of fairy tales they often start with
once upon a time so does the tale of
Sharra’s Arthur once upon a time in a
land far from here there was a king who
was deceived by his wife he was
devastated sad and angry this should
never happen again so he decided every
day to marry a new wife and put it to
death in the morning until one day he
married Shahrazad her to avoid that she
would be killed after the wedding night
she told the king of story that wasn’t
finished by morning the king was curious
so he spared her that night she went on
with the story but again in the morning
it wasn’t finished he rewarded her
another night a thousand and one full
nights Shahrazad had told him a story
and every night ended with an unfinished
story after their thousands and one
night he loved her so much that he
decided not to kill her and they lived
I am a forensic detective in the
cold-case team of Amsterdam and I have a
thousand and one unfinished stories for
you a thousand in one cold cases
unsolved crimes murder manslaughter
serious sexual offenses manslaughter I
told you cold case captured the
imagination there are cases that for
years keep the attention of the public
when we solve an old crime is widely
reporters in media there are TV series
in which high heels detectives retrieve
a case of 30 years old and it’s all in
one box the complete case files all the
photos forensic evidence all in pristine
condition they solve the case in 50
minutes that is not a reality where I
have to deal with cold case
investigation it’s like a time travel
and it that way a journey of discovery
what was the situation back in the 90s
for example how did we organize the
files where are the original photos and
what about forensic evidence where is it
and in what condition what techniques
were available and it will use them in
that way cold cases are not divided in
determines in diversity in a matter of
which our money skills it’s mostly
stabbing shooting strangulation it’s the
time when it happened that divides the
diversity in that way we organized the
cases impossibilities forensic policies
possibilities cold case we invest faith
start from 1988 because from that moment
there was no statue of limitations on
murder there are many cases too many
imagine a large cabinets where all the
case for
and it’s about a thousands only for the
city of Amsterdam a thousand files are
stored in earth cabinet and each of the
file has a number but behind each number
there’s a man’s life a story that’s
unfinished we didn’t solve the case now
justice has been done so a thousand
files in that imaginary cabinet and
there they are a thousand files they are
stored in that cabinet and stored has
different meanings stored also means
maintains preserves as well as hidden
and that’s what I see in an imaginary
closet in front of me a thousand files
are stored waiting for me to pull out
one of them which means that 999 others
remain stout and I can almost hear them
sigh in disappointment because we have
to choose choose who we give attention
we give time if only for a few hours a
day many of these files have a picture
of the victim on the back of the file I
feel a connection with her I know their
faces that we never met there are the
faces of young people old people dark
blond alive but also the faces of the
death snatched from a life with the
story is unfinished and in my mind I
travel to the side when they were killed
in the 80s 90s in the years just after
the Millennium and I see the
possibilities but also the
impossibilities there’s one group one
special group of cold cases for example
this case in 1997 somewhere in the
waters of Amsterdam a trash bin was
found which contains the body of a young
perhaps you think that I lost my lines
they don’t remember what story to tell
you it’s partly true there is no story
we don’t know who she is this woman has
no name no identity she is an unknown
death or as we call it and no initio
she’s berries in the grave with a number
and without a name rave number a 126 on
Deb’s 3 who was she what has made her
ending in a Treasury with bullets in her
head and bullets in her chest somewhere
in Amsterdam who was she who misses her
because somewhere in the world someone
has to wait for her who are her parents
did she have brothers and sisters was
first and foremost who killed her to
find out as much as possible about her
we decided to excavate her remains we
deployed it all the techniques of the
present we know now that she was small
about my height she had dark brown
almost black hair she was young beyond
28 her DNA sample is plotted worldwide
hoping to match with somebody’s missing
her fingerprints are in all available
databases isotope research shows that
she grew up in the Netherlands we know
what caliber weapon she was shot but her
name until now we don’t now while I’m
working on this case it became evident
that she was not here only unknown death
when the administrator of the cemetery
asked me when we would be back to
excavate the others and my astonished
look it is he declared
that he had at least 40 more unknown
death on his symmetry so we did some
research and we found that there were
usually greater number almost the
hundreds unknown death have been buried
in Amsterdam since the 1980s most of the
graves are already been cleared as his
normal in Amsterdam after 10 years only
a small number of the graves were still
there those numbers intrigued me how is
it possible that in the Netherlands
where everything is arranged to the
detail where it is unthinkable that you
go through life without identity you
apparently can be buried without a name
without an identity and remain nameless
forever so I researched the new forensic
techniques that were possible that made
it possible to identify them so a new
timeline was created a new forensic
timeline of the unknown death and it
should there were a lot of unemployed
possibilities and new techniques so I
started lobbying to make make it
possible to work on it my superiors were
not happy about my ideas the expected
objections were there no staff resources
