Netherlands - Cassandra van Schaijk, 17, Almere, 23 March 2007

[Bit of hope]

The Panorama article is republished in January 2019. It sums everything up quite good I think.

Misdaadklassieker: Het water zwijgt over Cassandra

The water is silent about Cassandra

After the hardcore party in Almere-Stad the girl walks to the bus in the middle of the night, alone. She will never come home. Cassandra van Schaijk's body (17) is found in the Noorderplassen. What the hell happened to that pretty girl? A new investigation team hopes to find the answer after six years. <It's now 12 years later>

Friday, March 23, 2007, a day like any other for 17-year-old Cassandra van Schaijk from Almere. She goes to school, walks to the neighbors under a gray cloud cover in the afternoon and then goes to visit friends (male and female). The youngsters chill out for a little while and under the deafening sounds of hardcore music Cassandra prepares herself for a night out.

Just after half past ten (10:30 pm) the friends take the train to Almere-Stad. Because there, in discotheque Eindelijk <Finally> on Festivalplein, the hardcore party Underworld is being held that night. For Cassandra, an ROC student with a side job as a supermarket cashier, it's the ultimate outlet. With everything that goes with it. Alcohol, drugs and loud music. She is in a very good mood when the doors of the disco open at 11:10 pm.

The night goes smoothly, until somewhere 3:10 the male friend gets into a fight with a few other party-goers. A doorman intervenes and evicts Cassandra's friends from the discotheque. Cassandra is allowed to stay and calls on her friends that she will later go home with her female neighbor. Shortly after half past three that night, Cassandra also has enough of the party. She is looking for her neighbor, but she has already left. Because the student has a fixed appointment with her father to be home at four o'clock at the latest, she will have to hurry. But she's already late. Arriving at the busstop, she sees the 3:45 hours bus leaving and she is not on it.

etc.

Always if....I wish she would have gone with her friends...why did she wanted to stay longer....just a half hour....maybe just into a party flow and then suddenly reality hits in....have to go home...dad will be mad...I have to work....last bus...I have to get it....I think this it how it works in a young adult mind....I can still have a half hour of fun....

 

[ZaZara]

https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/157...ing-overlijden-cassandra-van-schaijk-verhoogd

In a last-ditch effort to find out more about the death of 17-year-old Cassandra van Schaijk from Almere in 2007, the Central Netherlands Public Prosecutor's Office has raised the tip-off fee to 30,000 euros on Tuesday, the day that should have been her 34th birthday. Police are once again calling attention to the phone that belonged to her.

For 16.5 years, Cassandra's death has kept the Netherlands in a state of suspense. The teenager was last seen on Saturday 24 March 2007, at around 4am, on the bus square in Almere-Stad after a night out. A few hours later, she was reported missing to the police by her worried parents. After a massive search, her remains were found on Saturday 14 April 2007 in the water of the Noorderplassen in Almere.

"Cassandra van Schaijk's case must be solved," said Folkert van Dekken, leader of the police investigation. He has been involved since the beginning of the case, when Cassandra was still missing. "To this day, the parents and her brother are suffering greatly. Her brother recently became a father, but the child will not have an aunt," according to Van Dekken who is immensely driven to solve the case. "I want to give the next of kin clarity on what happened to Cassandra."

Over the past few years, police have checked hundreds of tips, spoken to witnesses and investigated in every possible way. But nothing led police to the trail of how Cassandra got into the water of the Noorderplassen and where her belongings such as her phone, two passports and a Rabobank bank card may be. A search is also still on for two men of colour who were seen with Cassandra by a witness. The men allegedly offered her a ride.

How Cassandra died is unclear. But it is certain that she would not have managed to reach the Noorderplassen on her own.

The IMEI number of her missing Nokia phone of type 3510i was revealed in Opsporing Verzocht on Tuesday night.

The number in question is 35135480 ***1230. "Please take a look if you still have such an old phone lying in a cupboard or in the garage. We may be able to extract information from it with new techniques," Van Dekken said.

BBM

 

[ZaZara]

Peter R. de Vries Foundation: ton voor gouden tip over dood Cassandra


The Peter R. de Vries Foundation is offering a reward of 100.000 euros for the golden tip on the death of Cassandra van Schaijk. The teenager from Almere did not return home after a night out in 2007. A few weeks later, her body was found in the Noorderplassen. Despite the police's lengthy investigation and much media attention, it has never been clarified how she died. Kelly de Vries, following the footsteps of her father Peter R. de Vries, wants to make another attempt to solve the mystery.

The foundation has been raising money for unsolved crimes. A hundred thousand euros will now be used as tip money in Cassandra's case. The reward goes to the person who can provide information about a possible perpetrator. The money will only be paid out if the information leads to the arrest and final conviction of the perpetrator.

In addition to the 100.000 for the golden tip, 10.000 euros will be awarded to the person who can hand over Cassandra's phone. The Peter R. de Vries Foundation is interested in that phone because the device was still "in the air" when Cassandra had probably already died. According to police, it is a Nokia 3510i.

There are no new leads and Kelly de Vries acknowledges that after 16 years it will not be easy to solve the case as it stands now. But she hopes the tip money will persuade witnesses to come forward.

