The facts date from Sunday, May 16, 1999. A stone’s throw from the Schipperskwartier, on the Dries, passers-by found the body of a woman on the street around 3 am. The victim, 17-year-old Iona B. from Romania, was killed in a gruesome manner. “The medical examiner counted about 20 cuts and stab wounds,” says spokesperson Kristof Aerts of the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office.
A witness had seen the perpetrator fleeing the scene. In the immediate vicinity of the crime scene, the forensic lab found the murder weapon, a butcher’s knife with a large blade, in a waste container. There, investigators also recovered a kitchen glove that the killer had used to avoid fingerprints.
The newspaper article about the facts in 1999. — © Photo archive Gazet van Antwerpen
The murder probably took place in the Albanian prostitution environment. Iona B.’s Albanian friend was arrested on suspicion of murder, but he turned out to be innocent. “The investigation showed that the victim had been seen with her suspected pimp in a nearby café shortly before the facts,” says Aerts.
That man lived in our country under the name ‘Arthur Vrenoz’, but that turned out to be a false identity. He fled abroad after the facts. The police distributed a search notice and a photo of the fugitive man a month after the murder, but he could never be located. “The file has thus become a cold case.”
In the summer of 1999, the police issued an investigation notice for ‘Arthur Vrenoz’, one of the suspect’s false identities. — © Photo archive Gazet van Antwerpen
DNA profile
After consultation between the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office and the federal judicial police (FGP) Antwerp, the file was recently re-analyzed. “After that review, it was decided to request the investigating judge again. In 2020, he then asked the forensic advisor of the National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology (NICC) to re-examine the DNA part of the file with a scientific lens,” says Aerts.
“The evolution of science allowed a single DNA profile of a man to be discovered on the glove left at the scene.” In the search for the suspect, the police cooperated with Interpol and the Albanian authorities. “The possible suspect is said to have left Albania in 1993 and arrived in Italy in 2002. Before that, he had again used a false identity. He was checked several times by the police,” Aerts continues.
Council chamber
Based on all new elements, the investigating judge issued a European arrest warrant and the man was notified. ‘Arthur Vrenoz’ could eventually be located. He was arrested in Rome on August 21, 2023. After the surrender procedure, the man was flown to Belgium on April 5.
© Shutterstock
“The next day, the investigating judge in Antwerp arrested the now 51-year-old man for murder. A comparative DNA test that has since been carried out has revealed a positive match,” Aerts adds. The man appeared a second time before the council chamber on Monday, which extended his detention again.
The victim’s family has now been informed of the new developments.
Tags: Murder #17yearold Iona Schipperskwartier solved years DNA glove pimp arrested Antwerp
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