Municipality knew about problems in family before ex killed woman at Hardenberg daycare

It was no secret that there were problems in the family in which the man stabbed his ex to death on Tuesday at the childcare center in Hardenberg where she worked. Both the council of the village where they lived and the mayor of Emmen were aware of the fact that the man had violently harassed the woman several times in recent weeks, RTV Oost reported. It is unclear whether anything was done about these alarming signals.

The 53-year-old woman and her 56-year-old partner lived in the Drenthe village of Schoonebeek. They’d been together for decades and had four children, two of whom still live at home. It was an open secret in the village that things were not going well, locals told the broadcaster.

The man could not accept that the relationship had ended. On Tuesday, he waited for his ex at her job at the childcare center De Kameleon in Hardenberg. He stabbed her as she tried to get into her car. Many children and their parents witnessed the violence. She died in the hospital.

The man tried to flee, but a local prevented this. The man then stabbed himself in the stomach. He too was taken to hospital and the police arrested him there.

Chairman Jos van Hees of Dorpsbelangen Schoonebeek told RTV Drenthe that the village council had been aware of the situation in the family for some time. “We were hearing things here and there. I won’t go into details, but we passed the signal on to the mayor during a visit in July.” According to Van Hees, the mayor said that he was already aware of the situation. Van Hees doesn’t know if anything was done.

Deputy mayor Raymond Wanders of Emmen, which covers the village, confirmed to RTV Drenthe that the police knew about the family, but did not want to comment further. He also did not say whether the family received any support. “The police are currently investigating the circumstances and the municipality will also be involved in this,” he said.

This is the second tragedy to hit Emmen this year. Early this year, a man from Weiteveen shot a married couple dead after a long ongoing argument about the condition of the house they bought from him. The case received extensive publicity because the man live-streamed a confession shortly after the double murder.