Suspect sought help after double dog park murder: report
Thijs H., the man suspected of killing three people in dog walking areas in The Hague and Heerlen this week, sought help from the Maastricht psychiatric clinic Mondriaan after stabbing two people to death in Heerlen, the Telegraaf reports based on sources close to the investigation.
H. had previously been treated at that institution, the Public Prosecutor confirmed on Thursday. How long he was in the clinic, when the treatment happened, and for what he was treated, the Prosecutor did not say. Images of H. that were spread during the manhunt for him on Wednesday, came from security cameras at the Mondriaan clinic, according to the newspaper.
There was a serious stabbing incident at this same clinic during the early hours of Wednesday morning. Two employees and three patients were injured. A suspect, one of the injured patients, was arrested. The Public Prosecutor in Limburg said that this incident is separate from the investigation around Thijs G., NOS reports.
"Well informed sources" told newspaper AD that H. was living in social isolation, took antidepressants and had recently attempted suicide. His family feared that the manhunt for him on Wednesday would trigger another suicide attempt, according to the newspaper.
The 27-year-old man from The Hague was arrested on Wednesday evening in South Limburg, after a national search was launched for him a few hours earlier. H. is suspected of stabbing three people to death.
The first victim, a 56-year-old Japanese woman, was found dead on Galgenpad in the Scheveningen woods on Saturday. She left her home on Nicolaistraat in The Hague to go walk her dogs on Saturday afternoon. Passersby found her body an hour later, with her cargo bike and disabled dog. Her other dog was found a time later.
A 68-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman were found killed in nature reserve Brunssummerheide in Heerlen on Tuesday. A passerby found the woman's body first and called the police. The man's body was found about a hundred meters away. Like the Hague victim, these two victims were also with their dogs.
Former students of Leiden University, who studied in the same faculty as H. in the 2014/2015 academic year, describe him as soft-natured and friendly, if a bit of a wallflower.
