39-year-old Barbara Quee, one of the victims to whom 'Spoorloos' linked the wrong Colombian parents, has found her biological mother. "She thought I had died," she tells the 'Algemeen Dagblad'.
"She always thought I died shortly after birth"
Born in Colombia, Barbara was adopted in 1984 by a Dutch couple. Because Barbara wants to know more about her past, she registers for the Spoorloos program in 2005 in the hope of finding her biological parents. Her mother is found by the Colombian fixer (and, as it turns out, con artist) Edwin Vela, who has been matching adopted people with the wrong biological parents for years.
During the broadcast she is told that her mother cannot go public because she is in hiding from the police. "That would have to do with her identity, which would be used for criminal purposes," Barbara looks back. "A story in which I had many questions. Why was Spoorloos able to find her and the police could not?"
The program promises her to go after two brothers, but it remains silent. When Barbara meets another adopted boy in 2008, she decides to start a new search through Edwin Vela, to whom she has to transfer money each time. "It felt like a second chance. I asked Spoorloos for support, but that ultimately did nothing," Barbara continues her story.