The father of ten-year-old Jeffrey and eight-year-old Emma drove into the water shortly after abducting his children on Saturday afternoon, according to camera footage. The car and the three bodies were found on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Police report based on camera footage that the car in which Jeffrey and Emma were abducted entered the water around 3:45 PM near Winschoten in Groningen. Fifteen minutes earlier, father Klaas B. had picked up his children in Beerta.
A day after the abduction of Jeffrey and Emma, the police issued an amber alert and a large search operation was launched. After days of searching, the car was found on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday near Winschoten. That was more than 72 hours after the vehicle had entered the water.
The most likely cause of death for the children and their father is drowning, the public prosecutor announced on Wednesday at a press conference. “The worst-case scenario we all feared has become reality,” said district chief Frank Smilda of the Groningen police.
According to Mayor Ben Visser of the municipality of Eemsdelta, the children already had a difficult time due to the “difficult circumstances in which they grew up.” The children were allegedly taken against their mother’s will on Saturday. The evening before, officers had visited the father. They decided not to intervene at the time. “There was no reason to do anything about it.”
According to Dagblad van het Noorden, the mother of Jeffrey and Emma contacted the police on Friday because she inferred from the father’s messages that he wanted to harm them. The police chief will not comment on this and will not address the reason for the home visit.