Did Tanja Groen fall into the hands of the Belgian serial rapist and murderer Marc Dutroux in 1993? That question came up before but led to nothing. New DNA research may offer more perspective, which is why the Netherlands has asked Belgium for help, De Limburger reports.
More than 29 years ago, first-year student Tanja Groen rode her bicycle at night after a party at student association Circumflex to her room in Gronsveld, near the Belgian border. She never got there. Nothing has ever been heard or found again. No body and "not even a cap of her bicycle valve", says former detective Peter Van Heugten to De Limburger. What happened? Who knows more?
Well, maybe Dutroux. At the time, DNA material from at least ten objects was found at his place. For example, long brown hair was found at Dutroux and his accomplice Bernard Weinstein. Could they have been from Groen?
It is not the first time that the name of the Maastricht student has been mentioned in the Dutroux case. Groen's parents have already traveled to Belgium to see if clothing found at the Walloon rapist may have belonged to their daughter. They concluded it didn’t. After that, a connection between Groen and Dutroux was not further investigated.
The Belgian Minister of Justice Vincent van Quickenborne announced last week on the talk show Op1 that the DNA traces at Dutroux will now be compared with those of Tanja Groen.