Family drops challenge to suicide ruling for teen struck by train

Dascha Graafsma's family decided to accept the police's conclusions that the 16-year-old-girl committed suicide when she was killed by an oncoming train in Hilversum on November 28th, crime reporter Peter R. de Vries said to newspaper AD as spokesperson for the family. The family met with the police, judiciary, Netherlands Forensic Institute and toxicologist Frank van de Groot on Tuesday to discuss the findings of their investigations. De Vries was also at the meeting. "They accept the results and conclusions of all investigations, but they of course have difficulty with the question of how it could come to that", he said to the newspaper. The toxicology examination concluded that Dascha was not under the influence of drugs when she died, but that she was under the influence of alcohol. An investigation with sniffer dogs revealed that the girl wandered the streets of Hilversum for some time after she left a club at around 2:00 a.m. before ending up on the tracks around 6:00 a.m. It was later revealed that she had a fight with a friend before leaving the club. The family now accepts that she "follow a path she chose herself", according to De Vries. "The absence of a suicide note means that some questions will unfortunately always remain unanswered."