# Four paranormal investigators on trial for grave desecration

> Four women suspected of grave desecration at a cemetery in 2021 are on trial, but only one of them, aged 81, came to court. Prosecutors demanded 40 to 200 hours of community service.

Society · published 2026-10-28 12:44 · updated 2026-10-28 14:22 · https://nlnow.nl/a/four-paranormal-investigators-face-court-over-child-graves/

Four women who visited a cemetery as paranormal investigators are standing trial. They are suspected of grave desecration (grafschennis) on 11 September 2021, five years ago.

Only one of the four suspects, an 81-year-old woman from Hoevelaken, attended the hearing.

According to the prosecution, the women placed luminous cat-toy balls on and between graves and asked the dead questions, at the graves of both adults and children.

On Wednesday, at the Utrecht court, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded community service of 200, 180, 120 and 40 hours. For the three highest demands, 40 hours are conditional; for the 81-year-old, Irene B., 20 of the 40.

The 200 hours are demanded against Deborah M. (49) from Ter Aar, whom the OM names as the organiser. Manon G. (42) from Waalwijk faces 180 hours and Kimmy B. (37) from Rotterdam 120 hours. The prosecutor said the women did the paranormal research "solely to satisfy their own curiosity" and called the case unique, because the court must decide whether paranormal research is a form of grave desecration.

The OM says at least ten bereaved families reburied their loved ones elsewhere. A mother of a deceased child asked the court for symbolic compensation of 1 euro: "Our real damage is priceless and irreparable."

The case began when a camera with footage of the session was found at the cemetery. It led to the identification of one suspect. A phone seized in 2024 held chats that identified the other three, the OM says. The suspects had sent each other videos in a group chat called "Onderzoeksgroep Rusthof".

In a victim statement read in court, a mother said her trust in the cemetery has been damaged: "We left our child there because we thought it was safe."

## Background

- **OM (Openbaar Ministerie)**: The Public Prosecution Service, which decides whether suspects are prosecuted and brings criminal cases to court.

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