A 21-year-old woman from Massachusetts was allegedly stabbed and killed by a stalker who attached a GPS tracker to her bike while she was studying abroad in the Netherlands.
Mieke Oort, from Winchester, was reportedly attacked by a 27-year-old man named as Thomas R, from Leek in the Netherlands, whom she’d met on Tinder. The attack occurred in her apartment, located on top of a tattoo shop in Leeuwarden, in the northern parts of the country, in the early hours of Sunday.
Her previous relationship, which had lasted for two years, had recently ended, and she had been seeing Thomas for a brief period. Thomas reportedly grew violent and began stalking Ms Oort when she chose to rekindle her relationship with her ex Michael van der Waal.
Thomas allegedly harassed her on WhatsApp, drove up and down the street outside her new apartment, and attached a GPS tracker to her bike, according to Mr van der Waal, who spoke to local media.
Ms Oort’s father was born in the Netherlands, and the family is now going to the country to take care of the necessary arrangements.
Her sister Danique told Boston TV station WCVB: “She was my baby sister. We don’t really know how to cope with it”.
“She had just so much more to give and she had a lot of love for everyone,” she added. “She was the sweetest, strongest woman I knew. She really just put everyone else before her. Everyone.”
“Right now, we’re just trying to process this whole situation, and really say our goodbyes and make the necessary arrangements,” the sister said.
Police got a call concerning a fire at Tweebaksmarkt in Leeuwarden at around 3.30am on Sunday. When the fire was put out, they found Ms Oort’s body.
The fire allegedly started when Thomas threw an incendiary bomb towards the house in order to make the other residents leave the building. He went upstairs, stabbing Ms Oort, according to local media.
“She didn’t want to continue [seeing] him,” Mr van der Waal told the Leeuwarden Courant. “Because he couldn’t stomach that, he first stalked her for a while. And out of jealousy, he has now done this.”
“I didn’t see this coming,” Mr van der Waal added to the Heart of the Netherlands. He said he saw the news of her death on Twitter. “I went straight here to see if it was really about her… apparently it was.”
“It’s tough s**t, if I may say so,” he added.
Thomas lived with his parents above a shop in Leek. He fled the country by car, but was arrested at around 5am on Sunday near Leer in northwestern Germany, according to Boevennieuws.
His parents reported him to the police after he spoke to them as he fled.
“As soon as the suspect is in the Netherlands, he will be taken into custody and will be interrogated,” Dutch police said.
The Leeuwarden Courant reported that Thomas’ parents were “perplexed” at his actions and that they were severely distressed after receiving the call.
It’s also been reported that Thomas, who worked as a technician, had bought a home with his sister two days before the alleged killing, DailyMail.com noted.
Mr van der Waal said Ms Oort was studying at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences and that she had planned to stay in the country for five years.
