Hi! Aaron!
According to your suggestion I will try to keep non-Bonarians updated on what's going on on Bonaire in the kidnapping-case(s) through this board. I was normally posting on BonaireTalk, but since they closed the thread I will try to post here, for those people that have warm feelings for Bonaire.
I want to make the statement that I always try to tell only reliable information, and it is difficult to make a good definition of "reliable Information". The police doesn't give much information, in regards to the investigation, so the only information you hear is on local radio, newspapers (local, Dutch) and from "hearsay". I am particularly careful with "hearsay"-information, but I will post it if I think there is a good reason to believe it is true, when I hear it from different sides, and when I think it would give extra information to the readers. Remember: it could be NOT TRUE!
Some more information upon Marlies van der Kouwe.
We havent had any police-press-conference anymore since 3 days. So the only information is from radio, journals and hear-say.
A suspect has been taken in custody for this case, since Wednesday or Thursday. This is the person (24 years old) that was convicted for rape twice before, the second time he got 8 years, he came out of jail two months ago (after 6 years), and hasnt got any supervision after that. He has confessed that he had something to do with Marlies, but didnt say anything more. He had a scooter, that was found at the home of family of him, he bought the scooter supposedly on the Sunday after Marlies disappeared, and wanted to sell it back because the scooter appeared to be stolen. On that scooter there were traces of specific soil, and police is searching Kunuku-sites if there are things hided. The mother of the suspect was heard, and she told he had come home late the night Marlies disappeared, and his clothes were full of mud. He went for a shower, and later that same night he has washed his clothes. His girlfriend has told that he has been with her that night, but not the whole night. Personnel on a gasstation has told he filled a jerrycan with gasoline, that Sunday. The suspect can be kept in prison for 10 days, unless they find really solid evidence against him (Radio said this morning that the things told above are not solid enough)
Police is searching massively (60 persons) on sites with that specific kind of soil for days already. They were walking around with big plastic bags, and collected several things, but it is unknown what.
This morning they asked to look for another suspect. It is a person that escaped from Bon Futuro-prison in Curacao, shortly ago. Probably he hides on Bonaire. This person has shaved his hair off completely, and covers his arms with long sleeves because there is a tattoo with his name on it. The description of this person fits to the description of the person that took Marlies off of her bike at the moment of kidnapping.
And then there is the embarrassing story about kidnapping.
Marlies (with second name Van der Kouwe) is the person we are hoping to find her. There is also a family on the island with the name Van Kouwen, (not van der.) Wouter Kouwen, at the moment in the Netherlands, got last Tuesday a phone-call in which him was asked for half-a-million ransom Euro for his daughter. Marlies isnt his daughter at all.
Since then there are several possibilities:
1. What happened to Marlies is just a simple rape-crime.
2. Criminals heard Marlies had disappeared, they thought it was Wouter van Kouwens daughter, and tried to get money from Wouter without having done the kidnapping at all.
3. Criminals tried to kidnap a daughter from Wouter van Kouwen, who is 17 years old, also blonde, and works at Karels Beach Bar, where Marlies came quite often. They took the wrong person and Marlies became the victim.
4. A second daughter of Wouter Kouwen, (8 years old) was kidnapped too, near Cultimara. This little girl could escape luckily. It could be the criminals found out they had the wrong person, and tried to make it up. Statements came out she was taken away by a drug-addict, to take her money away of her. This person has been put into prison too.
Actually the police officially denied that there was asked for a ransom at all, they had spoken to mrs. Van Kouwen, but not to Wouter van Kouwen at all. He stays telling the media in the Netherlands that he had a phone-call for a ransom, but thought it was a joke.
Police also says the two kidnappings have nothing to do with each other.
There were a lot of reportings on local radio-stations, today, but nothing new at all. I hope there will be a press-conference again, today 5:00 pm.
Harrie
almtree: Bob
