Mieke Oort Winchester Massachusetts woman studying in the Netherlands stabbed to death by man who stalked her after breaking up with him. Placed GPS tracking device on her bike.
A Massachusetts woman studying in the Netherlands was fatally stabbed by a stalker she met on Tinder who became jealous and tracked her bike using a GPS device when she reconciled with her ex-boyfriend, according to reports.
Mieke Oort, 21, of Winchester, was allegedly attacked by the suspect – named only as Thomas R, 27, of Leek – inside her apartment above a tattoo shop in Leeuwarden on Sunday morning after the suspect lit a fire in an attempt to draw the woman out of the building.
She had recently moved into the apartment in the town, some 90 minutes away from Amsterdam, following her breakup with her boyfriend of two years Michael van der Waal. Oort is then said to have briefly dated Thomas R.
Oort met Thomas R on Tinder, only for the man to reportedly become violent and proceed to stalk Oort after she got back together with Michael. Thomas harassed the young woman via WhatsApp, drove up and down her street, and even put a GPS tracking device on her bike according to local news reports.
Oort’s family, including her Dutch-born father, are now heading to the Netherlands to make the necessary arrangements for their daughter.
‘we’re just trying to process this whole situation…’
‘She was my baby sister. We don’t really know how to cope with it,’ her sister Danique told WCVB 5. ‘She had just so much more to give and she had a lot of love for everyone.
‘She was the sweetest, strongest woman I knew. She really just put everyone else before her. Everyone.
‘Right now, we’re just trying to process this whole situation, and really say our goodbyes and make the necessary arrangements will have to do,’ her sister said.
Police received a call from a ‘distressed’ Oort around 3.30am, Sunday morning about a fire in her apartment on Tweebaksmarkt in Leeuwarden. The fire was extinguished, only for respondents to find Oort’s body. Two other men who lived in the building, 25 and 30, also reported mild to serious injuries.
#Leeuwarden Amerikaanse studente Mieke Oort (21) doodgestoken door jaloerse Tinder-date Tweebaksmarkt Leeuwarden https://t.co/9gXk6uyxBD
— Hardnieuws (@hardnieuwsnl) March 9, 2022
Unrequited love
The fire allegedly started after Thomas threw an incendiary bomb against the house to force the other residents out and a fight broke out in the stairwell between two male residents. Thomas went upstairs and stabbed Oort with a sharp object, local news sources reported.
‘She didn’t want to continue [dating] him,’ van der Waal told the Leeuwarder Courant. ‘Because he couldn’t stomach that, he first stalked her for a while. And out of jealousy, he has now done this.’
‘I didn’t see this coming,’ van der Waal told the Heart of the Netherlands. Oort’s ex-boyfriend found out about her death after seeing news reports on Twitter. ‘I went straight here to see if it was really about her… apparently it was.
Suspect to be interrogated upon his extradition back to Holland
‘It’s tough sh*t, if I may say so,’ he said.
Thomas, who lived in his parent’s home above an optics shops in Leek, was arrested around 5am near Leer, Germany on Sunday, Boevennieuws, a local source, reported, after fleeing by car to the country.
He was turned in by his parents, who alerted local police after he contacted them while fleeing, it is claimed. He is being held in Germany until he can be transported back to the Netherlands, where he will be interrogated.
‘As soon as the suspect is in the Netherlands, he will be taken into custody and will be interrogated,’ Netherlands Police said according to the dailymail.
His parents told local new sources that they were ‘perplexed’ by their son’s behavior and are said to be deeply shaken after receiving the phone call, according to Leeuwarden Courant.
Thomas, a technician, had bought a home with his sister two days prior to the fatal stabbing.
Oort was studying at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences and had planned to study in the country for five years, according to van der Waal.
