The mysterious death of the still unidentified "Isdalene Woman" has haunted Norway for almost 50 years.
The story began on the afternoon of November 29, 1970. A man and his two daughters walked through the Isdalen Valley to Bergen, Norway, in an area known as Death Valley. Its ominous name, this place has received due to the popularity of suicides, as well as the many tragic deaths of tourists falling in the fog.
As the family crossed the rocks and bushes, they noticed the body of a woman lying on the rocks in a warlike pose. The body was only burned in the front, including the face and hair. Due to the extensive fire damage to her face, she was unrecognizable.
The family immediately called the police, who arrived at the scene with metal detectors and dogs. Several items were found at the scene: jewelry, watches, sleeping pills, gasoline bottles, a silver spoon and a broken umbrella. The strange thing is that the jewelry was not on her, but spread all over her body. The local investigator suggested that it was some kind of ritual.
Jewelry from case materials.
An autopsy revealed that the woman died from fenemal and carbon monoxide poisoning. The victim took over 50 sleeping pills. Many of the pills had not yet dissolved in her blood before she died. Due to the smoke particles in her lungs, it was inferred that she was alive when she was set on fire. The pathologist added that the fire injuries also caused her death. The pathologist was able to determine that the woman had never been pregnant. In addition to keeping her identity secret, all production labels have been cut from her clothing and sewn on. In addition, there were bruises on her face and neck, and her fingerprints were erased with sand. Someone definitely didn't want to be identified.
It became clear to the local police that this was a difficult case. They turned to Oslo's National Criminal Investigation Service for help.
The first clue in the case appeared 3 days later, when investigators discovered 2 suitcases belonging to a woman at the Bergen train station. They were able to trace him back to an unidentified woman with fingerprints taken from her sunglasses.
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Fingerprints on sunglasses, presumably the victim.
Inside the suitcases, they found a notebook with codes, money, clothes, rubber boots, several wigs, a hairbrush, a brush, silver spoons, glasses, and a recipe for eczema cream.
Suitcases found at the train station.
One element had an identifying feature. It was a bag with the words Oskar Rrtvedt's shoe store written on it. The police found a store in Stavanger. They went to the store and spoke to the owner's son, Rolf Retwedt, who told them he remembered an unidentified woman. She had come to the store a few weeks earlier and bought a pair of rubber boots.
Those rubber boots.
Investigators were able to crack the codes in a notebook found in the locker and establish that these were records of the woman's extensive travels in Europe. She traveled to Paris, Hamburg and Basel.
An unidentified woman's notepad entries.
There are several people who claim to have met a mysterious woman on her travels. They described how she wore wigs and was able to speak different languages, adding that when she spoke English, she did it with an accent. She stayed in several hotels and used fake names and documents. Even stranger, if she stayed at the hotel for more than one night, she always asked for a room change. What was she doing in those places? Why was she there? Why did she want to hide her identity and route using these codes?
She was described as being 1.8m tall, with long brownish black hair, which she wore in a ponytail with a blue and white ribbon. She had a small, round face with brown eyes and small ears. She looked 25 to 40 years old.
Drawing of a woman in profile according to the description.
Witnesses who met her in Bergen recalled that she looked smart and sophisticated. She was "a different woman than in magazines and films, a woman we almost never saw," the courier said. Another witness, who worked as a waiter in one of the hotels visited by the mysterious woman, recalled that the woman entered the dining room alone, with a proud bearing, and looked cozy. This was a rare occurrence in a time when it was rare to see single women in a restaurant. She said that obviously the woman was used to traveling alone and did not experience any discomfort from being alone.
Later drawing of the woman.
Investigators looked through the missing persons' reports, but did not find anyone who matched the mysterious woman's appearance. Investigators received a faint glimmer of hope that they could identify her when 10 of her teeth were observed to have gold crowns, they called in a dentist who stated that the type of gold crowns was not used in Scandinavia. He said they will be more common in the East and parts of southern and central Europe.
Examination of the crowns yielded no results.
Over the next years, the teeth were examined by numerous experts in the hope that they could determine exactly where they were made. Unfortunately, they have never been able to narrow it down to a precise location.
Since it was during the Cold War, many people assumed that the unidentified woman was a spy.
She seemed to go to great lengths in trying to hide her identity, even when doing something as simple as checking into a hotel. In fact, the investigators managed to establish several fake names that the woman used when checking into the hotel. They were Finella Lorc, Claudia Tilt, Vera Jarle, Alexia Zarna-Merchez, Claudia Nielsen, Genevieve Lansier, Vera Schlossenek and Elisabeth Lenhouvfre. Could she have used more fake names than those revealed by the investigators? Maybe.
Hotel questionnaire.
They also noticed that every time she checked in at the hotel, she claimed to be a Belgian citizen. However, when investigators contacted the Belgian police with all the information they had, they said that all the identities were false and were not the true identities of any Belgian citizen. Thus, she had at least 8 different passports. In addition, she traveled extensively throughout Europe. These trips would have cost her a decent amount, but investigators have never been able to figure out where the money came from.
Several investigators have concluded that she committed suicide. They note that getting her to swallow such a large amount of sleeping pills is very difficult. The Bergen police chief believes the woman was possessed by some form of mania, probably paranoia.
However, many other investigators disagree with the suicide theory. Some are absolutely convinced that it was murder. She had different passports, used codes, wore wigs, traveled from city to city and changed hotels in a few days. This is what the police call "conspiratorial behavior." In addition, the remote location where she was found, combined with the brutal method of death, makes it unlikely that she took her own life.
The funeral of an unknown woman.
To this day, the identity of the "Isdalenskaya woman" remains a mystery, as well as the cause of her death. A Catholic funeral was arranged for her, attended by officers desperate to identify her. She was buried in a zinc coffin that will never decay. Thus, if it is ever identified, it can be transported home.
