He Confessed to His Sister’s Murder to Catch the REAL Killer

<p>As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Nicole Van Den Hurk with me today. <br>On October 6, 1995, 15-year-old Nicole van den Hurk disappeared while cycling to her supermarket job in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Her bicycle and backpack were subsequently recovered, but there was no sign of Nicole until November 22, when her body was discovered in woodland between Mierlo and Lierop. She had been sexually assaulted and fatally stabbed. Despite an extensive investigation, the case remained unsolved for years.</p><p>In 2011, Nicole’s stepbrother, Andy van den Hurk, posted a confession on Facebook and was arrested. He was released because investigators lacked evidence supporting his claim, and he later retracted it. Andy subsequently said he had deliberately confessed falsely to revive the investigation and have Nicole’s remains exhumed for DNA testing. The renewed forensic investigation uncovered evidence that would eventually identify her attacker.</p><p>In January 2014, police arrested a convicted rapist identified in Dutch reporting as Jos de G. His DNA matched traces recovered from Nicole’s remains and clothing. In November 2016, a court convicted him of rape and sentenced him to five years in prison, but acquitted him of manslaughter because uncertainty surrounding the DNA evidence left open the possibility that another person had killed her. Prosecutors appealed.</p><p>On October 9, 2018, an appeals court overturned that acquittal and convicted Jos de G. of both rape and manslaughter, increasing his sentence to 12 years in prison. The ruling came almost exactly 23 years after Nicole’s disappearance.</p>