Mieke’s sister Danique tells RTL Nieuws that the family is ‘heartbroken’. “It’s still incomprehensible.” Mieke was stabbed to death in the night of 5 to 6 March.
In love with the city
Mieke and Danique grew up in the United States, near Boston. Their father is from the Netherlands. “Mieke wanted to study in the Netherlands to bond with her father’s country.” Mieke moved to the Netherlands in 2019. “Life in Leeuwarden did her good and she fell completely in love with the city.”
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Mieke studied leisure & events management at the NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences. According to her sister, she had a fantastic time there. She lived in a house with two boys. “They were good friends and Mieke regularly met up with her classmates.” Danique met them when she visited her sister in Leeuwarden. “They’re all nice people.”
Friendship
At the end of 2021, Mieke met a boy on Tinder, says Danique. It is 27-year-old Thomas R. from Leek in Groningen. “In the beginning she was enthusiastic, he took her on nice dates. He tried to impress her. But soon she made it clear that it was purely friendly on her part.”
Thomas R. would have become obsessive afterwards. “He broke into her house once when she wasn’t home and stole everything from her room, including her charger.” Mieke sent a photo of her room to her sister afterwards. “It really was a mess.”
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R. would then have used the stolen items as an excuse to see Mieke again. “But she didn’t want that. Despite this, he kept calling and texting her. He sometimes even drove by her house. I was concerned and told her to call the police.”
Gps-tracker
At the beginning of this year, Mieke told her sister that she no longer had contact with R. “But I don’t know. He even put a GPS tracker on her bike.” Mieke had found out when her bicycle light stopped working. “She saw something on her bike that looked like a light. It turned out to be the GPS tracker.”
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Stalking with gps tracker
Thomas R. would have placed a GPS tracker on Mieke’s bicycle to keep an eye on her. This form of stalking is said to be more common. “Stalkers are also becoming technically smarter,” says Gjalt Hofsta of Safetyned, which helps victims of, among other things, stalking to increase their (online) safety.
Hofstra knows several situations where the stalker used a GPS tracker to keep an eye on the victim. “Sometimes such a device is placed in a hug of a child, but we have also seen such a tracker placed under a car.” In Zwolle A man put a GPS tracker in his wife’s bag because he thought she was cheating when she announced she wanted a divorce.
There are no hard figures about this form of stalking in the Netherlands, says Hofsta. “But we see that technological developments have opened up a world of possibilities for stalkers to monitor their victims.” In addition, GPS trackers are cheap and easily available. “Stalking is no longer just physically chasing a victim.
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“I think she was afraid of him,” Danique says. “She didn’t sound like that on the phone, but I think she wanted to be big and didn’t want me to worry. She knew that if our parents realized she was scared, they would fly her right back home. “
Tindermoord
What happened next is still unimaginable to Danique. The ‘Tinder Murder’, as it’s called everywhere. “She was killed so cruelly. I’ll never get over that.”
On the evening of the murder, early March, Mieke and her roommates had a party. “They danced in the living room,” says Danique. Thomas R. would have driven past the house and looked inside. “I think he was angry because Mieke danced with other boys, even though she told R. that she only wanted to be friends with him.”
R. would have driven to his house, where he made a Molotov cocktail. He would also have taken a knife with him when he drove back to the house where Mieke lived.
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First, R. would have thrown the firebomb against the side of the house. Once inside, he would have fought with Mieke’s roommates. A 25-year-old man was seriously injured and a 30-year-old resident suffered minor injuries, police said earlier. “After that he killed Mieke,” says Danique. The American died on the night of March 5 to 6.
Arrested in Germany
The man from Leek in Groningen was arrested by the German police on March 6 around 5 a.m. and was handed over to the Dutch police shortly afterwards.
The first pro forma hearing is next Tuesday. R. is suspected of first degree murder, attempted murder, attempted aggravated assault, arson and vandalism.
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“We need justice,” says Danique. The family hopes he gets the maximum sentence. “In America he would get life. If he only got 20 years here, he’ll be free again in 2042. I’m terrified to meet him then.” In the Netherlands, the maximum temporary prison sentence is 30 years.
Relatives in the US
The next of kin of Mieke are assisted by lawyer Sébas Diekstra. He previously announced that Mieke’s family is back in the United States. “They will follow the case closely from there and will decide later whether they will go to the various hearings in this case,” Diekstra said. They will follow the session from the US next Tuesday.
“I think about her every second of every day. I even dream about Mieke,” says Danique. “She was the sweetest and kindest girl. I’ll never get over how she was killed.”
Thomas R.’s lawyer does not want to respond substantively prior to the case.
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