In the search for the missing Germa van den Boom from Nieuwendijk, more than a hundred tips have been received by the Peter R. de Vries Foundation. The foundation announced this via the social media channel Twitter. The Peter R. de Vries Foundation is offering a reward of 250,000 euros for the golden tip that leads to finding Germa. The young woman disappeared in 1984 after a night out in Gorinchem.
The Peter R. de Vries Foundation gives the golden tipster until April 20 next year to claim the amount of money.
Germa van den Boom was nineteen years old when she went missing. For the first time she was home alone for a weekend and on Saturday 28 July 1984 she went out with friends in Gorinchem. The group visited the Meddox and Carrousel discotheques.
Not showing up
While going out, Germa ran into the boy next door. He dropped her off at around two o’clock in the morning at the entrance of her parental home in Nieuwendijk. On Monday July 30, 1984 she was supposed to start her summer job in a retirement center in Werkendam, but she never showed up. She also did not attend the scheduled church service on Sundays. Her parents and younger brother Adriaan were with family in Hengelo that weekend.
In the house, the forensics found traces of an argument. Small splatters of blood were found on the kitchen chairs and a thin, dried trail of blood ran on the banister. There was no trace of Germa. The police therefore assumed a crime.
Search attempt by Peter R. de Vries
Since the disappearance of Germa van den Boom, there have been many different investigations. In addition to the regular investigation in 1984, a so-called cold case team also examined the case years later. And in 2017, the case was given extra attention during a special theme month of the police, in which people were searched for long-term missing people.
Crime reporter Peter R. de Vries has tried in vain to solve the case.