Deadly Safari: Dutch Student Journeyed to Uganda, But NEVER RETURNED

Sophia, who is a medical student, came to Uganda in August of 2015. She had just acquired her bachelor of medicine on her way to become a doctor. She came to Uganda to work in Lubaga Hospital as an intern for 8 weeks. [music] In October 2015, 21-year-old Dutch medical intern Sophia Kutzia vanished in Uganda.

She had been on a tourist safari after completing her medical internship when she disappeared without a trace. Local authorities moved quickly to close the case, concluding that she had likely fallen victim to a wild animal. But the evidence tells a very different story. One far more troubling than a wildlife encounter.

This is a true crime case that many believe was quietly put to rest. [music] Today, we’re reopening it. Sophia Kotzia was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on April 2nd, 1994. She was the daughter of Gerard Kotier and Marijah Sikman and had two younger siblings. Those who knew Sophia described her as intelligent, outgoing, and deeply compassionate.

For several years, she attended the Amsterdam Youth Theater School, where she developed a genuine love for the performing arts. But as she grew older, she chose a different calling, medicine. She was equally passionate about sports. Basketball, hockey, and regular runs through Vondell Park, one of Amsterdam’s most well-known green spaces, were all part of her routine.

At just 21 years old, she was a full-time medical student with what everyone around her believed was an incredibly bright future. Sophia balanced her studies with part-time jobs, handing out flyers, babysitting, and taking on whatever work helped pay the bills. Her goal was to specialize in tropical medicine, a career path that perfectly reflected who she was.

Someone who genuinely wanted to help people while exploring the world. At her core, Sophia was an adventurer. New places, new cultures. That was what inspired her. And it’s exactly why she signed up for an 8week medical internship at Lubaga Hospital in Kala, Uganda. Sophia arrived in Uganda in August 2015, eager to embrace everything the country had to offer, the people, the culture, and the hands-on medical experience.

By every account, she exceeded expectations. Colleagues at the hospital praised her work ethic. [music] She didn’t just assist in surgeries or help with deliveries. If the floors needed cleaning, she was just as willing to help with that, too. She lived on the IST campus in Campala, sharing the building with more than a dozen other students.

Student life came with its usual chaos, but Sophia embraced every moment of it. She had fallen in love with Uganda, its people, its landscapes, and its rhythm. She even learned some Luganda, one of the region’s most widely spoken languages, simply so she could connect with locals in their own language. Every single day without fail, she called home to tell her family about everything she was learning and experiencing.

Local children naturally gravitated toward her, often following her around just to be near her. She became so captivated by the country that she had already started talking about returning after finishing her studies, perhaps even settling there permanently. On paper, it seemed like Sophia had everything figured out. But that wasn’t the full picture.

At the age of 16, Sophia had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It shaped parts of her life that most people around her never saw. Periods of emotional highs, difficult episodes, and moments of impulsiveness that required careful management. Her family and closest friends knew about it. Almost no one else did.

with medication and the support of those closest to her. She kept her condition under control and lived as normal a life as she possibly could. That quiet, deeply personal part of her life, known by only a handful of people, would eventually become central to everything that followed. Sophia completed her internship on October 22nd, 2015.

But she wasn’t ready to return home just yet. Instead, she decided to spend two more weeks exploring more of Uganda. The following day, October 23rd, she set off on a safari with two other Dutch students and a local guide, who also served as the group’s driver. The identities of the two students who traveled with her were never made public.

Their itinerary was packed, 5 days with several destinations. Fortal, Kibali Valley National Park, Gulu, Pacquatch, and finally [music] the last stop on their journey, Merchesen Falls National Park, Uganda’s largest national park, famous for its breathtaking waterfalls and the incredible wildlife that roams its landscape. Around midday on October 28th, the group arrived at the park.

After taking a boat ride along the Victoria Nile, they settled in for the night at the Uganda Wildlife Authority Student Education Center. The accommodations were simple with cabins, a shared common area, and latrines located just a short walk away. As everyone unpacked, Sophia headed toward the latrines. She carried a small empty water bottle with her, the same one she often used to collect litter along the way. It was around 6:30 p.m.

and dusk was beginning to settle in. A staff member spotted her near the latrines. She looked deep in thought, gazing out toward the Victoria Nile, about 2,000 ft from camp. That was the last confirmed sighting of Sophia Coatia. A few minutes passed. Her companions realized she hadn’t returned. They checked the latrines. Empty. They searched the camp.

