In April this year, a doctor walks on the beach of Schoorl, in the municipality of Bergen. She notices a flounder at the Hargen lagoon – that is the expanse of water between the beach and the sea.
DNA research
Because she is a doctor, she knows what human material looks like. She therefore knows that it is not an animal bone. And so she secures the material and reports it to the police.
Research soon takes place in the lab of the (NFI) Dutch Forensic Institute. DNA profiles from the database are stored there and matches can be made with people who have once donated their DNA.
Missing man
Based on all this data, it is determined that it is indeed human material and that it is the remains of a man from Belgium who had been missing for seven years. Family members of the missing man provided DNA after his disappearance. This ended up in an international Interpol database, making the match possible.
The bone was brought to the home of the man’s relatives by a funeral director. It is not clear exactly how the man died.
‘Breakthrough’
What is clear is that finding and handing in the bone has provided more clarity about the man who has been missing for years. “Thanks to these types of reports about bone remains found, DNA matches can be made with long-term missing persons,” says Erwin Sintenie, North Holland police spokesperson. “This is really a breakthrough.”