Large DNA investigation postponed in 1998 cold case murder

The Public Prosecutor postponed a massive DNA kinship investigation in the 1998 murder of 11-year-old Nicky Verstappen with a few months. The investigation was set to start after the summer, but has now been pushed back to the first quarter of 2018, AD reports.

The postponement is due to the judiciary getting new and more efficient DNA sets soon and because preparation is taking longer than expected.

For the DNA kinship investigation, around 15 thousand men in Zuid-Limburg will be asked to voluntarily give a DNA sample. These samples will be compared to traces found when the boy was murdered on Brunssummerheide, near Heerlen, in 1998. The judiciary hopes to get sight on a perpetrator through a partial match from a family member - in other words, they hope a brother, uncle or cousin of the perpetrator will give a DNA sample.

In May Chief Prosecutor Roger Bos said that this kinship investigation is "the last real possibility to solve this case".