Author Marja West has started a digging campaign for the remains of Willeke Dost. The 15-year-old girl who lived with a foster family in Koekange disappeared from the face of the earth on January 15, 1992. Today Willeke Dost would have been 47 years old.
West was supposed to publish a book about the disappearance last October, but postponed it after receiving new information. That information led to searches at a secret location, she says in the Radio Drenthe program Cassata. “The book was initially going to be about how a village becomes torn apart by a disappearance case, but the writing has now taken a completely different turn.”,
West has received a number of tips, three of which she believes are worth investigating. Thanks to the tips, she thinks she has gotten further than others have gotten so far. “This has resulted in a number of extensive searches, one of which is still ongoing,” the author said. “That is the reason the book has been postponed, the other reason is the lawsuit that has occurred in between.” She now hopes that the book will be published next year.
West does not believe in the theory that the stepbrother and her foster father are responsible for the disappearance of Willeke Dost. She is convinced that at some point on the evening of her disappearance she went outside and encountered someone she knew.
“The searches are not near Koekange, but with excavators and a forensic team and everything that comes with it,” she says. “The search is done with the permission of the owners of the land and with the knowledge of the police. There is also a forensic specialist, forensic pathologist Frank van der Goot. As soon as we find something, we immediately call the police.”
West keeps the location a secret. “What I don’t want is for a situation to arise like in Koekange, where people entered private land without permission and started digging and digging without permission.” The search operation started with preparations in July, and in August there was a scan with cadaver dogs.
“Three different dogs from Signi search dogs independently arrived at a location this summer. We are now searching there,” West reports. “We are digging, every digging action has provided more clarity about the place where we need to be, but we have not yet been at the place where we think it could be. Only when you find the body you’ve found it, you’re sure.”
(watch the complete interview with Marja West in Cassata below:)