Today the trial started in the Netherlands in the unsolved case of Nicky Verstappen. Appearing in court: Jos Brech. Brech is charged with abduction, possession of child pornography, and qualified manslaughter.
Now, in court, Brech revealed that he didn’t kill Verstappen. When he found him, he was already dead.
My translation from articles in the Dutch papers:
- Brech claimed that he found Verstappen dead in the heath (how Verstappen ended up there is so far unexplained), then he panicked. Brech was out that evening, needed to urinate, looked around him, and saw something. Upon checking, it was Verstappen’s dead body.
- Brech has a record for offensives against young boys.
- Brech checks for a pulse which should explain why his DNA was found on Verstappen (agreed as to arms, neck, face but on his underwear?) and then he asked himself what to do. He has a record so if he calls the police he’s suspect #1. Would anyone believe him if he said that he just found a dead boy in the heath?
- Brech went home, didn’t speak to anyone about this, and has been silent on the matter until just now. When he finally decided to report that he found a dead boy, Verstappen’s remains had already been found.
- Brech said that he straightened Verstappen’s body (more touching hence DNA), straightened his clothes, and cleared the body of leaves, etc.
If Brech is telling the truth, we still don’t know how Verstappen ended up in the heath, why he left camp, whether he was abducted, and we also don’t know whether Brech knew Verstappen.
If Brech is telling the truth about straightening Verstappen’s body then he unintentionally changed the crime scene and some indicators may have gotten lost. The exact body position of Verstappen at death is crucial if we wish to establish the exact cause of death.
Important note: according to entomologists Nicky did not die where he was found e.g. we have several crime scenes.
The Case
On Aug 10, 1998, Nicky Verstappen (March 13, 1987 – Aug 10, 1998) disappeared from a summer camp organized by local youth groups at Brunssummerheide, Limburg, the Netherlands. The night before he went missing, all camp activities ended at 10pm. Then the kids went back to their tents and it was lights out. Nicky (11) was last seen around 530am at the tent that he shared with other kids. Three hours later he was gone.
On Aug 22, 2018 Dutch Police announced a breakthrough: they found DNA on Nicky’s clothes. With familial DNA searches they narrowed down the group of suspects and zoomed in on Jos Brech. He officially became the suspect.
A national and international APB were issued as Brech went missing. His family told police that Brech went hiking in the Vosges, France. He was arrested on Aug 26, 2018 in Northern Spain.
Madrid High Court judges decided on Aug 27, 2018 to extradite Brech (55) to the Netherlands.
On Dec 12, 2018, an initial hearing took place. Brech denied having abused, kidnapped, and killed Nicky Verstappen. The next proforma session was on March 8, 2019. It was decided that Brech should remain incarcerated pending psychiatric evaluation.
The May 2020 hearing was postponed due to Covid19.
In August 2020, it was decided that Brech will be back in court Sept 28+29 for trial preparations. Trial will take place on Oct 5, 7,8, 12, and 16. During that period the prosecution will inform the court of the exact sentence they seek for Brech.
More information when it becomes available.