NOS News•today, 09:16
As of today, the Amsterdam police are making a final attempt to solve a fifteen-year-old murder case. In the Red Light District area, attention is being drawn in an innovative way to the 2009 murder of 19-year-old Hungarian sex worker Bernadette ‘Betty’ Szabó. The police hope to receive new tips 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. What will probably turn the most heads is a hologram inspired by Betty. In it, a woman on a stool behind the window asks passers-by for help.
“The hologram is not one-to-one, but symbolizes Betty,” says Anne Dreijer-Heemskerk of the Cold Case Team in the NOS Radio1 News. “That was chosen because of the relatives.”
“The fact that we are now doing this in this way is unique and, to be honest, also quite exciting. We want to do justice to Betty, her relatives and the case,” writes Benjamin van Gogh, coordinator of the Amsterdam Investigation Communication Team, in a press release .
Dozens of stab wounds
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 fellow sex workers and neighbors suddenly stopped seeing her during the evening and did not hear her usual music. They decided to take stock around 1 a.m. They found Betty on the floor in a large pool of blood. She had been killed with dozens of stab wounds.
The police began a large-scale investigation. The crime scene was thoroughly investigated, traces were secured, camera images were studied and witnesses were interviewed, but in vain. The matter became a cold case.
When the Amsterdam Cold Case Team looked into the case, the members quickly came to the conclusion that they wanted to make one last attempt to solve the case. They are convinced that there must be someone who has more information about the case. According to them, Betty’s story is harrowing: just nineteen years old and her life was taken from her in a terrible way.
Pregnancy
Even before her death, 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 was murdered. The baby was placed in a foster home. “Although every murder case is of course terrible, Betty’s story has many poignant aspects,” says Dreijer-Heemskerk.
The team is convinced that there is someone who knows more about the case, someone who may have been afraid to testify at the time, but now wants to tell about it. “We have different theories about who the perpetrator could be, but we hope that someone will come forward through a major media explosion,” says Dreijer-Heemskerk.
That’s why the team makes this last attempt to solve the case. “Betty was murdered in one of the busiest places in Amsterdam, perhaps even in the whole of the Netherlands,” Dreijer-Heemskerk explains. “It cannot be otherwise than that there are people who saw or heard something striking at the time, or heard someone talk about the case.”
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. The hope is that the increased reward to 30,000 euros will help. “Two-thirds of similar cases come to a successful conclusion due to great media attention.”
