Sex worker and mum Bernadett Szabó was found dead with multiple stab wounds in Amsterdam back in 2009 – police now hope an unusual AI-powered tool will finally uncover facts about the case
Police are hoping a life-sized AI-powered hologram of a sex worker will finally bring her killer to justice 15 years after her death.
Bernadett Szabó, originally from Hungary, was a sex worker at Amsterdam’s red light district and was killed when she was 19. On February 19, two sex workers realised they had not seen her in her workroom and had not heard any of the music that played when she was in.
When they investigated and checked the room at about 1am, they found her dead with multiple stab wounds. Police are now using AI-powered technology in a final attempt to find her killer or killers.
Large stickers and TV screens showing Bernadett and the crime scene have been displayed at a house at the corner of Stormsteeg and Oudezijds Achterburgwal near where she was found dead. An eye-catching part of the campaign to find her killer was using AI to create a hologram using 3D visualisation tech that also shows a large dragon tattoo that Bernadett had on her chest and stomach.
Banjamin van Gogh, the coordinator of the Amsterdam wanted and missing persons team said: “This is the first time we’ve done something like this and, to be honest, we’re a bit nervous.” He added: “We want to do justice to Betty, to her family and friends, and to the case.”
“Therefore, before deciding to use a hologram for the campaign, we brainstormed with different parties both within and outside the police on whether we should go ahead with this and how we should set it up,” he continued, according to The Guardian. “We are committed to doing this with dignity and with the clear purpose of achieving some form of justice for Betty by finding her murderer or murderers.”
Police hope the hologram as well as a £25,000 will finally crack the case. Bernadett fell pregnant during her time as a sex worker and placed her son with a foster family.
Anne Dreijer-Heemskerk, of the cold case team, said of the case: “Betty was murdered in one of the busiest areas in Amsterdam, maybe even in the Netherlands. It is really almost impossible that there are no people who saw or heard something unusual at the time. Or heard someone talk about the case, which doesn’t even have to have been in Amsterdam, because, after all, the red light district gets visitors from all over the world.”
She reflected on the 15 years following the murder and renewed hope someone might notify police. “We hope witnesses who may have been afraid before or kept silent for other reasons now have the courage to come forward,” she said.