Nothing. [music] Sophia had vanished without a trace. The group acted quickly. Just 15 minutes after realizing she was missing, they alerted the local rangers. A search began immediately, but darkness was already closing in, making the effort more difficult with every passing minute. [music] Rangers combed the area.

Sophia’s friends tried one last desperate measure. They played her favorite song, Isabella, by Southeast Soul, on repeat from the vehicle, hoping she’d hear it and find her way back. nothing. By 9:00 p.m., with still no sign of her, one of her friends made the call no parent ever wants to receive. She phoned Sophia’s mother, Marijah Slayerman, and told her that her daughter was missing.

Marijah, who had visited Sophia in Kala during her internship, was devastated. She immediately began making arrangements to fly to Uganda. The next morning, October 29th, the search intensified. Rangers, local police, and the military all joined the effort. That’s when the first real clue surfaced. Sophia’s small water bottle found about 16 ft from the northern bank of the Victoria Nile.

But instead of answers, it raised even more questions. Why was the bottle there? Had she gone down to the river? [music] The Victoria Nile is an unforgiving place, especially after dark with crocodiles, hippos, and other dangerous wildlife along its banks. At this stage, Ugandan authorities were already leaning toward one conclusion.

Sophia had been taken by a wild animal. As we’ll see, that explanation wouldn’t hold up for long. On October 30th, about 40 hours after Sophia disappeared, more of her belongings turned up. They were scattered roughly 164 ft from where the water bottle had been found near the riverbank. Among the items were a pair of hiking pants, a shoe, sunglasses, a torn 1,000 shilling note, [music] and an empty souvenir bag she’d bought back in Kala.

Then came the detail that stopped everyone in their tracks. Pieces of fabric believed to be from her pants tangled in a tree branch about 16 ft off the ground. The way everything was laid out was unusual, and there was no blood, no sign of a struggle anywhere. So, how did a piece of her pants end up 16 ft high in a tree? Why were her belongings scattered across such a wide area? And why was there nothing? No blood, no signs of a struggle, no clear indication of what had actually happened to her.

Then the case took another unexpected turn. Rangers who had searched the area on the first day said none of those items had been there during their initial sweep. They only appeared about 40 hours after Sophia vanished. That raises an obvious question. Were the items placed there later to make the scene look a certain way? Thomas Coin, [music] a survival expert and investigator who examined the evidence, reached a clear conclusion.

He believed the pants had been deliberately cut with a knife and torn apart, not damaged by an animal. The absence of blood or human tissue supported that opinion. As he explained, wild animals don’t drag clothing into trees or scatter someone’s belongings in a neat, spread out pattern. To him, the scene showed all the signs of being staged.

The animal attack theory offered Ugandan authorities a convenient explanation, one that could quickly close the case without further investigation. But the evidence, or more accurately, the lack of it, pointed in a different direction. No screams were reported, no animal tracks were found, and the terrain between the camp and the river was rough and dangerous, especially after dark.

For someone like Sophia, a visitor unfamiliar with the area, making that journey alone at night would have been extremely difficult. As the investigation continued, attention shifted to Sophia’s mental health. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 16, she could experience impulsive behavior and periods of heightened confidence during difficult episodes.

According to her travel companions, around October 26th, they began noticing changes in her behavior. She was sleeping less, talking constantly, and taking more risks, staying up late, and at one point possibly damaging chairs near a campfire. It put a strain on the group. Her friends considered calling her mother, Mirage, but decided against it because Sophia had asked them not to.

Hoping to ease the tension, the guide adjusted the itinerary to include quieter, more peaceful locations. But by the time they reached Merchesen Falls, whatever calm had settled over her had broken again, and this time it was more intense. Some believe her condition at that point may have made her more vulnerable, more likely to trust the wrong person or wander away on her own.

Her bipolar disorder adds real complexity to this case. It might explain why she left the camp, but it doesn’t explain how her belongings ended up scattered or how she disappeared without leaving a single trace. According to her family, nothing like this had ever happened before. And Sophia had no intention of giving up on her life.

So, the question remains, what really happened to her? Sophia’s mother, Maria Slyerman, arrived at Merchesen Falls on October 30th, accompanied by officials from the Dutch embassy. From that point on, the search expanded with police, helicopters, and even a drone team sent by Dutch authorities. Despite all of that, no trace of Sophia was ever found.

Ugandan media gave the story limited coverage before quickly settling on the animal attack narrative and the case was closed not long afterward. Dutch media on the other hand covered it much more closely raising question after question about what might have really happened. Marij didn’t stop there.