available no money no time but also who
would be interested in these issues is
that a task for law enforcement to ask
all of them what about you imagine
someone you love very dearly and he will
disappear one day and you are searching
day after day week after week year after
year and you would know there would be a
possibility to find your love time but
they don’t do it because of the reasons
you just told me so of course we did
start and we had the ambition that if it
was only possible to identify one of the
unknown death it would be worth all the
effort because every human being has the
right to a name
to a history that can be told up to the
end that goal is more than achieves so
far we have been able to identify 30 to
unlearn bit 32 people have a name have a
history which can be told again thank
you these 32 people came from all over
the world they had several histories
some of them were killed some of them
committed suicide some of them died of
overdose some of them drowned somewhere
in the waters of Amsterdam some of them
died of natural causes they were young
average under 35 but they all had one
thing in common they all had loved ones
who were looking for them searching for
them waiting and they all had an
unfinished story and especially in case
of a homicide we were able to start
investigate because a cold case try to
Amsterdam was not the only place where
aren’t many cold cases out through the
Netherlands we are facing several
thousands cases that is a cabinet so
full of Case Files where we could work
on for a lifetime with hundreds of
colleagues most of these files also have
a name of the victim that means that
they have a voice they have family they
have relatives who can speak up for them
ask the attention of the police of the
Justice Department the media they have a
voice but what about the unknown death
we don’t know how many they are it’s an
estimate that there are two to three
hundred in the Netherlands again I call
numbers two to three hundred how
disrespectful you make the lives of
these people
they don’t have a name now history they
don’t have a voice they’re just one of a
thousand and one but let me be the voice
at least for one of them tonight for you
let me tell you the story of nauman SEO
number 47 it’s the life is the story of
the death at life of a young man a young
man who was found in Amsterdam his body
was dumped in the grove I know he
investigated him we found that a number
of the 70 packages of cocaine he
swallowed opened in his stomach each
package contains 10 grams of cocaine
nobody will survive that he had no
identity papers on him his fingerprints
yielded no hits his face on TV no
comment so after a few weeks the
investigation stopped and he was buried
in the nameless grave with a number a
hundred and twenty-six in depth treat
but ten years after his death we were
able to identify him his name is Rafael
and he was 19 years young he came from a
small town in Brazil where his father
owns a modest shop and then I fell works
every now and then in the local liquor
store there he was approached by a
member of a drug cartel and he made him
an offer to seemingly easy earn a lot of
money his dream having his own shop seem
to come true this wasn’t offer he
couldn’t refuse he told his parents that
he would travel to Amsterdam to work in
a pizza restaurant for a month and then
he would be back but I file didn’t come
back instead of baking pizza as he had
to swallow cocaine bulbs his parents
waited and waited and went to the local
police but they were not very reluctant
to look for young man
to answer them finally they went they
asked the Brazilian Embassy in the
Netherlands for help and they place to
call their site which early years later
attracted our attention then we were
able to connect this missing young man
with young now young man that we found
10 years before after his identification
some members of the drug cartel were
arrested in Brazil their health respond
so for a great number of drug-related
crimes including the death of the mule
Rafael that is hardly are called mules
the men and women who risk their lives
hoping for a better future the remains
of Rafael are sent back to his family in
Brazil and in a way he’s connected with
her 10 years working as a as a ripper I
don’t even know my own profession
anymore I’m sorry 10 years working in
cold cases in Amsterdam the great number
of files didn’t discourage me they made
me determined to do whatever we can to
use every technique and to keep drawing
the attention because he must find the
stories of these people cold case
investigation is about people with an
unfinished story you need that story to
solve the crime but it’s also connecting
professionally with your victim try to
get to know him or her to find the
connection to the perpetrator and bring
justice but it’s also connecting death
to life for those who stay behind
because they may have lost their loved
one but they shouldn’t log loose
connection with their common history and
I actually I would like to say to you
young people here students traveling all
over the world in a seemingly very
connected
world stay connected with your loved
ones is more precious and valuable than
you probably realize I told you about
the timelines the forensic timelines
with the possibilities and when I look
at them I can tell you exactly when new
possibilities are what new DNA
techniques we can use what new DNA
samples can be retrieved what new legal
opportunities we have but there are two
words that are not written in those
timelines in that crucial to crucial
words and they are get started get
started with all those files with all
those unfinished stories those unsolved
crimes sometimes solving a crime starts
but something is taking for granted
there’s a name so to my fellow
detectives out in the country and in the
world I would like to ask Bashar Assad
make sure that the stories are being
told that the cases are not closed and
forgotten I would like to ask them be
the voice of the work of a thousand and
one thank you [Applause]