BBM

 

[ZaZara]

Cassandra van Schaijk - Peter R. de Vries Foundation

What do we know about the death of Cassandra van Schaijk?

On Saturday night, 24 March 2007, around 04.00, then 17-year-old Cassandra van Schaijk was last seen on the bus terminal in Almere-Stad after a night out. On Saturday 14 April 2007, her remains were found in the water of the Noorderplassen in Almere.

Night out

Cassandra had gone out Friday 23 March on Saturday 24 March at the former discotheque "Eindelijk" in Almere. She was supposed to be home at 04.00, but missed the 03.45 bus. Cassandra was under the influence of alcohol and presumably drugs at the time, according to several witnesses. According to a witness, she was approached at the bus platform in Almere-Stad and possibly led away by two unidentified men with a tinted skin colour. These men allegedly offered her a lift.

No clear cause of death

On Saturday 14 April 2007, Cassandra's body was found in the Noorderplassen. An autopsy was performed on her body three days later. No clear cause of death could be found due to the advanced state of decomposition of her body.

Cassandra probably did not go to the Noorderplassen by herself. It is far too far to walk and there were no buses going there that night either. At the Noorderplassen, however, there is a meeting place for young people, better known in Almere as the Schateiland. After parties are held there and Cassandra also used to go there.

Scenarios:

There are several scenarios on how she could have ended up in the water. For a start, of course, there could have been a crime. Someone may have drowned her. But Cassandra could also have become unwell and died as a result. She had been drinking as well as possibly taking drugs that night. This may have been fatal to her. In all these cases, one or more people are likely to have been with Cassandra.

Missing items

Before her disappearance, Cassandra van Schaijk was in possession of a mobile phone (Nokia), two passports and a Rabobank bank card. She had these with her on the night of the disappearance. Investigations have revealed that Cassandra was no longer in possession of these items when she was found deceased in the Noorderplassen. It is suspected that these items were taken by the person(s) also involved in Cassandra's death.

Cell phone tower

Police believe Cassandra died the same night of her disappearance. Around 05.00 that morning, an hour after she should have actually been home, her phone pinged near a cell phone tower near the Noorderplassen in Almere. She was not found there until three weeks later. Strangely, the signal from that phone did not go down until the following night. Whereas a phone in contact with water goes dead much faster. This could mean that her phone did not or did not go directly into the water with her or that she herself did not enter the water until later.

Make-up bag

Cassandra had several bags with her that night, namely a backpack, a handbag and a make-up bag. These were recovered, but the strange thing is that they were not together. Near her body in the water, the backpack and handbag were found, but the make-up bag was a very far away. The police wonder whether the make-up bag was dumped at that other spot or floated there. Further, the police have always assumed that Cassandra got into the water near Schateiland, but new findings do not rule out the possibility that it was at a different location.

Two men at Almere-Stad bus station

A key witness was interviewed by the investigation team at the time on Tuesday 27 March 2007. She had recognised Cassandra on missing persons posters in the city. The witness stated that she had still seen Cassandra at the bus station in Almere-Stad on Saturday night, 24 March, around 04:00. Cassandra was sitting in a bus shelter at that time and was then allegedly approached by two men with a tinted skin colour. These men allegedly discussed whether to transport her (Cassandra) on the back seat or in the boot of the car. Cassandra was quite tipsy, according to the witness. Cassandra did want that ride, as she indicated she needed to be home by 4am. The witness saw Cassandra walking with the two men in the direction of the Staatsliedenwijk in Almere. However, these two men never came forward and have not been identified to date.


BBM

More at link, with images and maps.

On October 13, Police had received 22 tips about the case.

 

[ZaZara]

https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/128...-in-onzekerheid-over-dood-17-jarige-cassandra

Family pleads for tips: 'For 17 years in limbo over death of 17-year-old Cassandra'

Seventeen years after the tragic death of 17-year-old Cassandra van Schaijk from Almere, the case remains shrouded in mystery. For years, police have been searching for two presumably men with a tinted skin colour who may have offered her a lift at the bus square in Almere-Stad.

"We want to know what happened to Cassandra. It has taken long enough. We have been grieving and living in uncertainty for 17 years. People keep silent while some know what happened. Let them come forward, because we as a family deserve peace," said Benny van Schaijk, Cassandra's brother in despair.

Every day the family thinks of the vivacious young woman. "The loss does not diminish, but actually increases. I have now become a father myself, but my child will never have an aunt."

Despite a media offensive, a reward from the public prosecutor's office recently increased to 30,000 euros and the Peter R. de Vries Foundation pledging 100,000 euros for the golden tip, the police have not yet achieved a breakthrough.

"We received 65 tips, but the golden one was not among them," according to detective Folkert van Dekken, who cannot let go of Cassandra's case. "This case has to be solved," argues Van Dekken, who has been involved in the investigation from the beginning. "No parent should lose a child in this way."

Soon, on 10 April, the deadline expires for the award of the Peter R. de Vries foundation of 100,000 euros for the golden tip and 10,000 euros to the person who can hand over her Nokia phone

BBM