She returned to Uganda more than 20 times [music] conducting her own investigation and uncovering inconsistencies in the official reports. In 2019, she made her first major breakthrough. A retired Uganda Wildlife Authority officer, Steven Nyadrew, came forward with a statement that changed everything. [music] He claimed he had seen Sophia interacting with another wildlife officer on the night she disappeared.

That officer denied having any contact with her and was never questioned by investigators. Marij also uncovered something that had never been publicly disclosed. Around 400 Uganda Wildlife Authority recruits were training at a camp just 1.2 mi from the student education center that same night. No one had accounted for them. No one had checked whether those recruits had verifiable alibis.

Then came the DNA results. All of Sophia’s recovered belongings were sent to the Netherlands for testing. The analysis confirmed the items belong to her, but it also revealed something else. Unknown male DNA. That single discovery opened the door to a possibility Ugandan authorities had never seriously pursued. Human involvement, an abduction, criminal involvement.

With so many people in the area that night and Sophia’s belongings appearing to have been staged, the possibility of a cover up became difficult to ignore. But why? To protect someone? To avoid scrutiny over security at the site? Or was blaming an animal simply the easiest explanation? Over the years, several theories have emerged. The animal attack theory, the official explanation, has largely been discredited.

Other possibilities include an accidental drowning or Sophia simply getting lost. Some believe she wandered to the river and drowned or became disoriented in the thick vegetation. But no screams, no footprints, and no body were ever found, making that explanation difficult to accept. Authorities also briefly suggested the possibility of self harm, pointing to her bipolar disorder.

Her family strongly rejected that idea. They said Sophia loved life and had never shown any signs of wanting to harm herself. Voluntary disappearance was another theory. The idea that an internal struggle led her to walk away from her life. Her family rejected that as well. She was close to them, had plans to continue her studies, and abandoning everything simply didn’t fit.

By every account from those closest to her, Sophia was genuinely happy with the life she was building. Then there’s the theory discussed more than any other, kidnapping or human trafficking. It’s the one that aligns most closely with the physical evidence, the staged scene, and the unknown male DNA. It suggests Sophia may have been taken, possibly by someone she encountered at the camp.

There was no sign of a struggle where her belongings were found. No blood, no tire tracks, no footprints, not even her own. That absence points to something far more deliberate. [music] It’s possible she was caught off guard and taken somewhere else. And the complete lack of footprints suggests whoever was involved knew exactly how to move through that terrain without leaving evidence behind.

Remember those 400 Uganda Wildlife Authority recruits training just 1.2 mi away that night? People with exactly that kind of training, the skills to move through dense bush while leaving little or no trace. Add to that the apparent lack of transparency from local authorities along with Sophia’s mental state at the time, which may have made her more vulnerable.

The trafficking theory is deeply unsettling, especially given the unknown DNA and the silence from local officials. But without stronger evidence, it remains exactly that, a theory. Here’s what we know for certain. Sophia’s family never stopped searching for answers. Her mother, Marija Syman, became relentless, raising funds, hiring private investigators, and pushing authorities to reopen the case.

In 2019, Uganda’s public prosecutor ordered a new investigation, but progress stalled. First because of the global health crisis and later because of local elections in 2021. Marier continues to push for one specific step, a DNA comparison involving the second wildlife officer who was allegedly seen with Sophia the night she disappeared.

It could completely clear his name or become the breakthrough this case has needed for nearly a decade. The most recent development came in June 2025 when Michael Kajjamboo went on trial. [music] He was the tour guide leading Sophia’s safari group. It was revealed that he did not have a valid license, a factor authorities say may have contributed to what happened.

During the trial, Steven Niadrew, the same man who had previously reported seeing a wildlife officer with Sophia, testified that Sophia and her two friends had broken the education cent’s rules by playing loud music in the reception area. He also testified that around 4:00 a.m., Sophia was seen banging on wall panels and attempting to set grass on fire, behavior he believed was consistent with a mental health episode.

Niadrew said he warned Kajjambu to take her to a hospital and cancel the remainder of the trip. According to his testimony, Kajjambu ignored that warning. Not long afterward, Sophia disappeared. That trial remains the only legal proceeding connected to this case so far. And notably, it isn’t even about Sophia’s disappearance itself.

Sophia’s family, led by her mother, Marijah Sllayman, continues to search for answers to a mystery that remains unsolved nearly a decade later. So, what do you think really happened to Sophia Kotier? Was it truly an animal attack as Ugandan authorities claimed? Or was she the victim of a crime that someone somewhere is still trying to conceal? Share your thoughts in the comments.

This is one true crime story that is far from over.