The Antwerp public prosecutor’s office is reopening the investigation into the murder of 17-year-old Tania Van Kerkhoven after 31 years. Tania Van Kerkhoven’s body was found in a park in the Antwerp district of Berchem in 1993. She had been stabbed several times. The exact circumstances surrounding her murder and who killed her have never come to light. However, the public prosecutor’s office believes that technological advances will now enable to solve the case.
In the summer of 1993, 17-year-old Tania Van Kerkhoven went to a party at the De Wommel Youth Centre at Fort II in Wommelgem (Antwerp province). She left at 1 am with her boyfriend and headed home on her moped.
She dropped her boyfriend off at his home in the Antwerp district of Deurne. She then should have headed straight to her own home in Edegem, south of Antwerp. However, she never arrived.
The next morning, Tania Van Kerkhoven’s body was found in bushes at Brilschans Park in the Antwerp district of Berchem. This is around 10 kilometres from where her moped was found. The key to her moped was still in her pocket.
It soon became clear that she had been murdered. There were several stab wounds on her body. DNA was found at the park, but detectives were unable to link it to a suspect. 31 years later what happened to Tania remains a mystery.
Did she get into someone’s car after parking her moped? Or was she dragged into a car? Several witnesses stated at the time that they heard a scream near to where the moped was found some time between 2.30am and 3am on the night that Tania was killed.
2 men that were walking in the park on the night of the teenager’s death told the police that they heard a woman’s anguished cry sometime between 3am and 3.30am.
During the 31 years that have passed, the police and the prosecutor’s office have never been able to solve the murder. The case has resurfaced several times and there was even talk of Tania having been the victim of a serial killer at one point. However, the DNA found at the murder scene could never be matched to a suspect.
Using the latest technology the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office now intends to reopen the investigation once again. The prosecutor’s office confirms that a new examining magistrate has been assigned to the case. Kato Belmans of the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office told VRT News that The public prosecutor’s office sometimes decides to reopen cold cases because new scientific techniques can help shed new light on them. “Now, for example, new DNA techniques will allow us to take another look at this case”.
