Murder of Marianne Vaatstra

Marianne Vaatstra (Dutch pronunciation: [mɑˈrjɑnə ˈvaːtstraː]; 10 August 1982 – 1 May 1999) was a Dutch girl whose rape and murder became a high-profile criminal case in the Netherlands. Vaatstra, then sixteen years old, was last seen alive cycling from Kollum to her parents' house in Zwaagwesteinde. Her body was found the next day, in a field close to Veenklooster, her throat slit. Traces of the perpetrator's blood and semen were also found at the scene.

The blame was quickly pointed to inhabitants of the local asylum seekers' refuge, and a riot against asylum seekers ensued. The murder was a cold case until it was reopened in 2012 with large-scale DNA profiling in the area around the crime scene. This led to the arrest of local farmer, Jasper S., on 18 November of that year. He confessed to the rape and murder, and was sentenced to eighteen years' imprisonment. The case was one of the first in the country to be resolved mainly using DNA evidence and led to widespread debate about the use of DNA for criminal investigations.

The population of Kollum was quick to blame inhabitants of the local asylum seekers' center for the murder. The center's security was upgraded, and riot police was readied in the weeks following the murder, to intervene in the case of fighting between locals and refugees. At a municipal information meeting in October 1999, about the opening of a new center in the town, locals rioted, with Kollumer youth egging the mayor. At least one woman, who had incited the riots, was convicted for a racist offense.

A first suspect, a 32-year-old man from Zwaagwesteinde, was arrested in late May 1999, but was subsequently released because his DNA did not match that found at the crime scene. He would become the first in a series of twelve suspects who were similarly arrested and released.

From August 1999, police investigation of Vaatstra's murder focuses on the asylum seekers' center near Kollum. The center's guards had reported that an Iraqi refugee had left the center on the night of the murder, and had been missing since. He was tracked down by Interpol and arrested in Istanbul in October, but the investigation became a national controversy after an official of the Public Prosecution Service had stated the arrest was made under political pressure. The Iraqi was found innocent of the murder by DNA evidence. In 2002, a final decision was made to open an asylum seekers' refuge at the planned location, without drawing local protests.

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