Netherlands Netherlands - Amsterdam, Male, eagle tattoo, Flevopark, Nov'98

I think your fine as long as you put a graphic warning in the Thread title.

Is it possible that he came from the Afcent base down in Brunssum (it was still open then. Now it's pretty much just the American School)? Or the Allied joint force command in Schinnen? I don't know of any missing people from the bases, but I lived in Limburg.

I would love to see more Dutch cases! I can help translate if you need it.

Also, that looks like Jesus. Not a woman's head. In the tattoo.

KaylaraOwl said:

I think your fine as long as you put a graphic warning in the Thread title.

Is it possible that he came from the Afcent base down in Brunssum (it was still open then. Now it's pretty much just the American School)? Or the Allied joint force command in Schinnen? I don't know of any missing people from the bases, but I lived in Limburg.

I would love to see more Dutch cases! I can help translate if you need it.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your interest and comments.

I suspect that if somebody went missing from one of the army bases this would have been well known to authorities/police and connected to the case. That is also one of the reasons that I suspect this Doe to be somebody from outside of the Netherlands or somehow else unreported ((illegal) immigrant?).

Maybe the Eagle indicates some connection/appreciation for the US, I think the tattoo is something which could really connect this person to some place (combined with the clear photo of the face). Thus I'm very interested if the eagle is a symbol solely connected to US, or whether it might also mean something else. Looking for eagle tattoos online I found that most tattoos seem to be of eagles flying, when the eagle is sitting most tattoos show the eagle from the back, I could not find any tattoos with closed wings where we see the eagle from the front as with the Doe. I looked through namus missing persons based on time frame/eagle tattoo and couldn't find anything which could be related.

I was looking to places where people could've fought alongside US-army.

About the translations: thanks for offering, I'll be fine in that department as a native Dutch speaker.

About the face in the tattoo: Indeed from this image it could also be jesus. That would likely point to christianity. In line with the Middle Eastern look one might expect the Doe to be muslim (main religion in the region). If the Doe would be a muslim than he would most likely be Shia as permanent tattoos are not allowed in Sunni Islam (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_perspectives_on_tattooing#Islam). Shia Islam is mainly found in Iran (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Madhhab_Map3.png) and surrounding regions. However the tattoo could also be a very good indication that this Doe has no connection to islam.

That eagle looks like a bald eagle to me, which they don't have in Europe. That's why I am thinking he's probably American. People go awol all the time from the military. They might not have put out a lot of information to the public there. I'm going to talk to my friend who was military police over there for the base in Schinnen.

Maybe we can check "opsporing verzocht"?

KaylaraOwl said:

Maybe we can check "opsporing verzocht"?

Click to expand...

That's a good idea, however I have a hard time finding older broadcasts. On http://www.npo.nl/opsporing-verzocht/AT_2046088?media_type=broadcast&query= everything up from 2006 is mentioned (but behind pay wall). On their site (http://opsporingverzocht.avrotros.n...ffers&sort=datetime:desc&page=22&layout=block) every case from 2012 on seems to be separately described (often with the relevant part embedded on youtube). It has been around since 1975, so it is a possibility that there is something on this case there. On http://zoeken.beeldengeluid.nl/inte...=expressies;selecties&startrow=18#pageCounter I've been able to find descriptions of (some of) the broadcasts. The site seems to be replaced and is giving lots of errors, but the new sites search is terrible and the new site doesn't seem to have a summary of cases for each broadcast. I could not find the case mentioned in any of the broadcasts from 1999-2003.

There is also the show Vermist (since 1996), but that mainly is from the point of missing persons (lot of those are not police cases but also people who got out of touch). I would suspect that show to be less useful here.

Peter R. de Vries' show (since 1995) might also be a possibility, but if I remember that is mainly on cases with more information available.

Newspapers have the same issues as television broadcasts for this timeframe. From 2005 on everything has been published online as well, but only before something like 1970 (and only before 1945 almost everything) is accessible online (http://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten if you're ever interested). I'll take a look if I can find something in any newspapers.

