Marianne Vaatstra from Zwaagwesteinde was found dead in a meadow near Veenklooster on the night of April 30 to May 1, 1999. The 16-year-old girl turned out to have been raped and murdered. The perpetrator left a DNA trail on the victim, which ultimately led to his arrest. The murder case caused great unrest in the area and the case kept the Netherlands in its grip for more than ten years. On November 18, 2012, a suspect is arrested, who turns out to be the rapist and murderer.
Arrest of suspect of murder of Marianne Vaatstra
The police make an arrest in the Marianne Vaatstra case 13 years after the rape and murder. Jasper S., then 45, from Oudwoude was arrested on Sunday, November 18, 2012 on suspicion of murder. He was immediately transferred to a police cell in Leeuwarden. It concerns a white Frisian of 45 years old; he is married and has two children. He lives with his family on a farm on the Allemawei, just outside the village of Oudwoude. He milks about sixty cows and has forty young cattle.
Ordinary man
The family is at the heart of the community. He is described as an ‘ordinary man’. It is a one hundred percent DNA match. In 2012, kinship DNA research was used to close the net around the perpetrator.
Oudwoude
Oudwoude (Aldwâld) is a village near Kollum in the municipality of Kollumerland, in the Frisian Wouden. Less than 900 inhabitants live in the village. The white man, without a criminal record, lives about a mile away from the location of Marianne’s body, in a meadow near Veenklooster.
Bauke Vaatstra
Bauke Vaatstra, Marianne’s father, has always maintained the path to justice. He was supported in this by crime reporter Peter R. De Vries and he received the Machiavelli Prize for it. Vaatstra is happy that he has stuck with it all this time. ,Unbelievable,, says Bauke Vaatstra on Radio 1 in response to the news. “It must be him,” he says relieved on Omrop Fryslân. A burden has been lifted from his shoulders, he indicates. Bauke Vaatstra received a call from the justice department late that Sunday evening. He immediately called his children together to hear and process the news together. Justice and police came to the house of one of Vaatstra’s daughters to report the facts.
Someone from the neighborhood
Vaatstra does not know the man. His grandchildren do, they attend gymnastics with the suspect’s children. Vaatstra has always said that it must be someone from the neighborhood.
Tension among the parents
The marriage of Bauke Vaatstra (1939) and Maaike Terpstra (1942), Marianne’s parents, proved unable to withstand the tension brought on by the investigation into the murderer. The couple divorced in 2007. They both live in Zwaagwesteinde, each on one side of the cemetery where their daughter is buried. Marianne has two brothers and three sisters who are older: she was the last one.
Villagers
Fellow villagers of S. from Oudwoude are impressed by the arrest. The impact of the news is difficult to penetrate. The farm was cordoned off at the time of the arrest, and an investigation is still underway. The crime scene can be reached from the farm via the meadows.
Neighbor and Village Interest
Neighbor Gerrit Dijkstra is shocked. It’s a nice family, he says. He cannot believe that his neighbor across the street is Marianne Vaatstra’s murderer. When he heard it he got a peak moment , a goosebump moment.
Sjoerd Hoekstra of Dorpsbelang Aldwâld believes that the community should pay attention and care to S’s immediate family. Bauke Vaatstra’s fellow villagers in De Westereen speak of relief. They are happy for the parents of the murdered girl.
Zwaagwesteinde
The people from Zwaagwesteinde (De Westereen) are relieved that the perpetrator does not come from their village. Mayor Arie Aalberts of Dantumadeel, the municipality in which Zwaagwesteinde is located, is on the one hand relieved that the perpetrator (S was still a suspect at the time of his arrest) has been arrested. On the other hand, it is terrible for the family, for the wife and children, for the parents. That duality is there, says the mayor.
Eggs from Kollum
Initially, many people from Kollumerland thought that the perpetrator was in the Kollum Asylum Seeker Center. An information meeting of the Central Body for Asylum Seekers about the relocation of the AZC in Kollum resulted in a full sports hall, a restless meeting and demonstrations. COA regional manager Anneke Haarsma and then mayor of Kollumerland Piet Visser were pelted with eggs by demonstrators. The meeting had to be aborted.
DNA research
The DNA research showed that it had to be a white man. In September 2012, almost 7,000 men participated in the DNA relationship research. In November 2012 there was a one hundred percent DNA match with suspect Jasper S. from Oudwoude. Lawyer Bert de Boer from Sneek initially assists S.. This was assigned to S. as a picket lawyer. The news about the arrest was immediately big news nationally and in Europe.
Farm sold
In the autumn of 2013 it was revealed that Jasper S.’s farm had been sold to a farmer from Engwierum. The company with 40 hectares of land had been for sale for a long time. It turned out that it had already been sold earlier in that year, 2013. Jasper S. has been convicted and is serving a prison sentence.
read more
- Marianne Vaatstra – DNA relationship research
- Marianne Vaatstra – Details about the murder investigation
- Marianne Vaatstra – Her brothers and sisters
- One Billion Rising – V-Day, resistance against abuse of women
- Marianne Vaatstra – Jasper’s confession after DNA research