Ben Saunders (43) Found Dead in Lake Near Arnhem

Dutch singer Ben Saunders has died at 43. His body was found this morning in the Rijkerswoerdse Plas, a lake in a recreation area south of Arnhem, a day after his disappearance was reported.

Saunders won the first season of the Dutch talent show “The Voice of Holland” in 2011. That victory brought him nationwide recognition and launched his public career. He was born in Horn, North Holland. According to Dutch media, he had recently been living in a trailer park in Arnhem.

His disappearance was reported the previous evening. Police launched a search after receiving a report that a man had gone into the lake to swim and had not resurfaced. The same day, Dutch police issued a public appeal through the Burgernet system, seeking a 43 year old man. Burgernet is a Dutch public alert system that police use to send messages to residents in an area and ask for help during searches and emergencies. The description of the missing man noted fair skin, a beard, a white shirt, blue jeans and black shoes, along with several tattoos on his head and neck. The description matched Saunders, and the search quickly drew wider public attention. When the body was pulled from the lake this morning, the identity was not immediately confirmed officially, though it was soon linked to the missing singer.

His nieces searched for him through the night and eventually located him through his phone. Relatives and friends gathered at the search site, in the recreation area south of Arnhem. Police, in the meantime, had also checked his new address at the trailer park after he could not be reached.

“His nieces searched for him all night,” a family member on his wife’s side told Dutch media. “In the end they managed to find him using his phone.”

The same source added that his death came as a complete shock to the whole family.

As of this report, police had not officially confirmed that the body was Ben Saunders. Still, some family members had already spoken to Dutch media, which reinforced the assumption that he was the one found in the lake. An official statement confirming the identity and cause of death, based on available information, was still pending.

The singer’s name is sometimes misspelled in parts of regional media as “Sonders” or “Sanders.” According to Dutch sources, including public broadcaster NOS and regional station Omroep Gelderland, his correct name is Ben Saunders.

This story had not been covered in our region until now. The news broke this morning, only a few hours after the body was pulled from the water, while Dutch police had still not issued an official confirmation of identity or cause of death.

Neither Republika.rs nor Nova.rs, the two regional outlets that first reported the story, had official police confirmation of identity at the time of publication. Both relied instead on statements from relatives who had spoken to the Dutch press.

His disappearance and the search that followed, along with the public appeal through Burgernet, drew attention beyond his circle of family and friends within a short time, until word came this morning that the body had been found.

Srpske.rs is following further developments and will report the official confirmation from Dutch police, as well as details on the cause of death, if and when they are released.