DNA kinship investigation launched to identify girl found dead in 1976

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is starting a DNA kinship investigation to try and identify the Heulmeisje - a teenage girl found dead at a parking lot along the A12, De Heul, near Maarsbergen in 1976. The court recently approved a request for the investigation, the OM confirmed to RTV Utrecht.

The DNA kinship investigation was years in the making. The Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) exhumed the girl’s remains nine years ago and drew up a DNA profile. The authorities then announced a kinship investigation, but it is only now getting off the ground.

The Heulmeisje’s body was found in a shallow pit along the A12. She was naked and covered with leaves and branches. She was between 13 and 20 years old when she died. The authorities believe she lay in that pit for months before being found.

For some time, it was suspected that the Heulmeisje was a girl from the region who had gone missing. But that woman turned up alive in 2008, according to the broadcaster.

The cause of the Heulmeisje’s death is unknown, though the police believe she died in a crime. That could be murder, but she could also have died due to neglect, a spokesperson told the broadcaster.

“Depending on the results of the kinship investigation in the DNA database for criminal cases, new investigative acts may be carried out,” an OM spokesperson told RTV Utrecht. “Only when this entire process has been completed, and it is clear whether this has led to the identification of the Heulmeisje, will we publish new information about this.”