The mysterious death of Nicky Verstappen, continued
The suspicion is directed particularly at Barten, and that is not surprising. On 14 August, he informed the police of a 'serious fact' from his past. "In 1954 I touched some boys on their thighs and their sex (penis). On 31 December 1954, I was dismissed as head of the primary school in Heibloem."
He was sentenced to three months in prison, and everyone in Heibloem knows the story. He realises that this will inevitably remembered. He does deny any involvement in Nicky's death; the police accept his story and he is not considered a suspect. An expensive mistake: Barten dies in 2003, at the age of 85. In 2010, suspicions about his involvement were running high and his remains were excavated for DNA testing. There was no match.
In the years that follow the media have been repeating that Nicky's death must have been an inside job. This assumption tears the village of Heibloem apart, into two camps. There are more camp leaders with a moral spot in their past. Camp leaders and their relatives feel attacked by the family of Nicky. From then on, the holiday camp will no longer be named after its founder, Barten. The parents move away from Heibloem.
After the match with Jos Brech, voices are calling for the rehabilitation of Barten, to the indignation of Nicky's parents. The i
n memoriam card at his death on September 8, 2003 mentions his royal decoration, but his life's work for the holiday camp is not mentioned. Stunning detail: despite his conviction in the 1950s, no authority objected when he took in foster daughters. According to the picture on the card, he looks down at them from the sky with a smile.
In addition to Ockham's law, there is another well-known principle in crime: that an offender returns to the scene of the crime. It will take 20 years for this to come to light in the Nicky case.
Back to the evening when his body is found. The area is closed off.
At half past one at night a man passes by. He is stopped by two military police officers. When they ask him what he is doing, he says he was getting warm and started cycling for a while. Quite a while. He lives in the Haembuckersstraat in Simpelveld, almost twenty kilometres away.
The military constabulary notes his data, but it will still take many years before the name of this 'passer-by' will be retrieved from the file as someone who is eligible for a DNA test. It is not known how many of these passers-by were in the vicinity in the hours following the discovery. Although DNA traces found on Nicky's clothing were secured, they had not initially led to a match: the DNA technique is not yet as advanced. What should have happened in any case is that the name of this man - Jos Brech - should have been included in the file with a red mark. That is not happening. Even more painful, in retrospect: if someone had started to take a serious look at this person, they would have encountered an incident from 1985. On 8 July that year it appeared on the front page of the Limburg daily newspaper: "A man from Simpelveld told the National Police that he had committed sexual abuse with children. At the time with two 10-year-old boys in the Wijnandsraderbos in Nuth, a year earlier with two boys in Wijlre. " After an official report had been drafted about him, he was released.
During a new investigation in 2001, Brech was heard as a witness. Why had he been there by bike at night? He says he had delivered letters for the scouting because it was too hot during the day. The police will check that. In scouting, they describe Brech as 'a weirdo', but they confirm that he had the habit of delivering letters himself in order to save stamps. He goes on to say that he was interrogated about a sex crime with children in 1985 and that he then went into treatment with the Riagg. The police do not quite trust it and interrogate him a second time. What else did he do in the two days when Nicky was missing? He can't remember that: he thinks he was at home. The interrogation is not very thorough. Whether he had also delivered mail to De Heikop on the night of Nicky's disappearance or when he was stopped as a passer-by two days later, is not asked and not checked.
In 2002, a member of the police team alerts his former colleague Frank Peters. Like Brech, Peters is active in scouting in Heerlen. The warning: "Jos Brech is a man you do not want to have around scouts." He does not give any details. When Peters confronts Brech with this, Brech confesses that he is attracted to boys and that he has committed a sexual offence in the past. During a bike ride he had met two boys, whom he had photographed. He had 'gone too far'. Brech says he is attracted to boys between 10 and 14 years old. Peters asked him to cancel his membership. He does, but still there is no one who connects him with Nicky Verstappen. Nor did the victims of the time - or their parents -.
It was not until 2008 that DNA technology had advanced enough for a proper match, suitable for large-scale investigation. In hindsight, the most blameworthy error was that
Brech was not selected as one of the 144 people invited for this investigation. He still appears in the file only as a passer-by. It will take almost another ten years before he emerges as part of the costly DNA relationship investigation.
In November 2017, 1500 men will first be selected for an 'ordinary' DNA test. This time Brech is part of the selection. He still lives with his mother in Simpelveld, but twice the police do not find him at home and leave a letter behind. He tells his family that he is going to take part in the investigation, but he doesn't come forward. Instead he has registered with his sister in Veendam. It was later said that he had already gone abroad in October 2017. In February of this year, he was officially reported missing. Brech is active in bushcraft: survival in the wilderness. He has joined a club that has a mountain cabin in the Vosges, in France. Searches made by club friends do not yield any results.
