Operation Identify Me was launched on 10 May 2023 by

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cr ...

to solve

cold case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or re ...

s across

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

to identify 22 unidentified women who were found deceased in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

between 1976 and 2019. Most of the women were murdered, and have never been identified. A public appeal was made for information surrounding the unidentified women. Interpol alongside Dutch, German, and Belgian police forces released

forensic facial reconstructions Forensic facial reconstruction (or forensic facial approximation) is the process of recreating the face of an individual (whose identity is often not known) from their skeletal remains through an amalgamation of artistry, anthropology, osteolog ...

as well as other information used in the investigations. It is believed some of the murdered women may be from parts of

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, wh ...

Cases

The murder cases span five decades. The bodies were discovered between October 1976 and August 2019. Their average ages range from 15 to 30. Most of the women suffered violent deaths.

Further inquiries

On 16 May 2023, it was reported that police had received over 200 tip-offs regarding the cases, with 122 tips from Germany, 55 from Belgium and 51 from the Netherlands, some of them with names. Near the end of August, the number of tips had increased to over 500. By November police said they had received about 1,250 tips. On August 29, 2023, Interpol made a public appeal on the identification of an unidentified dead boy in

Großmehring Großmehring is a municipality in the district of Eichstätt in Bavaria in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. ...

Bavaria, Germany Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total la ...

. While the unknown dead child was not officially added in Operation Identify Me, he was part of an effort to publicly request tips for unidentified decedents. In November 2023, "the woman with the flower tattoo" was named as British woman Rita Roberts. Roberts was 31 years old when she moved from

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

to Antwerp in February 1992 but was reported missing months later. Due to the publicization of the case, a member of her family in Britain recognised the tattoo and contacted the Belgian authorities to formally identify the body.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Operation Identify Me
Interpol Murder investigation 2023 establishments in Europe Women in Europe Violence against women in Europe Death of women History of women in the Netherlands History of women in Germany History of women in Belgium Unidentified murder victims Unsolved crimes in Europe Unsolved murders in Europe Unsolved murders in Belgium Unsolved murders in Germany Unsolved murders in the Netherlands

Cases

Further inquiries

See also

References

External links