Zeer gewelddadige woningoverval Helenaveen

At around 08.00 a.m. on Monday, 11 July 2022, a seriously injured man was found in a house in Lagebrugweg in Helenaveen. The man turned out to be the 47-year-old occupant. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition and died of his injuries on Sunday, 17 July.

The police are doing their utmost to establish the facts and identify suspects. A Large-scale Investigation Team (TGO) has been set up to investigate the robbery. This document sets out what we as the police have done so far and how you can help with the investigation.

Do you know more?
The police have many unanswered questions and are still looking for witnesses who saw or heard anything unusual. We want to get in touch with witnesses:

• Did you hear or see anything related to this incident?
• Were you in the vicinity of Lagebrugweg between Sunday 10 July (7.00 p.m.) and Monday morning 11 July (08.00 a.m.), and did you see anything suspicious in the area of the house?
• Were you in the vicinity of the nearby Esso petrol station between Sunday 10 July at 7:00 p.m. and Monday 11 July at 08:00 a.m.?

Any information you have may be important to the investigation. Even if you have doubts about whether you should pass on information, we urge you to do so.

Location
The investigation into the house robbery is fully underway, with the full capacity and commitment of the police and the judiciary since its launch. A Large-scale Investigation Team has been set up to investigate this robbery. The crime scene investigators have examined traces in and around the house. Witnesses and neighbours have been interviewed, and CCTV footage has been secured and is being reviewed. The circumstances under which the victim was found give us cause to assume a violent robbery. The man was found bound and gagged. However, it is not yet clear whether any of the man's belongings were ultimately taken. Nor have we yet been able to establish where the perpetrator or perpetrators fled to and how. There is a possibility that they fled through a cornfield, but we are keeping other options open as well.

The investigation team is doing its utmost to establish the circumstances and identify the suspect or suspects. We still have many unanswered questions that we hope further investigation will answer. We do not yet have a clear image of what happened. No arrests have yet been made. Forensic investigations were conducted over several days in and around the victim's home in search of traces that might lead us to the perpetrator or perpetrators.

Questioning of passers-by
A comprehensive operation to question passers-by was conducted from 6:00 p.m. on the Sunday evening of 17 July until 08:00 a.m. the following morning of 18 July. Everyone in and around Lagebrugweg between those times was asked whether they had noticed anything unusual in the previous week that could be related to the incident. Flyers were also distributed in Dutch, English and Polish.

Investigation fully underway
The police have many unanswered questions and are still looking for witnesses who saw or heard anything unusual. Do you have any information that could be important to the investigation? If so, please get in touch with us.

Contact
You can contact us on 0800-6070 (police tip-off line). If you would prefer to remain anonymous, you can also call 0800-7000 (www.meldmisdaadanoniem.nl). Online tips, images, or video clips can also be submitted using the tip form below.