I was able to access all Dutch newspapers online (via LexisNexis)

I found a short article in "Het Parool" from 16 November 1998.
- The body was found in the morning of 15 November 1998.
- "De politie gaat uit van een misdrijf 'gezien de aangetroffen sporen', maar wil verder geen mededelingen doen." (The police suspects a crime based on what they found at the scene)
- "De man lag tussen het pannenkoekenhuis en het zwembad in de bosjes." (The man was found between the pancake restaurant and the swimming pool in the bushes)

Some articles also describe different cases. Both around 22 June 1997 and around 2010 a body has been found in the Flevopark.

The article(s) on the 16th of November (without too much details as can be expected from such a soon article) are the only I can find. Seems like this case didn't get much (or any) attention at the time.

I'm trying to look through Interpol. I did look through the politie.nl site, but didn't see anyone close looking.

Just to clarify -- the person was said to be wearing 'size 7' shoes -- in what scale is that? In North America, size 7 for a 5'9" man would seem very small. I'm also unsure how widely sold Timberland boots were in 1998. I think they became more popular some time later.

I also find the tattoos confusing. The eagle does make me think of the US, but the colors and the way the eagle is depicted do not.

All that being said, my guess is that the victim is not Dutch. Perhaps that explains in part why his case got so cold so fast.

Montjoy said:

Just to clarify -- the person was said to be wearing 'size 7' shoes -- in what scale is that? In North America, size 7 for a 5'9" man would seem very small. I'm also unsure how widely sold Timberland boots were in 1998. I think they became more popular some time later.

I also find the tattoos confusing. The eagle does make me think of the US, but the colors and the way the eagle is depicted do not.

All that being said, my guess is that the victim is not Dutch. Perhaps that explains in part why his case got so cold so fast.

Click to expand...

Timberland boots became super popular with the urban community on the East Coast in the 90's.

I had a few pairs myself in the 2000's and they are popular again now.

I did read that they were originally created in 1973 for New England construction workers.

The tattoo looks like it might've been a cover up. Typically cover up tattoos require a lot of texture to hide the original lines. So flowers and fish scales (koi) are really popular cover up tattoos. Maybe the artist thought feathers would cover the face?

Montjoy said:

Just to clarify -- the person was said to be wearing 'size 7' shoes -- in what scale is that? In North America, size 7 for a 5'9" man would seem very small. I'm also unsure how widely sold Timberland boots were in 1998. I think they became more popular some time later.

I also find the tattoos confusing. The eagle does make me think of the US, but the colors and the way the eagle is depicted do not.

All that being said, my guess is that the victim is not Dutch. Perhaps that explains in part why his case got so cold so fast.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your input.

In the Netherlands sizes for men are somewhere between 35 and 45. http://www.oddshoefinder.com/images/adult_shoe_sizes.gif gives an overview of shoe sizes around the world. The size 7 is likely what is indicated in the boot (otherwise they would've stated the Dutch size metrics). Size 7 is something from UK/US/Australia mainly. It differs a little bit between those countries, but not too much. In the Netherlands you sometimes see shoes with only US/UK indications inside them, thus it does not necessarily exclude the possibility that the shoes were bought here (although it is not very likely in the complete picture).

About sizes the size 7 Lacoste sweater seems to indicate XXL (http://www.lacoste.com/us/SizeGuide.html).

The information on the clothing does not seem to be too carefully written down. There are some discrepancies between the English and the Dutch clothing descriptions. In the description above two pairs of pants are described. The second (leather) pair is not present in the Dutch version where it is denoted as: "een boxershort, merk Cliff, maat M" (A boxer short, brand Cliff, size M).

The Port Island sweater is in Dutch denoted as "Port Oslan". Port Island seems to be a place in Japan.

I can not find anything on "Sabine Jaudeu" as a brand, so that could either be a good clue or incorrect information. The jaguars are also not mentioned in the Dutch description.

