Car owner interrogated in fatal hit and run of teen girl
A 28-year-old resident of Germany was taken into custody and interrogated this week in connection with a fatal hit-and-run crash nearly seven weeks ago. Police had been looking for the driver of a Mazda 3 in connection with the overnight incident that left 14-year-old Tamar Boes dead on the side of the road.
"The Noord-Holland police spoke on Wednesday, 9 September, with the owner of the gray Mazda which was most likely involved in the fatal accident on 25 July in Zuiderwoude," police said. He turned himself in for questioning at the behest of his Dutch defense attorney.
"Police determined that the owner of the car was the driver at the time of the accident. The man is suspected of leaving the scene of the accident."
He was released from custody after he was questioned as pre-trial detention was not possible in this instance. Police said he was still a suspect in the case, but said so far the incident was viewed as a traffic offense only.
"The decision to stop holding the man is related to the nature of the suspicion: leaving the scene of an accident is not a criminal offense for which pre-trial detention is permitted," police said.
Tamar Boes was walking along Zeedijk back to her home in nearby Marken. She was reported missing by her mother, Trintje Boes, at about 1 a.m. A patrol unit dispatched to help find the girl discovered her body.
The Mazda 3 was seen pulling into a parking lot in Marken at about 3:09 a.m., where two men exited the vehicle to examine the car's front end. They left the village by 5:30 a.m., police said. Dutch police managed to track down the car with the public's help.
Trintje Boes had given a televised interview where she asked the driver to come forward to help the family find some peace.
"I can't save Tamar anymore, but I still have questions," she said on Op1 shortly after the fatal accident. "I want to know: did she look back, did she notice that a car was coming? Questions like that. And they remain unanswered. Only the person in the car knows that."
