There is a good chance that DNA research will lead to the murderer of Wies Hensen. That says the citizens’ initiative Wieshensen.nl in four blogs. And it is not only with the blogs, there is also a letter to the judiciary with the request that there must be a DNA investigation. Wies Hensen was last seen at the fair in Budel in 1989, a day later she was found. She was killed. The murder is still not resolved 36 years later.
“The DNA profile will certainly lead to the murderer,” says cow letters above one of the blogs on Wieshensen.nl. Joop Donkers, one of the two initiators behind the website, is therefore firmly convinced that there must be a large DNA test. According to him, DNA research has proved to be successful several times in similar matters, for example with the murder of Nicky Verstappen and Marianne Vaatstra. The citizens’ initiative is therefore planning to write to the judiciary with the request to launch a DNA investigation.
Wies lay naked in a ditch along the Loonderweg in Dommelen when she was found there. She was strangled. DNA traces were found on her body. According to Donkers, a DNA study based on these traces has a big chance of success.
“There are two methods for DNA research,” he says. “The first is a DNA kinship study, in which the perpetrator is sought in the area.” Participants from the DNA region must give up for this method.
In addition, international DNA banks can be used. These are used, among other things, for finding biological parents. There is currently a pilot in Limburg running at two unsolved murder cases where this approach is being tried out. Donkers hopes that this method will also be used to detect the murderer of Wies.
Two unknown young men
On Tuesday evening, August 29, 1989, Wies visited the fair in Budel, her hometown. Several people have seen her there in the company of two unknown, young men with a light skin color.
One of them had blond curly hair, the other had dark hair. Around ten in the evening, Wies would have left the fairground with that two. Both men, who must now be older than 50, have never been recognized.
In 2021, the police at the fair in Budel asked attention for the case. Then almost a hundred tips came in. Some reactions were called ‘very interesting’ by the police, but the golden tip was not forthcoming.
In the coming year, the Peter R. de Vries Foundation has made 1 million euros available for ‘Golden Tips’ in 42 unsolved things. The murder of Wies Hensen is one of them. The reward, no less than 100,000 euros, will be paid until 14 May. Donkers hopes that this approaching deadline will ensure that crucial information is coming in, ‘because after that your valuable knowledge is no longer worth money’.