Heul Girl

Heul Girl
Bornc. 1960–1964
Possibly West Germany
Diedc. September 1976
Cause of death
Homicide
Body discovered
24 October 1976, Maarsbergen, Netherlands
Known forUnidentified victim of homicide; unsolved murder
Height4 ft 9 in — 5 ft 5 in (150 and 160 cm)

The Heul Girl (Dutch: Heulmeisje)[1] was a murder victim found on 24 October 1976 at the former De Heul parking lot on the A12, in Maarsbergen, between Arhem and Utrecht, the Netherlands by hikers.[2] Her body has never been identified. She was found naked underneath branches and soil.[3]

Case summary

It was assumed for many years that the naked, leaf-covered body belonged to a missing 18-year-old girl from a neighbouring village. However, that theory was ruled out in 2006 when the missing girl, now an adult, reported to the police.[4]

Based on later research on the epiphyseal plates, the Heul Girl would have been 12 to 15 years old at the time of death, putting her date of birth between 1960 and 1965.[1] Isotope research on her teeth showed that the girl probably lived between the Ruhr and Eifel regions of Germany for the first seven years of her life.[2] Around 1975, the child was likely in East Germany or Eastern Europe. The year prior to her death, she supposedly stayed in either West Germany or the Netherlands. In that year, the girl received particularly poor nutrition, which may indicate extreme poverty or a possible kidnapping.[5]

In 2012, a witness stated that in 1976, multiple people saw the girl being "thrown out" by two men between the ages of 30 and 40.[6][7]

In 2013, both the Opsporing Verzocht program and the German variant Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst aired episodes on the case.[4][6]

In 2016, the German judiciary gave permission to start a large-scale investigation based on the girl's DNA. This is a joint operation by both countries, in which DNA databases from both countries will be utilised.[5][8] At the end of 2018, the Utrecht police confirmed that DNA testing had not started yet.[9]

In 2023, the case was part of Operation Identify Me by Interpol to identify 22 unidentified women who were found deceased in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany between 1976 and 2019.[10]

In April 2026 authorities reopened her grave, only to discover her skull was missing. A search of a police evidence storage location led to them locating her skull, but they were unable to find her lower jaw. Her skull was replaced in the grave, while the search for her jawbone continues. Authorities said if they located her lower jaw, they would reopen her grave again to return it.[11][12]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Maarsbergen – Heulmeisje". www.politie.nl (in Dutch). 27 November 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  2. 1 2 Elsbeth Stoker (25 February 2013). "Who was this girl? The police search, to the atom" (in Dutch). De Volkskrant. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "New Light on Heul Girl Murder Case – 2013 – Faculty of Science". science.vu.nl. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Maarsbergen – The Heul Girl" (in Dutch). 12 November 2013. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Large search into Heul Girl DNA match" (in Dutch). De Volkskrant. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016. (subscription required)
  6. 1 2 "Unidentified victim, found in 1976 in the Netherlands" (in German). BKA. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  7. ↑ "577UFNET". The Doe Network. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  8. ↑ "DNA kinship research to discover who the Heul Girl was" (in Dutch). NOS. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "Heul Girl DNA test still not started". RTV Utrecht (in Dutch). 5 November 2018.
  10. ↑ "Identify Me: NL01 - The girl on the parking lot". www.interpol.int. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  11. ↑ "Parts of remains missing after grave of unidentified 'De Heul girl' reopened in Maarn | NL Times". nltimes.nl. 6 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  12. ↑ "De schedel is terecht, maar de kaak van het Heulmeisje in Maarn is nog zoek". nos.nl (in Dutch). 4 July 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
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