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Dascha Graafsma and her father Rene (Photo: Dascha Graafsma/Facebook)
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Dascha Graafsma and her father Rene (Photo: Dascha Graafsma/Facebook)
Thursday, 7 January 2016 - 11:21
Discovered phone could unravel mystery of teen’s sudden suicide
Two boys found the missing iPhone 5 that belonged to Dascha Graafsma, who was killed by an oncoming train in Hilversum on November 28th. The phone was found in ivy on a tree in a playground, near to where her ID card was also found and where she was caught on surveillance camera shortly before her death, NOS reports.
"The phone is going to the NFI (the Netherlands Forensic Institute, ed) to extract the latest data", crime reporter Peter R. De Vries, who has been assisting Dascha's family after her death, said to RTL. "It was the last piece of the puzzle. The family is happy that it too has now been found."
A spokesperson for the Midden-Nederland police told broadcaster NOS that he does not know if the phone will reveal important new information about what the teenager did during her last hours. "The phone was found wet. That means that it will need days to dry before we can get to work." The police also already received information about her call, SMS and app use from her service provider.
Dascha left a nightclub in Hilversum around 2:00 a.m. on November 28th. She was hit by a train at 5:20 a.m. near the station Hilversum Sportpark. The train driver saw her walking on the track and told the police that she did not try to prevent the collision. This is one of the reasons the police believe she committed suicide.
Dascha's father Rene refused to believe it and insisted on further investigation. The family finally accepted the police's conclusions after further investigation did not bring new facts to life - only that the girl wandered the streets for hours before being run over and that she had alcohol in her system but not drugs.