Who was Mieke Oort? 21-year-old Winchester student stabbed to death by Tinder stalker in Netherlands

Mieke Oort, a girl belonging to Massachusetts, United States, was stabbed to death by her Tinder date in the Netherlands after he placed a tracking device on her bike while she rekindled her romance with an ex-partner.

As per news outlet WCVB, 21-year-old Oort, a student at the NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, was fatally stabbed on March 6 in her Leeuwarden apartment, which is 85 miles away from Amsterdam.

The attacker, identified as 27-year-old Thomas R., was held in the killing, as reported by MassLive, which also dubbed news outlet Boevennieuws, who described the alleged suspect as a "jealous Tinder date" of the woman.

Speaking to WCVB, Mieke Oort's sister, Danique, said that she and her family do not know how to cope with the loss. Calling her the "sweetest, strongest woman" she knew, the deceased sister said that she would put everyone else before her.

She also told the news outlet that the suspect had set fire to Oort's apartment.

“He put a tracker on her bike because in the Netherlands, you bike everywhere. Right now, we’re just trying to process this whole situation and really say our goodbyes, and make the necessary arrangements that we’ll have to do.”

According to WCVB, Danique and Mieke's father is Dutch, and many of their relatives still live in the Netherlands. In order to learn more about the shocking incident, the family is traveling to the Netherlands.

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What happened between Mieke Oort and Thomas R?

The Winchester native moved to the Netherlands in 2020 after graduating from Winchester High School the year before, according to the Dutch newspaper Boevennieuws.

The Daily Mail reported that she recently broke up with her boyfriend, Michael van der Waal, before briefly dating Thomas, whom she met on the dating app Tinder.

According to the news outlet, when she reconnected with her ex, Thomas allegedly became violent, harassed her on WhatsApp, stalked her, and planted the tracking device on her bicycle. Michael told the news outlet:

“She didn’t want to continue [dating] him. Because he couldn’t stomach that, he first stalked her for a while. And out of jealousy, he has now done this."

Thomas, a Leek resident, fled through Germany but was arrested near Leer on March 6 after his parents turned him in, as per the outlet, which cited Boevennieuws.

According to WCVB, two men, ages 25 and 30, were also injured in the fatal stabbing.