Amsterdam mistaken identity murder suspect released

With additional reporting by Zack Newmark.

E.L., suspected of complicity in the Amsterdam Centrum murder of Stefan Eggermont, was conditionally released from custody this week, according to broadcaster AT5. Eggermont was shot in his car on July 12th on Conradstraat in Amsterdam Centrum last year, and police believed he was a victim of a mistaken identity.

"This was the only lead in the investigation but with the release of E. L., that is gone now. I'm afraid there's nothing more to happen," she stated to AT5.

Eggermont arrived home that day in his blue Fiat Punto, and parked in the same area as alleged criminal underworld confidante Omar Lkhorf. Lkhorf drives an identical car, but returned home thirty minutes earlier. Lkhorf's brother, Yousef, was killed in December 2012, in a shooting that drastically escalated a tit-for-tat series of gangland executions.

The murder weapon was found in the apartment of the suspect. He was released from pre-trial custody after nine months in jail, as no new evidence was found linking him directly to the murder.

E. L., 26, suspect denies having committed the murder and blames the already assassinated Massod Amin Hosseini, who was shot in Osdorp on September 3rd. However, E. L. never told who gave him the murder weapon, as that might put his life in jeopardy, he stated.

The release of the suspect came as an enormous blow for Eggermont's widow, the broadcaster said. Initially relieved by the arrest, she now fears her husband's murder will go unsolved.