Disappearance on the way to work
Nicole van den Hurk left early on October 6, 1995, to travel by bicycle to her part-time job in Eindhoven. She never arrived. Nearly seven weeks later, her body was found in woodland near Lierop.
The original investigation included forensic work but did not identify a perpetrator. The case became a long-running cold case.
A renewed forensic investigation
Years later investigators revisited the case. Nicole's remains were exhumed for renewed forensic examination, and DNA findings eventually became central to the investigation. In 2014, Jos de G. was arrested after the Netherlands Forensic Institute reported matches between his DNA and traces recovered in the case.
The presence of DNA was not treated in isolation. Prosecutors and courts also examined the location of traces, the defendant's explanations and other evidence. The defense disputed the prosecution's interpretation and proposed alternative scenarios.
The first trial reached a mixed verdict
On November 21, 2016, the Oost-Brabant District Court convicted the defendant of raping Nicole and sentenced him to five years in prison. The court did not find it legally and convincingly proved that he had also killed her.
Both the prosecution and the defense appealed. That distinction matters because the later homicide conviction did not exist at the end of the first trial.
The appeal court convicted him of the killing
On October 9, 2018, the 's-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal reached a different conclusion. It found Jos de G. legally and convincingly guilty of both the rape and the killing of Nicole and imposed a twelve-year prison sentence.
The court concluded that the alternative scenarios offered by the defense were not made plausible and that the evidentiary combination supported the defendant's responsibility for Nicole's death. The judgment characterized the killing as manslaughter rather than premeditated murder.
Supreme Court review
On June 16, 2020, the Dutch Supreme Court dismissed the cassation complaints and left the conviction in place. The judiciary's official case overview lists that decision as the completed final stage of the criminal procedure.
Because the Supreme Court did not overturn the 2018 appeal judgment, the current legal status is a final conviction for rape and manslaughter.
Timeline
October 6, 1995: Nicole van den Hurk disappears while traveling to her part-time job.
November 1995: her body is found in woodland near Lierop.
2011: her remains are exhumed for renewed forensic investigation.
2014: Jos de G. is arrested after DNA findings connect him to the case.
November 21, 2016: the district court convicts him of rape but does not find the killing proved.
October 9, 2018: the Court of Appeal convicts him of rape and manslaughter and imposes twelve years.
June 16, 2020: the Supreme Court leaves the conviction in place.
Current status
Nicole van den Hurk's murder is classified here as solved and adjudicated. Jos de G. stands finally convicted of raping and killing her. The page does not conflate the earlier partial conviction with the later appeal result, and it does not add motives or factual details beyond what the judicial record supports.