What is the name of “the girl with the 10 pence coin”? Who is “the woman with the butterfly tattoos”? Where does “the pregnant woman with the garnet necklaces” come from? To finally restore their identity to these women, Interpol launched a call for witnesses on Tuesday October 8.
The “Identify Me” campaign aims to discover the identities of 46 women found dead in six European countries and “likely to have been victims of crime” over the last few years. Seven of them were found in France, between 1982 and 2021.
An “Identify Me” page on the Interpol website allows you to view extracts from the “black notices”, normally kept secret: photos of these women’s tattoos and jewelry, a description of their clothing, facial reconstructions and even photographs. information about the place where the body was found. Interpol also released a map listing these cold cases.
“Providing answers to families”
In most cases, little is known to investigators. This is the case for example for the FR01 file, that of “the young woman found in Saint-Denis” . His death dates back to the years « 2015-2020 » but the pieces of his body were not recovered until June 2021.
« The analysis of the bones makes it possible to establish the age of the victim at around twenty years. assures Interpol. She was between 1.62 and 1.72 m tall. And the “data obtained through genetic phenotyping indicate African or similar ancestry.” Almost everything else remains a mystery.
“Despite extensive police investigations, these women have never been identified, and there is evidence to suggest that some of them may have come from other countries”details the organization.
“The goal of the Identify Me campaign is simple: we want to identify these deceased women, provide answers for their families and obtain redress for the victims. (…) The smallest piece of information can be decisive and shed light on these mysteries. Whether it’s a memory, information or an anecdote, the smallest detail is sometimes enough to bring out the truth.”said Jürgen Stock, Secretary General of Interpol in a video.
The elucidation of a thirty-one year old case
The “Identify Me” campaign was first launched in 2023, to identify 22 women found in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands since the 1970s.
Two days after its launch, Rita Roberts, a young British woman whose body was discovered in Belgium thirty-one years earlier was recognized by her family thanks to the distribution of a photo of her tattoo. “We are very grateful to know what happened to Rita”his relatives subsequently explained.
The initiative is supported by several public figures such as Olympic champion Marie-José Pérec, actress Sarah Biasani and singer Axelle Red. “Could one of them be a missing family member, friend or colleague?»they ask in a video relayed on social networks. “You can help them. Give these women back their identity”concludes the campaign.
