The best friend of the deceased Sanne has not slept for days. Not only did he lose his best friend, but he also faces death threats from strangers to conspiracy theorists. “But I won’t succumb to keyboard knights. It has to be about Sanne and Hebe from now on.”
Mark Deckers from Nuenen cannot hold back the tears on Saturday afternoon. “They say I did it. People who don’t know me read those stories and believe them. And the worst part is, I understand those people somewhere too. But it’s all not true.”
“Someone wanted to offer 10,000 euros to shoot me in the head.”
The bodies of Sanne and Hebe were found in a car near Den Bosch on Wednesday evening. The car is believed to have overturned. They searched for the two for days. An AMBER Alert was even sent out. During that search, Mark frequently appeared in the media to ask people to join the search.
Mark heard the fateful news about Sanne and Hebe on Wednesday night, and apparently he wasn’t alone. While he was trying to process all the misery, he also immediately started receiving threats. In fact, the threats were so serious that Mark filed a complaint.
“Suddenly I received a phone call. That someone wanted to offer 10,000 euros to let me shoot through the head. Then another call: someone who wants to give 20,000 euros to whoever would kidnap my son. Then I would feel what the parents of Sanne and Have a feeling now.”
“They think I did it.”
It didn’t stop there. The wildest stories do the rounds, according to Mark. “About that I kidnapped her, or that I was even the one behind the wheel. Then I think: how can that be? Do people think I crawled out of the car after the accident and walked back home with wet clothes ? Folks, think logically.”
Mark’s past was frequently cited on social media. Many old articles can be found online in which Mark is accused of transgressive behaviour. But the Public Prosecution Service stated that this was unjustified. “People don’t understand that, it seems. They think I did it at the time. But that’s not the case. Justice agreed on all fronts.”
Because of everything, he hasn’t slept since Monday night.
“The bizarre thing is that at a certain point you don’t feel anything anymore. I agreed with myself not to stop looking until we found Sanne and Hebe. Now that is the case, and then I go to bed, but yes, I don’t sleep anymore. It seems to be just waiting now. Waiting until I can move on with my life.”
“I’m ashamed that it’s been about me for days.”
The report that is now there is taken very seriously by the police, says Mark. He likes that the police take everything so seriously. Yet he refuses to attract much of “those idiotic people” to himself. “Then I would succumb to those keyboard knights. And I’m not going to do that. No, I also told the police that I absolutely will not give in. And that must be the end of it.”
Because, according to Mark, that’s the worst thing: that he’s suddenly the news.
“I am ashamed that it has been about me for days. It is degrading. I am telling my story now, but I think it must end after that. The Netherlands must know how beautiful, beautiful and caring Sanne was. That is what it must be about , and everyone should know that,” he concludes.
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