,

Project Reasonable Doubt investigation into Gas Station Murder confirmed in documentary

In 1985, 28-year-old Micelle Mooij was found stabbed to death at the gas station in Warnsveld, where she worked. Only in 2004, four men were convicted for her murder. Research into these convictions done by Project Reasonable Doubt is now supported by a KRO-NCRV documentary. On February 2nd 2023, the three-part documentary ‘De Pompmoord’ (The Gas Station Murder) will air, showing a reconstruction of the four wrongful convictions. In anticipation of the documentary, the Volkskrant published a news article on the case.

The investigation into the murder of Micelle soon came to a dead end, until the police received new information in 2001. A mysterious document from 1988 supposedly indicated that Godfried van Haut and three other men had committed the murder. So, the police reopened the investigation. The four men were interrogated for days and eventually confessed to Micelle’s murder. However, the confessions did not match the descriptions of the crime scene. For example, the men said they had killed Micelle inside the gas station, while it was clear that Micelle was attacked outside.

In 2008, Project Reasonable Doubt investigated the case and published the book ‘De Warnsveldse Pompmoord ofwel de Vier van Warnsveld’ (The ‘Warnsveldse’ Gas Station Murder or the four of ‘Warnsveld’). The analysis showed that the four men were most likely wrongfully convicted, despite proof of their innocence and lack of incriminating evidence. Recently, a second edition of the book was published at the publishing house Boom Den Haag.