The “Identify Me” campaign, which aims to solve unsolved murder cases in Europe, has achieved its first investigative success: the body of a young woman was identified with the help of relatives – more than 30 years after the dead woman was found. This is reported by Interpol, the Federal Criminal Police Office and media in several European countries.
The international criminal investigation organization Interpol launched the “Identify Me” campaign in May of this year to give a total of 22 previously unidentified women’s bodies their identities back and ultimately solve the cases.
The bodies were found in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium between 1976 and 2019, and to date it has not been possible to find out who the dead are. The ZDF program “Aktenzeichen XY” also covered cases from the campaign, six of which are from Germany.
The body that has now been identified was found in a river in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1992, according to police authorities. Now she has been identified by relatives – they recognized the woman by a distinctive flower tattoo on her forearm, the messages continue.
The deceased was then 31-year-old Rita Roberts from Cardiff in Wales. The British woman moved to Antwerp in February 1992 – a few months before her murder. Her British relatives contacted Belgian police after one of them found out about the “Identify Me” campaign in the news. Characteristics of the dead were mentioned there. Family members then traveled to Belgium and identified the dead woman.
For the family, this is closure after three decades of uncertainty, write British media. The last time Roberts’ relatives heard from the young woman was in May 1992, when they received a postcard, writes the Daily Mail, among others.
A little bit later. On June 3 of the same year, her body was found in the river in Belgium. The dead woman had probably been lying there for a long time and the woman had died violently. At the time, the Belgian police had no idea that she was British.
Identification is now considered the first step in solving the crime. To this end, the Belgian police have called on witnesses to report observations that were made around the date of Rita Roberts’ death.
In a statement, the relatives of the dead thanked the investigators. The news of the death of the then 31-year-old cheerful young woman was very difficult to process. However, after so long, the family now has clarity about what happened.
Sources: Interpol, BKA, BBC, “Daily Mail”, “Welt.de” / the “Identify Me” campaign can also be found here
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