for a week. For example, images are shown of part of the crime scene and the last moving image of Betty and a documentary are shown. Perhaps the most head-turning thing is a Betty-inspired hologram. In it, a woman on a stool behind the window asks for help from people who pass by.

“The hologram is not one-to-one, but it does resemble Betty,” says Anne Dreijer-Heemskerk of the Cold Case Team in the News NOS Radio 1. “That was chosen because of the relatives.”

“The fact that we are now doing this in this way is unique and, to be honest, very exciting. We want to do justice to Betty, her relatives and the case,” wrote Benjamin van Gogh , coordinator of the Amsterdam Research Communication Team . press release

Betty Szabó was murdered on February 19, 2009 in her tendon room on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal. Before the murder, Betty was seen by several of her colleagues and other witnesses. Two of Betty’s sex workers and neighbors suddenly stopped seeing her during the evening and did not hear her usual music. They decided to take stock around 1am. They found Betty on the floor in a large pool of blood. She was killed by dozens of stab wounds.

The police launched a massive investigation. The crime scene was searched, traces were secured, camera images were analyzed and witnesses were interviewed, but in vain. The case came cold case

When the Amsterdam Cold Case Team looked into the case, the investigators quickly came to the conclusion that they wanted to make one last attempt to solve the case. They are sure there must be someone who knows more about the matter. According to them, Betty’s story is harrowing: only 19 years old and her life was taken in a terrible way.

Betty’s life was not easy. At the age of 18 she left for Amsterdam and started as a sex worker in the Red Light District. She became pregnant and continued to work during her pregnancy. Shortly after giving birth, she went back to work and worked long hours as a sex worker. Her son was only three months old when Betty he was murdered. The child was placed in a foster home. “While all murder cases are indeed horrific, there are many poignant aspects to Betty’s story,” said Dreijer-Heemskerk of the police.

The team is sure that there is someone who knows more about the case, someone who might have been afraid to testify at the time, but now wants to tell about it. “We have different theories as to who it might be, but we hope that someone will come forward through the media explosion,” says Dreijer-Heemskerk.

That’s why the team will make this last ditch effort to solve the case. “Betty was murdered in one of the busiest places in Amsterdam, maybe even in the whole of Holland,” Dreijer-Heemskerk explains. “It can’t be otherwise that there are people who saw or heard something hit at the time, or heard someone talking about the matter.”

According to the detective, this does not have to be someone from Amsterdam. People from all over the world come to the Red Light District. It is hoped that the increased prize to 30,000 euros will help. “Two-thirds of similar cases come to a successful conclusion because of good media attention. “