De Vries murdered for "putting his nose where it doesn't belong": suspect in tapped call
Peter R. de Vries was killed because he “stuck his nose everywhere it doesn’t belong,” one of the suspects in his murder said in a tapped phone call with his girlfriend on the night the crime reporter was murdered. “That’s why they shot him,” suspect Christopher W. said, police sources told EenVandaag.
According to the program, the 27-year-old W. and two other men were ordered to murder De Vries in the spring of 2021. But the order eventually went to someone else because they were taking too long, and W. got arrested at the end of May to serve a sentence in another case. The crime reporter was gunned down outside the RTL Boulevard studio in Amsterdam on 6 July 2021, allegedly by Delano G., with Kamil E. acting as the getaway driver.
Christopher W. is one of the suspects in the 26Hendon investigation into the people who orchestrated De Vries’s murder. According to EenVandaag, from prison, he regularly spoke and gave orders to suspects Gerower M. (26) and Erickson O. (27). They are accused of filming De Vries’s shooting and posting the footage on social media to increase the impact of the crime.
In a call with Christopher W. early in June 2021, Gerower M. and Erickson O. said they “started working” on their “observation.” On 6 July 2021, W. called the two from prison, and they said they were “on their way.” Vehicle registration records show them driving from Rotterdam to Amsterdam in a gray Peugeot 206 at the time. They were right behind the car carrying alleged gunman Delano G. and Kamil E.
Later that night, W. was talking on the phone with his girlfriend, who told him about De Vries being shot. “Nice for him,” W. responded. His girlfriend responded angrily, and W. said that De Vries “stuck his nose everywhere it doesn’t belong. That’s why they shot him.” Investigators recently added this tapped call to the investigation file, EenVandaag’s sources said.
In another call on 1 August, Christopher W. talked about alleged gunman Delano G., saying “that kid who did it is a rapper. He dit it for the fame.” W. also said, “that little man has lost everything,” and that Delano G. and Kamil E. were “stupid and hasty.”
In the year before his murder, De Vries acted as a confidant for key witness Nabil B. in the Marengo assassinations trial, which revolves around several murders and attempted murders allegedly orchestrated by Ridouan Taghi. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) assumes Taghi also ordered De Vries’s murder. The OM demanded life in prison against Taghi in the Marengo case.
The first court hearing in the 26Hendon case will take place on Thursday. It could have implications for the ongoing court case against Delano G. and Kamil E., accused of committing De Vries’s murder. Their next hearing is early next month when the presiding judges could decide to start the trial over because of the new arrests and one judge’s resignation, or deliver a verdict as closing arguments were already submitted.
