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ABC News
ABC News
National
Lara Smit

Dutch police use deepfake technology in bid to solve 19-year-old cold case murder of Sedar Soares

In the age of high-tech imagery, a teenager is appealing for help solving his own murder.

Police in the Netherlands have used deepfake technology to create a video in the hope of solving the murder of 13-year-old Sedar Soares, who was shot dead outside a metro station in the city of Rotterdam in 2003.

"After all these years, we still have so many questions, but no answers," his sister, Janet, says in the video.

"Someone must know who killed my darling brother."

Janet Soares giving her brother a pat on the shoulder as he walks by his loved ones. (Supplied: Youtube/Politie Eenheid Rotterdam)

In the video, Sedar greets the camera and walks through a lane formed by family, friends and players of his football team, asking for more information.

Sedar was long thought to have been murdered because he threw snowballs at a driver.

However, after investigation by a cold case team, police now think he fell victim to a "rip deal", in which criminal gang members rob one another.

Shots were fired and police suspect Sedar, who was playing with friends nearby, was hit by a stray bullet. 

Police hope the video will "touch hearts", convincing witnesses or even the perpetrator to come forward.

They say this is the first time deepfake technology has been used in a murder investigation.

Officers have already received a dozen tips just a few days after the video was posted on YouTube and included in a documentary. 

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