Police looking for witnesses in fire that killed elderly couple
The police are looking for more information about a fire at a home on Gruttostraat in Hellevoetsluis at 1:20 a.m. on Friday, May 20th in which elderly couple Bram and Lucia Lampers were killed. The police have a suspect in custody suspected of involvement in a number of fires that targeted the Lampers family, but don't have enough evidence to connect him to the fatal one. They are therefore calling on the public to help via Tuesday night's broadcast of Opsporing Verzocht. Bram and Lucia Lampers, both 84, burned to death in the house where they lived for 50 years and raised seven children. Attempts by first neighbors and then the fire department to save them from the fire were to no avail.
In the days before and after the fatal fire on Gruttostraat, the Lampers family were directly or indirectly the victims of five fires, a vandalized car and several threatening messages. So far the police believes the motive for these attacks lies i an innocent night out one of the Lampers sons had with a female friend in the center of Hellevoetsluis on King's Night. The son and a friend celebrated the night at cafe 't Barbiertje. They had fun, can be seen on photos of the two of them together on both their Facebook pages. The next day, April 28th, the son's front door was set alight. His house is on Asmusstraat in Hellevoetsluis. The fire was small and he managed to extinguish it quickly, without much damage done. On April 30th, the friend he partied with on King's Night received an SMS message telling her to break contact with the Lampers son. She showed the message to the son. They tried to call the number. After a few no answers, an unknown woman picked up and then quickly hung up again. On May 10th there was another fire at the home of the Lampers son. His shed was set alight in the middle of the night. Firefighters extinguished the fire and determined that arson was involved. During the night between 18 and 19 May his car was vandalized. The following night, during the early hours of May 20th, the elderly Lampers couple's house was burnt down and they died in the fire. Four days after the death of her parents, during the early hours of May 24th, one of the Lampers daughters noticed that someone tried to set her front door alight. And finally on May 28th, the friend of the Lampers son had the mat at her front door set alight. The fire at her home on Mossel, also in Hellevoetsluis, was extinguished quickly without much damage done. The suspect currently in custody, a 48-year-old man from Spijkenisse, is suspected of being responsible for a number of fires in Hellevoetsluis, vandalizing the Lampers son's car and sending threatening messages. But the police can't link him yet to the fire on Grotostraat that killed Bram and Lucia Lampers. Investigators are therefore calling on the public to help with information. The police know that the suspect cycled from Spijkenisse to Hellevoetsluis at least once during the period of the fires. They would like to talk to anyone who spotted the man making the about 15 kilometer tip on his bicycle.
The man also owns an old blue Renault Clio. The police would like to anyone who noticed this car in and around Hellevoetsluis late in April and in May.
Finally the police want to talk to friends and acquaintances of the suspect from Spijkenisse.
