24 Year Old Marlies Elizabeth van der Kouwe Missing … Kidnapped in Bonaire

Just Another Day in a Caribbean Paradise … This time its Bonaire.

24 year old Marlies Elizabeth van der Kouwe was kidnapped in Bonaire at 2:30 am Sunday morning when a man pulled her off her bicycle. The man, who was on a dark colored two wheeled vehicle is said to be between 1.70 and 1.80 meters tall, was dressed in dark-colored clothing and was wearing a jacket. Her parents who live in the Netherlands were informed of their daughter’s abduction.

Marlies Elizabeth Van der Kouwe Description:

• 24 years old, born in Curaçao on the 11th of May 1984
• 1.63 meters tall
• blue eyes
• blond hair

Marlies van der Kouwe kidnapped in Bonaire

The police has put in a large scale search party to find the missing 24 year old Marlies Elizabeth van der Kouwe. On the night of Saturday to Sunday at two thirty she was pulled off her bicycle by a man on a dark-colored two-wheeled vehicle.

The man, between 1.70 and 1.80 meters long, was dressed in dark-colored clothing and was wearing a jacket. This took place on the Boulevard Gobernador N. Debrot in the neighbourhood of the WEB-factory. The vehicle left off eastwards. Police chief John Schagen, 

Lieutenant Governor Herbert Domacassé, Chief of Police John Schagen and Officer of Justice David van Delft during the pressconference.
Lieutenant Governor Herbert Domacassé and Officer of Justice David van Delft held a press conference about the kidnapping yesterday.

So how will the search for missing Marlies Elizabeth van der Kouwe differ from that of the case of Natalee Holloway in Aruba? Why do we ask? According to a press conference, Bonaire has requested the help of the coast guard of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. Let’s hope they do not ask the ALE for their help.

They asked the coast guard of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba to help them in their search who have already put in a plane. The plane scanned the area on Monday evening and Tuesday before sunrise. According to Chief of Police Schagen , the RST of the Netherlands Antilles has been pulled in for the investigation.

However, we already see one difference in the two cases as investigators in Bonaire are treating the kidnapping of Marlies Elizabeth van der Kouwe seriously as opposed to the nonchalant and inept manner that the ALE did in the Natalee Holloway case.

“Our first priority is to find her back. We are still hopeful that she is still alive. We’re handling this as a serious crime”, says the police chief.

UPDATE I: Netherland News on the Abduction of Marlies Elizabeth van der Kouwe

• Nederlandse ontvoerd op Bonaire – Dag.com
• Dochter Asser huisarts ontvoerd

UPDATE II: Dutch woman abducted in the Dutch Antilles

Bonaire wants to make differences between their missing persons case and Natalee Holloway. They can make all the claims they want; however, missing is missing and acts of violence against woman are just that … no difference.

The Dutch Antilles island of Bonaire is in shock after a young Dutch woman went missing during the weekend.

AD, De Volkskrant and Trouw report on the abduction that bears similarities to the Holloway case that took place on Aruba. Twenty-four-year-old Marlies van der Kouwe disappeared after an evening at a popular bar on Saturday night. She was seen being dragged off her bicycle by one or two assailants on a scooter. Only her bicycle and flip-flops were found.