Police solve 8 missing person cases in 2 months thanks to more international cooperation

Thanks to increased international cooperation between police services, eight long-running missing person cases have been solved in the past two months. And there are new leads in many more cases of unknown deaths, missing persons, and abductions, Wendy van Hilst, a forensic expert at the Dutch police, told the Telegraaf.

The police can’t reveal any details about the recently solved cases yet, Van Hilst said. “Some investigations are still ongoing, while in other cases, families must first be informed.” But in all of them, international cooperation proved crucial.

The Netherlands currently has approximately 1,400 missing persons, both domestically and international. Additionally, the Dutch authorities have DNA profiles of around 1,000 deceased people who were never identified in their databases, hoping that a match will one day provide clarity.

According to De Wit, this is where international cooperation proves crucial. Because the DNA of these persons may be on a police database in another country. Though this type of cooperation remains complex. “Each country has its own legislation for DNA storage and its own databases,” Van Hilst explained.

That will hopefully change with the launch of Prüm II, a Europol-managed database where 196 participating countries can store the DNA profiles of missing persons and unknown deaths.

In the Netherlands alone, authorities have access to a database of hundreds of thousands of DNA profiles. For the past 20 years, anyone convicted of a serious crime with a prison sentence of at least four years has been required to submit biological material to be included in the database.

The Netherlands Forensic Institute said last year that the number of DNA profiles has topped 400,000, leading to between 200 and 400 matches per month in various investigations. Roughly 62 percent of trace evidence collected in new investigations results in a match, the institute said.

For four years, the Netherlands has chaired PEN-MP, a European police network of over 39 countries that share knowledge and expertise on missing persons, child abductions, and unidentified deaths.

Last week, the annual conference took place in the Netherlands. During the conference, investigators collaborated on public source research and uncovered leads in 18 cases. “In six cases, we even have indications of possible whereabouts or resting place,” De Wit said. In two cases of international child abduction, investigators determined the countries the children were likely taken to. And in one unknown death, they found a lead to the country of origin.