Bodies of woman and baby found in home on Martin Luther Kinglaan

Patricia Oliveira dos Santos, a 32-year-old woman from Brazil, was found dead together with her newborn baby on Friday, 18 October 2019, in the apartment of her boyfriend Dennis van E. on Martin Luther Kinglaan in Diemen. Patricia had arrived in the Netherlands at the end of September 2019 and was staying with Van E., whom she had met several years earlier in Fortaleza, Brazil. She was heavily pregnant with a boy; according to the court she was more than 34 weeks pregnant, while earlier reports described the pregnancy as approximately 32 to 37 weeks. The case later became known in the Netherlands as the “abortusmoord”, or “abortion murder”, because prosecutors and the court concluded that Van E. had deliberately pushed for an illegal abortion while Patricia was already in the late stage of pregnancy. Chat messages showed, according to the court, that Van E. did not want a son and pressured Patricia to end the pregnancy. During the night of 16 to 17 October 2019, Patricia and Van E. visited cafés in Diemen, including Cheers and ’t Pandje, before returning to the apartment building on Martin Luther Kinglaan at around 01:50. At around 04:00, Patricia left the building with a suitcase and bags; camera footage showed her heavily pregnant and walking unsteadily outside. At around 05:30, she returned to the flat with Van E. According to the court, Van E. forced or induced her to take a large quantity of abortion pills ordered online, combined with substances including cocaine, MDMA and alcohol. This triggered labour. During the delivery, with no midwife or medical assistance present, the baby was born in breech position and Patricia’s uterus ruptured. She lost a large amount of blood, after which both she and the child died shortly after each other. Van E. did not call an ambulance, a doctor or any other medical help, even though the court found that both Patricia and the baby could probably have been saved if help had been called in time. Instead, according to his own statement, he cleaned blood traces, washed bloodstained clothes and blankets, and placed the dead child in bed next to Patricia. He only later reported to the police. Van E. denied responsibility for the deaths of Patricia and the baby, claiming that Patricia herself wanted the abortion and that he had not realised how serious the situation was. The court rejected that version. On 24 June 2024, the Amsterdam District Court sentenced Dennis van E., then 52 years old, to 16 years in prison and compulsory psychiatric treatment under a TBS order. He was convicted of murdering the unborn child and of aggravated assault against Patricia Oliveira dos Santos resulting in her death. The court stressed that Van E. had pressured Patricia within an unequal and manipulative relationship, humiliated her in messages, and left her without help in a life-threatening situation. The sentence matched the demand of the Public Prosecution Service. Van E. appealed the conviction. A striking complication then arose: at a case-management hearing in early November 2025 it emerged that the Netherlands Forensic Institute had destroyed the body material of both Patricia and the unborn child, and that their bodies had been repatriated to Brazil. Further examination is therefore impossible; the defence can no longer have tests carried out for syphilis, infections or anaemia, which it argues could point to an alternative cause of death. The court of appeal refused his lawyer's request to appoint an independent gynaecologist and pathologist, as it had refused earlier requests for new expert investigations into Patricia's exact cause of death, ruling that the case file had already been sufficiently examined. The substantive appeal hearing began on 21 September 2026; the Amsterdam court of appeal set aside four days for it, on 21, 22, 24 and 28 September.