# Robert L. gets 11 years for strangling Susanna Boon

> The Amsterdam court of appeal found that Robert L. strangled his partner Susanna Boon, 51, in 2016, overturning the district court's acquittal for lack of evidence.

Society · published 2026-10-29 15:58 · https://nlnow.nl/a/court-jails-robert-l-for-11-years-after-earlier-acquittal/

The Amsterdam court of appeal on Thursday sentenced Robert L. to eleven years in prison for strangling his partner Susanna Boon in 2016. The district court had earlier acquitted him for lack of evidence. The court of appeal said L. must have killed her.

Boon is said to have left the couple's home after a row on the night of 7 to 8 January 2016. L. reported her missing on 9 January. A walker found her body on 29 March in the Zandenbos woods near Nunspeet. An autopsy showed she died of strangulation.

The court said L. was the last person to see her alive. Despite "very incriminating circumstances", he would not say how the argument went, or where he was for part of the afternoon of 8 January, the court said. In those hours he could have driven from Amsterdam to the woods. It added that he knew the spot well, "a place that is not easy for others to find".

The court also weighed that the relationship was very bad and that Boon wanted him out of the house. L. lived with another woman in the home for some weeks after her disappearance. Boon was found in different clothes from those L. had described. Forensic tests showed the clothes she wore must have come from the couple's shared home, the court said.

The court held it against L. that he deprived Boon's daughters of their mother "in a very crude way", reported her missing and refused to answer questions about what happened.

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