Twelve years after her death the body of Britta Cloetens has been found. Britta disappeared from Wilrijk (Antwerp) in 2011. Her murderer was convicted and sentenced but her body was never found.
In April 2011 Britta visited several car showrooms looking for a new car. Two days later her parents reported her missing. An investigation into a misper soon turned into a murder enquiry when it became clear Britta never left the Honda Garage in Wilrijk.
Britta’s blood and hairs are found in the car and on the clothes of car salesman Tijl Teckmans. He says her death was an accident but is convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He never says where he left the woman’s body.
Last year a hunter found human remains in woodland outside the Walloon town of Dinant. He alerted the police, who launched a DNA enquiry.
A match was found to DNA contained in the DNA databank of missing persons operated by the National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology. It was a match for Britta Cloetens.
The DNA databank has been in existence since 2018. It contains DNA profiles of 428 people: missing people but also unidentified human remains. New profiles are added daily and compared with profiles already stored in the databank in a bid to identify unidentified human remains or to track down missing persons.