Rosleny Magdalena (28) shot dead on Maldenhof after taking her daughter to school

Rosleny Magdalena (28) was a single mother who lived on Leerdamhof in Amsterdam-Zuidoost with her six-year-old daughter. On the morning of Thursday 17 November 2016 her day began like any school day: just before eight she set off with her daughter on the back of her bicycle to school at Holendrechtplein, a ride of just under ten minutes. At around 08:12 she kissed her daughter and watched her go inside. Then she cycled home by the same route. At 08:18 police received reports of pistol shots near Maldenhof. Residents who went towards the sound found a seriously wounded woman, leaning over the railing of a small cycle bridge. Emergency workers and a trauma doctor tried to resuscitate her, but she died at the scene. Camera footage soon brought an unknown cyclist into view. That person came from the direction of Ochtenhof, crossed the Abcoude cycle path and dismounted in the tunnel under Holendrechtdreef — the same tunnel Rosleny cycled through every morning. There the cyclist stood waiting for a while behind a pillar. When Rosleny passed, the person set off after her immediately: video analysis showed the cyclist following her six seconds later along the same pavement past the Vomar supermarket. The description: someone between 1.70 and 1.85 metres tall, in a dark rain suit with two white stripes on the back, riding a dark women's bicycle with carriers front and back. The face is not recognisable on any of the footage, and whether the cyclist was a man or a woman has never been established. According to police, Rosleny had no involvement in crime. Detectives work on the assumption that she was deliberately targeted by someone who knew her, probably arising from a conflict in her personal life. The unknown cyclist is treated as a suspect, although it is unclear whether that person fired the shots or tipped off the killer. On 19 January 2022 a 29-year-old woman was arrested and held under full restrictions; her remand was extended. On 4 March 2022 she was released because prosecutors saw insufficient grounds to hold her any longer. She did remain a suspect in the case. The case has been kept in the public eye for years. The Public Prosecution Service offered 15,000 euros, the case featured several times on the television programme Opsporing Verzocht, and first Peter R. de Vries and later his children Kelly and Royce took on the file. The Peter R. de Vries Foundation had her photograph projected onto buildings in Amsterdam, commissioned a comic strip to draw attention to the case, and offered 100,000 euros for the tip that would lead to the perpetrator's arrest and 25,000 euros for information about the cyclist's identity. A silent memorial march was also held. In October 2024 the Foundation announced that none of those efforts had produced a breakthrough: the rewards lapsed and the money was freed up for other cold cases. Her cousin Shulesca de la Croes became the public face of the case and kept fighting. Eight years after the murder she said she would not give up, ever. Nearly ten years on, the cyclist has still not been identified and the case remains unsolved.