After the arrest in 1985, Brech has been in therapy with Riagg for two years. After that he was active in a playgroup, youth work and scouting clubs. Presumably always on benefits, as a volunteer. There are no indications that he has abused children during this period.
After the match at the beginning of June, the police first try to track him down in France, near the mountain refuge in the Vosges. This is not successful, and a press conference is held on 22 August at which the details of the match, his name and his photograph are released.
Noteworthy: while the police and judicial authorities were unable to find out anything about the arrest in 1985, someone from the Limburg Regional Historical Centre sends the official registration with the court to 'Nieuwsuur' television, with details of the infringement of Article 247 of the Penal Code committed in Nuth on 5 July 1985, about abduction with minors. It states that he was taken into custody on 5 July, despatched on 7 July. The case was suspended conditionally, with a probationary period of two years ending on 27 November 1987. This document makes no mention of the sexual abuse of the previous year, in August 1984 in Wijlre.
What was Jos Brech doing at De Heibloem during the night of August 10th and how did he meet Nicky? The most logical explanation is that Nicky had to pee at night and walked out of the tent. To the toilet block, or to a tree nearby. And that Brech was there in the early hours of the morning. For how long?
We may never know.
If he wants to make a statement, he can say what he wants, there is almost nothing that can be checked. He can say that he saw Nicky walking by by chance, that he spoke to him for a while, that nothing special happened and that Nicky still lived when he left.
The place where Nicky was found is about eight hundred metres from the tent camp. Most logical scenario: Brech has seen Nicky outside the tent, overpowered him and without anyone having heard or seen anything, carried him away for a short distance. At some distance there has been sexual abuse, with Nicky's clothes pulled off. Nicky died before, during or after that. Possibly by suffocation, to prevent him from making a noise. Brech then put the clothes back on and took him to the spot between the pine trees. After the police investigation, local residents believe they see a drag trail in the corn field, but this is not included in the file.
In those days, the Brunssummerheide at the Heikop is a well-known meeting place for gays. It is by no means excluded that Jos is therefore familiar with this location, but it can also be a coincidence.
Joseph Thereasia Johannes ('Jos') Brech was born on October 29, 1962 in Venlo. His father Johannes Maria ('Johan') was born in Eindhoven in 1930; the family of his mother's side comes from the area around Breda. From Eindhoven they moved to Venlo, later to Simpelveld. They live there at least in 1970. On 3 October of that year, horticulturist Johan Brech held de Boerenleenbank liable for the damage - NLG 1,200 - caused by a hole dug behind the bank. On his land. The contractor and the bank have a good laugh: Brech has rented the land and knows for a long time that he will have to give it up. The plant trade is not doing well: in July 1971 he was declared bankrupt. Bankruptcy was terminated in January 1972.
In Simpelveld, the family never seems to have been integrated into the community. Primary school classmates remember Jos as a loner. The family has no contact with their neighbours and no one knows anything about other social contacts. In the street they don't greet and there are no children coming to their house to play. In August 1973, the Limburg newspaper published a report about a match at a gymnastics championship in Haren, Germany. The RK Turn and Acrobat Club Simpelveld (RKTAC) took part. Jos ranks second in the triple rally in the group of 10 to 12 years old.
After primary school Jos goes to the primary technical school in Nijswiller.
On 25 June 1980, the new youth group in Simpelveld announces that a search with a campfire would be held. One can register with J. Brech. On 6 December 1983, the Limburg daily newspaper reported that there were plans to breathe new life into the youth work. "Young people between 11 and 16 years old who want to participate in this project can contact Jos Brech, Haembuckersstraat 13." This is the address in Simpelveld where the police will arrive in November 2017. In all those years hasn't anyone made a link between Jos and the death of Nicky Verstappen?
His father, in any case, did not: he died in 1981. His mother died on March 25, 2018. Didn't anyone in the family suspect this dark secret? When Jos was already on the radar of the police, DNA had to be taken from family members. The most direct line: his two sisters. Both, according to De Limburger, have refused to cooperate. By means of a genealogical investigation, two family members from the fourth or fifth degree were approached who did participate. Without their help, the 100% match with Jos Brech would never have been made - and the bushcrafter would never have been caught so quickly.
For the reconstruction, data from the book
The mysterious death of Nicky Verstappen by Simon Vuyk was used.
The article was written by HJ Korterink, crime repeorter.
BBM
He has always been a loner, from his childhood on. From my own experience I know that loners don't really need anybody, no socializing, no relationships. 
