Murder in Spain: a cold case linked to Geneva

The unknown woman from Arve is not the only unidentified corpse linked to Geneva. For more than twenty-five years, Spanish police have been trying to find out who the woman found dead in a hotel room on the Costa Brava is. Among the only clues available to investigators: the victim came from the Geneva region. Interpol relaunched a call for witnesses at the start of the week, as part of its campaign Identify Me.

The events took place on January 26, 1999, in the town of Premià de Mar, north of Barcelona. Around 8:30 p.m., a couple arrived at the reception of the Vila de Premià hotel, a two-star establishment located by the sea. But the visitors, who spoke French, did not check in, the man claiming to have forgotten his papers in the car.

Found in the bathtub

The duo is allowed to move into room number 107 and promises to complete the formalities afterwards. Young people go out to eat at restaurants in the nearby town of Mataró. Upon returning, a new employee is at reception, and therefore does not ask them for their documents. The man asks that they be woken up at 10:30.

At 3 a.m., according to Spanish media at the time, the man went out to buy tobacco but did not return. He takes with him the couple’s suitcases, including his partner’s personal effects. In the morning, around 10:30 a.m., the cleaning lady found the body of the 25-year-old girl in the bathtub filled with water.

“Her hands were tied and signs of violence leading to death were noted,” Interpol indicates in its wanted notice. At his side, objects touched by the alleged murderer, thrown to erase the traces. Everything in the room has been cleaned. According to the newspaper “Blick” at the time, the man had registered under the name “Schmidt” in the guestbook. The newspaper “24 Heures” mentions the first name Nathalie.

The years pass but the investigation makes no progress on site. No one is demanding the body of the victim, whose identity is still unknown. Brown hair, light skin, blue eyes, 1.65 meters tall: she has no particular distinctive signs apart from two pierced ears. According to forensic reports reported by the Spanish media at the time, she showed signs of strangulation, but there were no signs of a struggle. In her wanted poster, Interpol nicknamed her “The woman who was not alone”.

Spain sends the photo of the victim and the sketch of the man to the Swiss police. But the investigation is not moving forward. So three years after the events, the Guardia Civil launched a call for witnesses. It broadcasts on Spanish television surveillance images taken by the security cameras of a hotel in a neighboring town, where the couple would have passed before arriving in Premià. We see the man trying to exchange Swiss francs.

The alleged perpetrator is aged approximately 25 to 30 years old, measuring between 1.65 m and 1.70 m, of normal build, with a short beard. He has thick, shoulder-length, dark brown/black hair, combed back. According to witnesses present on site, the individual speaks French and English. They also told the police that the couple could come from Geneva or from a town located about 10 km away, whose name contains the word “city”.

The Australian track

But this initiative does not make it possible to advance the investigation. Hence twenty-five years later, Interpol’s call for witnesses as part of its campaign launched in October 2024. Did it produce results? Did the victim come from Aire-la-Ville, Bonneville (Haute-Savoie), Ville-la-Grand? When contacted, Interpol did not wish to answer our questions. The Guardia Civil also did not respond to our requests. The Geneva police do not comment on current cases, and the French authorities refer them to Spain.

According to an interview given in October to the Spanish newspaper “El País” by the National Central Bureau of Interpol in Madrid, 4 to 5 serious messages were taken into consideration out of the 27 received for this case (and a second which occurred in Spain). Information received links the victim to Australia. The available data (fingerprints, genetic profile) were sent to the country’s authorities.

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Chloe Dethurens has been a journalist in the Geneva section since 2019. She has written for the Tribune de Genève since 2007. More info

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