Rotterdam Teen, Missing After Grindr Date, Found Dead in Lake

A Dutch teenager named Orlando Boldewijn disappeared after a Grindr date, only to be found in a lake a week later, reported Dutch News.nl. The lake is located in the suburb of Ypenburg. The teen's body will be subjected to an autopsy to determine the cause of his death.

Boldewijn was 17 and used the dating app to meet men, according to a friend named Noha den Hartog, who also disclosed that she served as his alibi to his mother on occasions when he would meet with men via Grindr.

"He often did that, but usually he always told me where he was," den Hartog told the media. "This time he didn't." She also said that a message she received that purportedly came from Boldewijn and said he was heading home didn't seem like other texts he had sent her.

"Usually he shortens lots of words, but in that message he didn't do it once," she observed.

American news outlets picked up on the story, with The Root reporting that according to a 20-year-old man Boldewijn had met with that day, the teen had plans to meet with an older man, described as being 29 or 30 years old.

Fox News reported that police had spoken with a 20-year-old man who left Orlando in Ypenburg, where the teen had arranged to meet a second date that evening.

The Fox News article brought up the specter of Canadian serial killer Bruce McArthur, who preyed on gay men around Toronto, reportedly with the use of dating apps. McArthur, a landscaper, had hidden the remains of three victims in large planters. Members of the local gay community blamed the police for not taking their concerns about a suspected serial killer seriously. Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders countered with a statement that some felt cast blame on area's gay community in turn.

Referring to a police operation from 2012, Saunders told the media, "I've heard a lot of sources say certain things, and had those sources said those things thing when we had Project Houston, I think there is a very strong potential that the outcome could have been different."

Added Saunders, "We knew that people were missing and we knew we didn't have the right answers. But nobody was coming to us with anything."

Toronto city councilor Kristyn Wong-Tam refuted Saunders' characterization, saying, "I know for a fact that the community rallied around asking for additional resources and attention to the missing men" even prior to the 2012 police operation.