22 women murdered – but no trace of their killers

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They lay in ditches, in trunks, in barrels nailed down or in rivers: 22 women have been found murdered in Europe in recent years – without their cases being solved.

The police forces in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands are making a new attempt to finally identify the victims and perhaps solve their case after all.

Thrown into the river in a nailed garbage can

The Belgian police reports seven cases, Germany six and the Netherlands nine women whose murders remain unsolved to this day. Most of the victims were between the ages of 15 and 30.

The bodies were found between 1976 and 2019. There are sometimes ghostly cases, such as the unsolved murder of a woman in Amsterdam who was found in a garbage can in a river. She had a gunshot wound to the head and chest.

It was found by a local who fished the spiked barrel out of the river. He called the police when he noticed the smell of dead bodies. When officers broke open the garbage can, they found bags of washing powder piled on concrete.

“Maybe you recognize an earring”

The corpse was revealed underneath. An officer who was there said the body was gray and looked like a sand sculpture. It was impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman. The researchers have now made a digital facial reconstruction in order to perhaps still get clues.

Another case of Operation Identify Me is a woman found in Belgium with a tattoo of a black flower with green leaves and the inscription “R’NICK” on her body. She was found lying on a trellis in a river in Antwerp in 1992. Her name is unknown to this day.

Interpol hopes that the release of the new images and details of the dead will provide new leads. “They may recognize an earring or a specific item of clothing found on the unknown woman,” Interpol’s Dr Susan Hitchin told the BBC. (new)

Source: Blick