Forensic evidence has not yet tied drugged, murdered 9-year-old boy to suspect’s home

The various investigations into the abduction, sexual abuse, and killing of 9-year-old Gino van der Straeten from Kerkrade have not yet led to the definitive conclusion that the boy was in suspect Donny M.’s home. Investigators have found no forensic trace of the boy in the 23-year-old man’s home. That is “remarkable” and “very strange” because the suspect stated that he had taken the child to his home, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said on Monday in the second non-substantive hearing in the Maastricht court.

Gino disappeared on June 1 while playing outside. The police and hundreds of volunteers searched far and wide for the 9-year-old boy. On June 4, the police arrested M. at his home in Geleen. He led the police to Gino’s body a short time later.

During the first hearing in this case, M. confessed that he abducted Gino, gave him ecstasy and Kamagra (a kind of Viagra), and sexually abused him. He gave inconsistent statements about the child’s murder. Gino may have been suffocated with a pillow, but other injuries could also indicate strangulation or drowning. The autopsy on Gino’s body concluded that he was strangled and suffocated. It also found “indications” of sexual abuse.

The ecstasy and Kamagra may have contributed to the boy’s death, the OM said on Monday while updating the court on the state of the complex investigation. Radiological and toxicological studies have been carried out. The Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) is still investigating the tape used to wrap the garbage bags in which Gino was found.

The OM also revealed on Monday that the authorities tapped M. in prison and intercepted letters from the man. M. underwent a behavioral examination at the Pieter Baan Center. He cooperated with this research, and the center is preparing the final report.

On Monday morning, the court stood still at the death of Gino’s mother. “We want to express our condolences for the great loss,” the judges told Gino’s sisters, who were present for M.’s hearing. “We understand that it is very difficult for you to be here. The intense grief related to your mother’s death must make that more difficult.” The sisters asked that this hearing be postponed, but the court emphasized that it was necessary given the legal terms of M.’s pre-trial detention.

Gino’s mother was found dead in her home last month. She died of natural causes. The family’s spokesperson said that Monday’s hearing is another “violent moment” for the family and that he hopes it won’t take too long. “After all, it is another challenging confrontation, even more fraught with the mother's death.”

Phil Boonen, who represents one of the sisters, asked the court to give the family access to the investigation file. After a short deliberation, the court decided that only the family’s lawyers could have access. While finishing the hearing, one of Gino’s sisters again yelled at M. “Throw everything on the table. You have nothing left to lose.”

The OM also suspects M. of possessing and distributing child pornography and the sexual abuse of an incapacitated person in 2019.

The man was previously convicted of assaulting and threatening two children and sexually assaulting at least one of them. He was also convicted in the past of attempted manslaughter for throwing a paving stone off an overpass. The judge then said that the man was less accountable because he has an autism spectrum disorder and is mentally underdeveloped. “He is very dependent on guidance and supervision and can act impulsively at times when this guidance is not present,” the judge said at the time.

The case against M. will continue with another pre-trial hearing on February 15.