BRUNSSUM - In the De Ruyterstraat in the Brunssum neighborhood of Egge, people reacted with bewilderment to the arrest of Ali B. 17, the high school student who, together with three other fellow locals, is suspected of the murder of the elderly Arnold Vink.Bewilderment that has everything to do with the fact that B. is almost a neighbor boy of the 77-year-old victim. He and his family live just a few doors down, in the same block of houses.

"I can hardly imagine Ali having anything to do with it," says a neighbor. "I knew him as a neat and tidy boy, who had a kind word for everyone. I had never even caught Ali in mischief. This must be terrible for his parents."

The crime and the eventual arrest are still the talk of the day, but to the press the residents only want to express their opinions anonymously. No one can say anything about the identities of the three other suspects. "I have heard that the boy who was arrested with Ali lives a few blocks away, " says a man just walking his dog. "But I have no idea who those two guys are who were arrested last Sunday." There is relief in the street, though, that the murder is now in all likelihood solved. One woman even claims to have put the police on the right track. "I am psychic and when officers were here for neighborhood investigations I told them to look for multiple perpetrators. See the result: four arrests." According to the woman, it is already the third murder in the neighborhood since she has lived in Egge. "One son strangled his mother, then a man stuck a knife in someone else's throat, and now it was poor Mr. Vink's turn. So it's not really a safe neighborhood. " She also claims to have known Ali fairly well. "He was a guy you never had any trouble with." The front door of Vink's house is no longer sealed. Pasted on the window is a poster, from the police. It was put up a few weeks ago to call attention to the "slipper murder," as the crime is now known. When Finch was found, he was wearing only one slipper. The other is without a trace, still.

An immediate neighbor of the victim has had to tell her story many times, but she is still overcome with emotion. She saw Vink lying dead in his home after his housekeeper found him and rang her doorbell completely upset. "That was a terrible sight. You don't forget a sight like that your whole life." No, she won't say how her neighbor met his end. "I promised the police to keep my mouth shut about that. But at least he was not beaten to death, as is claimed." The woman describes Finch as a somewhat reclusive but nice man. "We had a good contact, although we didn't walk in each other's doors. He liked to watch television late into the night. Then everyone could see him sitting up, because he only pushed the curtains closed when he went to bed."