Dutch police use hologram to try to solve murder of sex worker in 2009 | Netherlands

Cold case detectives in the Netherlands hope an innovative life-size hologram of a young sex worker murdered in Amsterdam 15 years ago will jog people’s memories and help bring her killer or killers to justice.

Bernadett Szabó, known as Betty, was born in Hungary and moved to Amsterdam when she was 18. There she began earning money as a sex worker in the red light district. After her pregnancy, she continued to work and gave birth to a son who was placed with a foster family.

On the night of February 19, 2009, two sex workers realized that they had not seen her in her study at Oudezijds Achterburgwal and had not heard the music she usually played. When they checked on her at 1 a.m., they found her dead in her room, having been stabbed dozens of times. She was 19.

A decade and a half later, police are relying on technology and a huge advertising campaign in a final attempt to solve the case. A house on the corner of Korte Stormsteeg and Oudezijds Achterburgwal is entirely dedicated to Szabó’s murder, with large stickers on the windows and television screens showing the crime scene, a documentary and the last pictures taken of Szabó while she was still alive.

The most striking element of the campaign, however, is the life-size hologram of Szabó, sitting on a stool in a window, trying to make contact with passers-by and ask them for help. The hologram, created using 3D visualization technology, shows the large and memorable dragon tattoo that covered Szabó’s stomach and chest.

“This is the first time we are doing something like this and to be honest we are a bit nervous,” said Benjamin van Gogh, the coordinator of the Amsterdam team for wanted and missing people. “We want justice for Betty, her family and friends and the case. “So before we decided to use a hologram for the campaign, we discussed with various parties inside and outside the police whether we should go ahead with it and how we should set it up.”

Van Gogh emphasized that the project was carried out in consultation with Szabó’s family. “We are committed to doing this with dignity and with the clear goal of achieving some form of justice for Betty by finding her killer or killers.”

He said police have always tried to put a face on a victim to help with public appeals, “and the hologram is a way to go one step further.”

Investigators hope the hologram and a €30,000 reward will help find new witnesses, who may not necessarily be locals.

Anne Dreijer-Heemskerk, from the cold case team, said: “Betty was murdered in one of the busiest areas of Amsterdam, perhaps even in the Netherlands. It’s really almost impossible that there weren’t people back then who saw or heard something unusual. Or hearing someone talk about the case, which doesn’t even have to have taken place in Amsterdam, because visitors from all over the world come to the red light district.”

Dreijer-Heemskerka pointed out that 15 years have passed since the killing, adding: “We hope that witnesses who may have previously been afraid or remained silent for other reasons will now have the courage to come forward.”