Interpol appeals to the general public to put names to the bodies of 46 women

A tattoo, a necklace, a physical characteristic… The international police cooperation organization unveils investigative elements to identify victims found dead in six European countries.

“Look at these women. Could they be your friend, your cousin, your colleague, your patient, your neighbor, who suddenly disappeared?” Interpol has launched, Tuesday October 8, a unique campaign aimed at the general public with the aim of to identify 46 women found dead in six European countries, including France, over the past decades. A tattoo, a necklace, a physical peculiarity… The international organization for police cooperation, headquartered in Lyon, thus reveals elements of investigation gathered on the site Identify Me.

What was his name?t “the woman in pink”, “the introvert” Or “the globetrotter” before dying in suspicious conditions and being nicknamed thus by investigators? “The slightest piece of information can be decisive and shed light on these mysteries”hopes Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock, to “provide answers to their families and obtain redress”.

Seven of these women were found in France, between 1982 and 2021. One of them, discovered below a ledge near Villefranche-sur-Mer in March 2008, was between 60 and 75 years old and wore left ring finger an engraved ring “Jean and Nelly, 06/25/1960”.

By publishing extracts from their “black notice”, these alerts in principle reserved for the use of the police, the organization hopes to name “the woman with the tattooed butterflies” found in the Seine in 2016 or “the pregnant woman with garnet necklaces”discovered in a forest in Burgundy in 2001.

For each victim, the organization publishes on its site a facial reconstruction, details concerning the location and condition in which they were found or photos of clothing or jewelry discovered at the scene.

Interpol launched an unprecedented campaign in May 2023 called “Identify me”, to give back the names of 22 women found in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands over the last 40 years.

This first call for witnesses made it possible to identify Rita Roberts, a 31-year-old British citizen discovered in Antwerp more than thirty years previously. Relatives of the victim had recognized the young woman’s tattoo, representing a flower, in the documents posted online by Interpol.