[Pedsshuth]

Three dead babies found hidden in suitcases in Frisian home

Friday 06 August 2010

THE HAGUE (Netherlands) - The bodies of three babies have been found hidden in suitcases in the attic of a house in the Frisian village of Nij Beets, police confirmed on Friday. A 25-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the case. Police say she had the babies between 2002 and 2010. Forensic tests are now being carried out on the bodies to establish how they died. The contents of a a fourth suitcase have not yet been revealed.

Parents

According to the Telegraaf, the woman worked as a dental assistant in a nearby village and still lived at home with her parents. They have been questioned about the find, but police declined to say if they were involved in the deaths. Neither the woman or her parents were known to local social services or considered at risk, a local council official told the news conference. Police began investigating the woman following a tip off from someone 'close to the family' earlier this year. She first claimed the babies had been adopted but later admitted the babies were dead, police said.

Close-knit

The street where the woman lived with her parents has been sealed off and the house and garden searched by forensic experts. Nij Beets is a small close-knit village of some 1,700 people south east of Leeuwarden. A meeting has been arranged for villagers on Saturday afternoon. Neighbours told the Telegraaf the woman was 'pretty and slim' and that they had never noticed the pregnancies. In 2006, another Dutch woman was jailed for three years and sent to psychiatric prison for drowning her four babies shortly after their birth.

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