Suspect in dog park murders sent for psychological examination

Thijs H., who is suspected of killing three people in dog walking areas in Scheveningen and Heerlen, was remanded into another 14 days of custody on Wednesday. The 27-year-old man from The Hague will be admitted to the Pieter Baan Center for psychological observation, the examining magistrate decided, NU.nl reports.

H. is suspected of killing three people. He is facing charges of murder or manslaughter, depending on whether premeditation can be proven. 

The first victim, a 56-year-old Japanese woman, was found dead on Galgenpad in the Scheveningen woods on May 4th. 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 near Heerlen on May 7th. 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. 

On Wednesday morning, May 8th, H. went to the Mondriaan psychiatric institute in Maastricht. But he quickly left again during the commotion that followed a stabbing incident in the clinic, which he had nothing to do with. The Hague man was arrested later that evening, after a national search was launched for him a few hours earlier. 

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.