Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

Insane doesn't even come close to the story that hit the frontpages here in Holland this week. It's one of those stories that got weirder and weirder as time went on. Check this out. About a month ago in Rotterdam, the police got a phonecall from someone that thought their neighbour was kidnapped/held against his will. Two police officers got the call and went over to the house to check it out. According to the reports, the two cops could hear the victim (a 28-year old male) scream in extreme pain once they got there. But instead of helping the victim - who seemed to be in mortal danger - they called for backup and waited. By the time backup did arrive (according to witnesses it took an hour; the cops maintain it was 30 minutes), the victim had already died from - as it turned out - brutal torture. Shortly after that the police arrested two male 25-year old suspects (Walter van A. and Jeffrey S.) and a 24-year old woman (Marian D.). Apparantly the two men had enough time to leave the scene of the crime.

Naturally there was a big public outcry about the fact that two armed police officers just waited outside an appartment while the victim - literally - was being tortured to death inside; what where they thinking? Off course the official police statement was that the two cops just followed procedures; whenever a hostage situation (kidnapping) is called in, they are instructed to not just kick in a door, but 'observe' the situation until backup arrives. This is done to not bring either the hostage - or the cops - in harms way.

Obviously in this situation that procedure was wrong; if the cops would have done something it is likely that the victim would still be alive. Given that fact, this week the police announced they will review this case and see if the procedures for these cases need to be changed or not.

So far one would just conclude that this was a tragic incident. But then news leaked out about the motive for the murder.

The 28-year old victim was rumoured to have repeatedly sexually abused his 5-year old son. The woman that was arrested (Marian D.) turned out to be the ex-girlfriend of the 'victim' and she had told the two men about the abuse of their son. The two then decided to take matters in their own hands and applied some 'justice' of their own to the 'victim' and "got medieval on his ass". She, however, was not present during the crime.

After hearing this, I more or less could understand why this could have happened. Not that I think people should take matters in their own hands, but at least I could see why this horrible thing could occur.

But a day later things got to a whole new level again: according to an ex-girlfriend (Magda E.) of one of the two male suspects, "he got 'inspired' by a torture scene in a movie called "Hostel 2"". The police have not confirmed anything yet, but did say "details where to gruesome" to release to the press.

The sad thing is that for all we know the ex-girlfriend of the victim might have held a grudge againt him and just used the abuse as an excuse to get him murdered by her two psychopath friends.

Who knows?

As it now turns out, John Mark Karr is not the killer of JonBenet Ramsey. There was no match between the DNA found on JonBenet's body and Karr's DNA. As I wrote in my Blog about this case: I guess all that is left now, is to match his DNA to the DNA extracted from the crime scene, because personally, I do not rule out that Karr is confessing to something he did not do. So sadly my gut feeling (to me he just looked like an obsessive freak) now turns out to be right. His motive for confessing seems unclear: but then again, lunacy in itself makes people unpredictable and erratic.

DNA tests completed on Saturday confirmed that Karr "was not the source of the DNA found on the underwear of JonBenet Ramsey" -- disproving his claim that he was sexually involved with the child and killed her by accident. Karr's family also provided "strong circumstantial" evidence he was with them in Georgia at the time of the crime, court papers stated. Karr claimed to have had a perpetrators knowlegde of the crime; this means he would have had knowlegde of details that were not been disclosed to the press. Usually police knowingly spreads wrong information about a case, so when they have someone that confesses, they can easily know if he/she is lying or not.

For instance: JonBenet died from a blow to the head and had been strangled with a garrote tightened with a paintbrush handle. Now, it could be that it wasn't a paintbrush at all, but coathanger: such information would only be known to the real killer.

The sad thing is that the JonBenet Ramsey case will probably never be solved and will stay a cold case for ever.

Bizarre news of the day: Austrian girl 'found' after 8 years. As incredible as it may be: a 10 year old girl that disappeared on her way to school in Vienna on March 2, 1998 was found again after she was able to escape her captor. Police were called when she was found staggering in a garden. The kidnapper, named in Austrian media as 44-year old Wolfgang Priklopil, had been chased by police earlier on Wednesday evening and his red BMW car was later found abandoned. The suspected kidnapper died after throwing himself in front of a train.