As noted by Dutchhelp the translation of the clothes description from Dutch to English is wrong in the site.
In Dutch is says:
"a green sweater with a purple collar, brand Lacoste size 7
a dark blue sweater brand Port Oslan, size XL
a singlet brand JBS size M
a black pants from the brand Dockers
a black leather belt with a metal plate with the brand Sabine Jaudeu, length 85 cm
a boxershort, brand Cliff, size M
yellow high shoes from the brand Timberland, size 7."

No Jaguars and no 2nd pair of trousers.
The size 7 for the boots corresponds to an american 9.
JBS is a Danish underwear brand. I did not find any information about the "Port Oslan" brand. Port Island however is a brand of sportswear and the name of a location in Japan.
Sabine Jaudeu is a french name ( quite an unusual family name). I did not found any registered company under that name nor brand.
Basically the clothes he was wearing could have been bought anywhere in Europe. At least the recognizable brands are sold in different countries.
Etnically he could also come from anywhere in Europe, perhaps more southern european.

I enlarged the tattoo with the band and medallion. In the center of the medallion there is what looks like a gnome (a smurf?, pinocchio?, one of the seven dwafs?). It may be a character from a cartoon but i do not recognize it. The image quality is really poor. Does anyone recognize it?

Amsterdam is big pool of foreigners, not many from Middle East though. There is big presence of Turkish and Maroccan descendants too who could be mistaken for Middle Eastern, however I don't think this is case in here.

I have came accross this case few times over the years and I can't shake feeling that he might be the guy I met there briefly sometimes between 95-97. Resemblance is striking.

I don't remember much unfortunately. But he was older then me. I think he could be between 20-30 then even though post mortem looks like he might be older than that. Guy had also tattoos on arm/s as I remember we have discussed them but can't recall what they were . I do remember though that he was Italian.

But again, it might not be him..

I think I found the brand of the belt. I think it is a German brand called Sabine Jansen.
I first found a belt on a french website with a logo which kind of looked like "Sabine Jaudeu", but was not. On the french site it was actually called "Sabine Jausen". If you google "Ceinture Sabine Jausen" you will find it. Although the site said it was Sabine Jausen it looked like Sabine Jansen to me. And when I finally googled "Sabine Jansen Gürtel" I found another belt which clearly said "Sabine Jansen". I also found an interview with a Sabine Jansen who sold belts before 2001.
Sabine Jansen :: Märkisches Landbrot
So I think the belt is from this brand.

ps. Video Opsporing verzocht June 2018

Spork, great first post and Welcome to Websleuths.

Great find and thank you for posting new video. It is great to see that police are doing fresh new appeal to find his identity. I am not sure why they are saying that he looks like Eastern European (by resemblance), as that is definitely not the case.

To me, by appearance seems more from Southern Europe (Italy) or even South East Europe (Ex Yugoslavia, Greece). I would not exclude Turkey or Arabic descent.

Spork and Al Ka, thank you very much for your info. Good to see that Opsporing Verzocht (broadly watched program in the Netherlands) gave this case some attention.

Let me try and list (translate) the main points mentioned in the video for those not speaking Dutch:
- Found around 7:55 (15 November 1998) by two man walking their dogs
- The man had blood on his face
- There is a drag trail in the wed grass leading to the bushes
- Autopsy: The man was shot death from close range, 5 bullets in the head and multiple stab wounds spread across his upper body.
- Autopsy: The man died very recent, probably that night, possibly the day before.
- Age between 30 and 40 years old, believed to be from Eastern Europe (based on appearance)
- For the tattoos they restate what's in the police report, mainly that the tattoo of the eagle covered up a woman's face.
- They show new image of how the body was found, clearly showing the clothing.
- Green sweater Lacoste. With red board.
- below that darkblue sweater of the brand Port Island
- dark (working) pants of Dockers brand
- Below that another pair of pants, leather from Jack & Jones
- Light Yellow Timberland boots
- They are looking to find who he is, where he is from and why he was in the Netherlands in November 1998. This can help them solve the murder. For which there is a reward of 20.000 euros
- They suspect the man was murdered somewhere else and brought to the park as a dump site, the park was accessible by car (though I believe you wouldn't usually find cars there)

Onbekende dode man in Flevopark - De zaak | politie.nl
Overview page with all info above