Amsterdam police are attempting to solve the murder of a sex worker 15 years ago using a hologram sitting in a window in the city’s red light district.

They hope the innovative approach will jog people’s memory about the murder of 19-year-old Hungarian national Bernadette ‘Betty’ Szabó. She was found, stabbed multiple times, in a red light district room by fellow sex workers in 2009.

One building in the Korte Stormsteeg, an alley in the heart of the “Wallen” will be devoted to solving the case over the coming week, including the hologram of Betty asking for help.

“She was a young girl, just 19, who met a terrible death,” said Anne Dreijer-Heemskerk from the cold case team. “She did not have an easy time of it before she died either. She worked long days as a sex worker and kept on working right up to the birth of her son. He was taken in by a foster family and never knew his mother.”

The cold case team is convinced that someone has more information about her killing and hope the campaign will encourage them to come forward.

“Betty was killed in one of the busiest places in Amsterdam, or perhaps in the country,” Dreijer-Heemskerk said. “Somebody must have seen or heard something unusual, or heard someone talking about the case.”

A €30,000 reward has also been offered for information that leads to an arrest. “Two-thirds of these sort of cases are solved because of the media attention,” Dreijer-Heemskerk said.

Wie bracht de 19-jarige Betty Szabó om het leven?

Help deze zaak oplossen!

📅 Het hologram van Betty is te zien van zaterdag 9 november t/m zaterdag 16 november.
📍 Korte Stormsteeg 2/Oudezijds Achterburgwal
Meer informatie? Ga naar https://t.co/nFLzAVUAXe pic.twitter.com/6arF1vOmSj

— Naomi Hoekstra (@naomi_hoekstra) November 9, 2024

The front of the building at the centre of the new investigation has been covered with stickers telling Betty’s story and screens show part of the crime scene and footage of Betty shortly before she died.

The centrepiece is the hologram itself, seated on a stool, asking passersby for help. It is not a lookalike of Betty, out of respect to her relatives, but the approach is a first for Amsterdam police.

“The fact that we are now doing this, in this way, is unique and, to be honest, also quite exciting,” said Benjamin van Gogh, the police officer in charge of the campaign. “We want to do justice to Betty, her relatives and the case.”