Father murders daughter and commits suicide

The 14-year-old Famke Koeman was shot dead on 28 December 2020 in a home on Eerste Atjehstraat in Amsterdam-Oost. Her 52-year-old father was also found dead in the same home. According to police, the most likely scenario was that her father first shot Famke and then took his own life. Police found the bodies around midday; a farewell letter was also found in the home. The family was already known to youth care services and to the Child Protection Board, and an investigation had been started because Famke needed help. A later investigation found that Famke’s mother had raised concerns about the father as early as 2016, including concerns about suicidal tendencies, heavy alcohol use and medication addiction. Five days before Famke’s death, on 23 December 2020, the children’s court had placed her under supervision. In the later report “Onmacht” (“Powerlessness”), written by former children’s judge and former National Rapporteur Corinne Dettmeijer-Vermeulen, it was concluded that the youth care system as a whole had seriously failed. According to the report, Famke’s father had increasingly isolated her from other adults and had gained strong influence over her view of her mother and of institutions. Famke was also barely attending school, and there were other serious warning signs concerning her safety. The investigators concluded that agencies escalated too slowly, that overall coordination was lacking, that the mother’s concerns were not given enough weight and that the action and crisis plan was not adjusted in time. The Amsterdam court later responded that the deaths of Famke and her father had made a deep impact and that it wanted to learn from the case, although it disagreed with parts of the report’s interpretation of the legal procedure. The case led to broad criticism of youth protection services and of the way multiple agencies worked together.