A hologram of a woman is displayed in the windows of the Red Light District, calling on possible witnesses to help find the killer.
Bernadette (Betty) Szabo was born in Hungary but moved to Amsterdam at the age of 18. There she worked in the Red Light District — and during this time managed to give birth to a son and place him with foster parents On the night of February 19, 2009, Betty was found dead with a dozen stab wounds by her colleagues in her office. The killer was never found, but now the police are back on the case using new methods.
Thus, the local police used modern technology and launched a large-scale advertising campaign: now a separate building on the corner of Korte Stormsteeg and Oudezijds Achterburgwal is completely dedicated to the Sabo case: it is covered with posters depicting the girl, and a documentary about the case is broadcast on TV.
However, one element of the campaign is perhaps the most attention-grabbing: the police have created a hologram of Sabo, which calls on passersby to help and share information about the possible killer. The hologram is life-size and reproduces Betty quite accurately, duplicating her giant tattoo that covered her stomach and chest.
«It’s the first time we’ve done something like this and we’re really nervous,» says Benjamin van Gogh, coordinator of the Amsterdam-based missing persons group. «We want justice to be done. We have previously brainstormed with representatives of the police and other organizations about whether we should continue to do this and how to implement it».
Van Gogh added that the project was launched only after permission and consultation with Sabo’s family.
Detectives hope that the hologram and the €30,000 reward will help them find new witnesses, possibly among foreign guests:
«Betty was murdered in one of the busiest neighborhoods in Amsterdam, perhaps even in the Netherlands as a whole. It is impossible that there were not people who saw or heard something unusual at the time. Or someone told someone something. After all, the red light district attracts visitors from all over the world»
Source: The Guardian
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