The bodies of a Dutch Jewish woman and her 19-month-old daughter killed in Cambodia are returning to Holland for burial.

The mother, Daphna Beerdsen, was found dead with multiple stab wounds on April 28 in her apartment in Phnom Penh, according to The Cambodian Daily.

Her daughter, Dana Beerdsen, was lying near her mother’s body with critical injuries. The baby was taken to Bangkok for medical treatment but died Wednesday, a Dutch Embassy official confirmed Thursday.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Their bodies were scheduled to leave Cambodia for burial at a Jewish cemetery in Amsterdam, Rabbi Bentzion Butman of the Phnom Penh Chabad center told the daily.

On Saturday, a 35-year-old vagrant identified by the daily as Chea Pin was arrested and charged with the mother’s murder, according to The Cambodian Daily.

The Dutch broadcaster RTV NH reported that Pin wanted a bicycle that belonged to Daphna Beerdsen.

She and her husband, Joris Oele, were U.N. workers living in Cambodia, according to the daily.

Butman, the rabbi, visited the father and the daughter in Bangkok. He informed members of his community in an email that “little Dana did not survive the brutal attack” and “has returned her soul to its Creator at a hospital in Bangkok at 21:45 last night.”

Butman said that Beerdsen had been active at the Chabad center for nearly a year, The Phnompenh Post reported.

“What we have lost is incredible,” Butman wrote in an email to members of the community of 100 people, in which he recalled moments he spent with Breeman over the Seder Passover dinner. She had cut short a vacation in order to attend the dinner, he said.

“Daphna’s patience and dedication; her endless care and love; her principles and consistency were outstanding,” Butman wrote.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount