Vinkeveen murder was an expensive watch robbery gone awry

The murder of a 29-year-old party organizer in Vinkeveen in December was a robbery gone awry. The perpetrators were after the victim’s expensive watch, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said in a pro-forma hearing against the three suspects, Parool reports.

The victim, Lorenzo, was a well-known figure in Amsterdam nightlife. He had moved from the Dutch capital to Vinkeveen a few days before his murder on 4 December 2023. He was on his way to the gym when he was stabbed in the parking lot of his apartment building. First responders resuscitated him at the scene and rushed him to a hospital, but he died in the ambulance on the way.

According to the OM, 23-year-old Maroun B. ordered the fatal robbery. Using the Snapchat account Binko, he allegedly commissioned 20-year-old Koen B. and 20-year-old Tyrese H. to commit the robbery.

The OM believes there is enough technical evidence to prove Marouan B. owned the Binko account. The account was created at the IP address of his parental home, and his Apple account was used to activate the phone used. He also used his sister’s phone to search “Vinkeveen” after the robbery, and seeing that the victim had been killed, he communicated about it with his sister and asked her to delete those messages, the OM said.

Koen B. has already confessed to committing the fatal robbery. According to the OM, Tyrese H. drove Koen B. to and from the crime scene and gave him the knife he used to kill Lorenzo.

H. and Marouan B. have so far remained silent in the hearings. All three suspects remain in custody. Their next hearing is scheduled for July 16.