ANPPeter R. de Vries (l) and Bauke Vaatstra after the ruling in the Vaatstra case in 2013
In association with
Omrop Fryslân
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 21:17
Bauke Vaatstra, the father of Marianne Vaatstra, who was killed in 1999, has died at the age of 85. That reports Omrop Fryslân.
Vaatstra gained national fame after the murder of his 16-year-old daughter 25 years ago. The teenager’s body was found in a meadow near the Frisian village of Feankleaster (Veenklooster). DNA was found on her body, but it was only many years later that it became clear who the perpetrator was.
Bauke Vaatstra campaigned for justice for his daughter for more than ten years and appeared frequently in the media in the years after her death. Together with Peter R. de Vries, he managed to enforce a large-scale DNA investigation.
Omrop Fryslân Bauke Vaatstra with a photo of his daughter Marianne
Ultimately, more than 8,000 men from the area donated their DNA in 2012. In November of that year it was announced that Jasper S. from Aldwâld (Oudwoude) had been arrested for the murder of Marianne Vaatstra. His DNA turned out to match that on the girl’s body.
Machiavelli Prize
At the beginning of 2013, Bauke Vaatstra received the Machiavelli Prize, which is awarded for a remarkable achievement in the field of communication.
The jury gave him this prize “because he engaged the media in a persistent, professional and authentic manner for thirteen years, which enabled the perpetrator of the murder of his daughter to be traced. Through his media appearances, Vaatstra managed to prevent the case from becoming a ‘cold case’ would become.”
Vaatstra wanted a confrontation with his daughter’s killer. “I want to talk to him, in prison. Absolutely. I want to know what happened and he has to tell me. I want to look him in the eyes,” Vaatstra said in a documentary by Omrop Fryslân in 2017. However, a conversation never took place.
Peter R.
In the summer of 2021, Vaatstra was last extensively in the media after the murder of Peter R. de Vries. “It’s a friend and it’s a terrible event. Everything comes back of course, you can see everything again.”
Vaatstra was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of this year. He passed away last week.