Massive 14,000 person DNA Test Solves a 20 Year old Child Murder Case

Next up on “Stories which will probably be a Movie One Day”, the cold-case murder of an 11 year old boy is solved by a huge, 14,000 person strong DNA test!

On August 1998, 11 year old Nicky Verstappen disappeared from his summer camp tent, and sadly his body was discovered in the woods the following day. As the 20th anniversary of this unsolved case approached, investigators launched an extraordinary last-ditch effort. They had the killer’s DNA on Nicky’s pajamas but it turned up no hits in the crime database. So they requested roughly 20,000 men — the entire male population of the area where Nicky was killed — submit their DNA as part of a mass testing operation.

More than 14,000 men did, but Jos Brech was not among the participants. The 55 year old survival enthusiast and former scout leader instead conveniently left for an extended hike in the mountains, telling his family he’d be sure and take the test upon his return. Except he never returned.

Because he didn’t submit his results, he might have thought he would avoid detection and continue to escape justice for his crime. But DNA Testing is more sophisticated than most people realize. One of the donors who did submit his DNA turned out to be related to the killer, which was enough to help investigators zero in on Brech as a suspect. They recovered a sample of DNA from his abandoned home and it was a match.

Instantly, Brech was placed on Europol’s most wanted, and it didn’t take long before he was arrested in nearby Spain, and will soon be extradited to the Netherlands to face formal trial. Sadly, Brech was questioned only 2 days after the initial murder, but the police deemed him only a passerby and not a suspect in the case at that time. Still, justice 20 years late is better than no justice at all.

DNA Testing can provide extraordinarily accurate answers that would be impossible to know otherwise, and it can do so even decades after the initial case runs cold. DNA Paternity Testing provides rock-solid answers to important questions like parentage and ancestry. With over 2,000 centers nationwide, DNA Paternity Testing Centers is one of the largest, most affordable, networks of accredited DNA testing labs in the United States. Our price is unbeatable without sacrificing quality. We offer DNA testing for paternity, maternity and all other relationships (grandparents, siblings, aunts/uncles). Call us today at 866.232.7660 or ORDER ONLINE!