New DNA samples collected to solve cold case from 1991

Detectives will try to take new DNA samples from 150 men, in an effort to finally solve the 1991 murder of Ingrid Caeckaert, Het Laatste Nieuws reports. Thanks to a new DNA law introduced this year, wider comparisons can now be made and matches are being sought again in cold cases.

The 26-year-old was found murdered with dozens of stab wounds in the stairwell of her apartment building in Knokke-Heist. The perpetrator was also injured and left blood, and thus DNA. Based on new DNA techniques, investigators recently determined that the perpetrator was probably a Western European, aged around 40.

“But after all these years, his DNA did not yield a match with DNA from the database,” Céline D'havé, magistrate at the public prosecutor's office in Ghent, told Flemish public broadcaster VRT. There are several DNA databases in Belgium. These contain DNA samples from convicted persons, suspects or samples taken at a crime scene.

"We hope we can get to the family to which the suspect belongs"

Until recently, it was only possible to match found and unknown DNA one-to-one with samples from the database. Only a direct match could be sought. But new scientific techniques, and a new law allowing their use since March 2024, have changed that.

If the found DNA of the unknown suspect is male, the Y chromosome, which only men have, of that sample can be compared with male samples and their Y chromosome from the database. That Y chromosome is often passed down from father to son for generations, so it is unique to a family.

“We hope we can get to the family to which the suspect belongs,” D'havé said. “But even then we are going to have to see which brother, father, son, cousin is the exact suspect.”

Samples are now being taken - sometimes again, sometimes for the first time - from 150 men. The test is voluntary, but those who refuse can potentially be forced later on to give a sample.

The new DNA law has led to new action in several unsolved cases, including the murder of 17-year-old Tania Van Kerkhoven in 1993 and the murder of Freddy Putseys in 2002.

^{#FlandersNewsService | Technical crime investigation in DNA analysis laboratory in Germany © PHOTO IMAGEBROKER}