Dutch suspect arrested over 1998 killing of 11-year-old
DUTCH investigators say they have tracked down a survival expert suspected of killing an 11-year-old boy in the Netherlands 20 years ago.
Jos Brech, 55, who was publicly named as the suspected killer last week, was apprehended by Spanish police about 30 miles north of Barcelona on Sunday.
Dutch detectives said his DNA matched traces on the body and clothing of Nicky Verstappen, who was found dead on Aug 10 1998 near a summer camp from which he had vanished the previous night.
The match was established in June this year, police said, using DNA provided by relatives of the suspect, who had reported him missing in April. Police went public last week, publishing the man’s picture and full name.
“Spanish police were able to arrest him after someone recognised the man from the picture,” prosecutor Jan Eland said yesterday. Brech will be extradited to the Netherlands, he said, but it is unclear how long that will take.
Over the years, police have made several wrongful arrests in the case, and even opened up the grave of one of the supervisors of the summer camp.
A Spanish court yesterday said the Dutchman had accepted extradition. He would be kept in detention “to ensure that the extradition is effective”.
Brech, who police have described as an outdoor survival expert, was an instructor at the summer camp in the Netherlands where Verstappen went missing in 1998. He was questioned by police the day after the killing but was not considered a suspect.