The story is to bizarre for words: the woman was abducted and held captive in a sealed garage at the house in Strasshof, in the Gaenserndorf area on Vienna's northeastern outskirts. Police have searched the garage, and say it looked like a dungeon. Austrian media report that the room had a cavity measuring four by three metres (yards), with an entrance measuring 50cm by 50cm. They believe it was blocked with a sound-proof safe whenever the kidnapper left the scene. A bed and bookshelf with children's books were reportedly also found there.

Few details of Wednesday's events have been made public. But the state broadcaster ORF carried remarks by Erich Zwettler of the Austrian federal police saying that the girl escaped from her captor when the door to her hiding place was open, and ran into a nearby garden where she told an elderly woman that her name was Natascha Kampusch and that she had been kidnapped. Although police have not identified the suspect, Austrian media have said he was 44-year-old Priklopil, described as a communications technician. The police had contact with the alleged kidnapper about three months after Kampusch disappeared in 1998 but that he had a "sturdy alibi" at the time.

Trying to imagine how she must have survided all those long years just sends shivers down my spine. Too bad the guy committed suicide.

Update: video of Natascha's dungeon

Wow, this is a shocker: over 10 years the Jonbenet Ramsey case was never solved and turned into a 'cold case'. Until yesterday, when a 41-year old suspect was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. The man, John Mark Karr, who is reported to have admitted being present when JonBenét died, but claiming "it was an accident". He is to be extradited to the US and charged with 1st degree murder. Karr was reportedly obsessed with JonBenét and had contacted Michael Tracey, producer of the 2004 documentary Who Killed JonBenét? as well as other researchers in Boulder.

Jonbenét Ramsey was a six-year-old girl and beauty pageant queen who was found murdered in the basement of her parents' home on December 26, 1996, in Boulder, Colorado, United States, eight hours after being reported missing. The case drew national and international attention when no suspect was charged and suspicions turned to possible family involvement. Lot's of speculation went on about the muder case and the parents got scrutinized by the press. They remained they were innocent.

In December 2003, forensic investigators extracted enough material from a mixed blood sample found on JonBenét's underwear to establish a DNA profile. The DNA belongs to an unknown male. The DNA was submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a database containing over 1.6 million DNA profiles, mainly from convicted felons. Later investigations also discovered that there were more than 100 burglaries in the Ramseys' neighborhood in the months prior to JonBenét's murder, and that 38 registered sex offenders were living within a 2-mile radius of the Ramsey's home.

JonBenét's mother, Patsy Ramsey, died of ovarian cancer on June 24, 2006, at the age of 49. She had been battling cancer off and on after first being diagnosed in 1993. She had a recurrence in 2003. She was aware at the time of her death that the Boulder County (Colorado) District Attorney's Office was investigating a suspect in Bangkok, Thailand.

So sadly, when it turns out Karr is the killer, she will not be here to be cleared of all blame. I guess all that is left now, is to match his DNA to the DNA extracted from the crime scene, because personally, I do not rule out that Karr is confessing to something he did not do.

Breaking news: arrest in JonBenét case




More videos:
- MSNBC reporting on Jonbenét Ramsey
- CNN reporting on Jonbenét Ramsey case
- Geraldo segment on JonBenét murder (2005)

My girlfriend Carrie (who happens to be in Milwaukee on a conference) told me a pretty bizarre story last night when we were talking about the 6-6-06 thing. It proves that, if there is a devil, he does have a good sence of humor. This is what happened:
A teacher from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) wanted to entertain her students as part of her summer school forensics class by setting out a fake CSI crime scenes under several ficus trees, using paper skeletons, fake weapons, notes, shell casings, and sunglasses. The kids then found a hand clutching a fence. The kids thought it was their teacher messing arround and so one of the kids touched the fingers, expecting them to be soft, like rubber. Instead, they were hard and stiff with rigor mortis. Near the body, students saw boots, clothes and what looked to be a cardboard bed.

While one of the kids took evidence pictures with his digital camera, several students dashed off to alert the teacher and asked her if she had "planted a body in the park". The teacher walked over - to what turned out to be a real crime scene - imagining her students had found a homeless person who was sleeping or just passed out. But then she saw a real body, half hidden by a pipe near an air-conditioning unit and realized the field trip had turned into an actual crime scene. After that the police off course took over and turned what was just a school fieldtrip into a real-life CSI. Police investigators said the victim (a white male) may have died of natural causes.

Wow. How bizarre?