By Clement Rossignol and Charlotte Van Campenhout
(Reuters) – The unsolved murders of 22 women are the subject of an appeal for information launched on Wednesday by global police agency Interpol together with Belgian, German, and Dutch police.
“The common point between these 22 women is that none of them have a name and that they have likely died due to a violent act”, Susan Hitchin, coordinator of Interpol’s DNA unit, said over a video call about the appeal, dubbed “Operation Identify Me”.
The women were found in Belgium, The Netherlands, or Germany but might have come from other countries, she said. It’s also possible their bodies were transported there to confound investigations.
The oldest cold case, “The girl in the parking lot”, is about a young woman, estimated between 13 and 20 years old, found by hikers in 1976 in The Netherlands and thought by police to have come from Germany. Police estimate she died the same year her body was discovered.
Another one is about a woman found in Belgium almost 32 years ago. Her body was discovered in 1991 in a rainwater well in the town of Holsbeek, some 40 km (25 miles) from Brussels. Her body might have been in the well for up to two years.
The operation focuses on female victims as “women are disproportionately affected by gender-based violence, such as sexual assault, human trafficking, and domestic abuse”, Hitchin explained.
“In similar investigations, establishing the victim’s identity ultimately has led to the arrest of a suspect,” Anja Allendorf of the German police said in a statement announcing the operation.
Hitchin said that Interpol’s global network will reach a wider public and might lead to someone recognising their loved one or a friend or a colleague.
(Reporting by Clement Rossignol, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Editing by William Maclean)
