Netherlands Light skinned Fem 18-35 yrs, 159 cm, Guess watch & Esprit backpack, found in waters of Gaasp river near Driemond, in Amsterdam region, 17 Sep. 1999

[JennieM]

INTERPOL Black Notice: Operation Identify Me - Police search for the names of 22 women murdered

Operation Identify Me is a public appeal to identify 22 women, believed to have been murdered in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands, but whose identity was never found. Most are cold cases; women who died 10, 20, 30 or even 40 years ago. Despite extensive police investigations, these women...

www.websleuths.com

Identify Me: NL07 - The woman in the Gaasp river

Operation Identify Me: Seeking the names of unidentified victims of murder

www.interpol.int

Case name: The woman in the Gaasp river
Case code: 2023-NL07

• Date of death (estimated): Probably July or August 1999
• Date of discovery: 17 September 1999
• Location: The Netherlands: In the waters of Gaasp river near Driemond, in the Amsterdam region .
• Sex: Female
• Estimated year of birth: 1964 - 1981
• Estimated age: Between 18 and 35 years old
• Height: 159 cm
• Skin tone: Light-skinned
• Hair colour: Dark brown to black
• Eye colour: Unknown
• Clothing: The woman wore a dark cable-knit jumper and a turtle neck top, and carried a black faux snakeskin backpack of the brand Esprit. She wore black shoes in size 36.
• Tattoos, birth marks, scars: Unknown
• Jewellery: Rectangle-shaped watch of the brand Guess with newly-attached strap.

​

The case​

On 17 September 1999, police found a body in an industrial waste container floating in the river Gaasp. The body was partially encased in concrete and was the body of a woman who had been killed by gunshot.

Characteristics​

A facial reconstruction of the victim was made to assist in identification. The woman probably grew up in Western Europe: in Germany, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, the Netherlands or neighbouring countries. She may have had partially Asian roots, which may have shown in her eyes and nose.

The waste container for industrial use of the brand Kliko was produced in 1998.

In addition to the body, the container held men’s clothing, including a white jacket with a striking detail: a logo sewn in over a scorch mark. The waste container also held white bags of powder laundry detergent, possibly used to add weight to the container.

Contact
If you have any information regarding the possible identity of this person, please contact the Dutch national police via the form below.

You can also contact them and view this case on their national police website.

 

[JennieM]

Facial reconstruction of the victim

Identify Me: NL07 - The woman in the Gaasp river

Operation Identify Me: Seeking the names of unidentified victims of murder

www.interpol.int

 

[JennieM]

Victim's clothing and bag




Victim's clothing and bag



The victim's bag



Piece of fabric with logo that was sewn into a jacket, covering a scorch mark.

The men's clothing found


The watch found, of the brand Guess



Victim's shoes, size 36



One of the white bags of powder laundry detergent found

Identify Me: NL07 - The woman in the Gaasp river

Operation Identify Me: Seeking the names of unidentified victims of murder

www.interpol.int

 

[Al Ka]

Links to case on Dutch police website in English and Dutch. For some reason each link have different case number, but more interestingly Dutch version have extra information.

Case details in English - Driemond - Kanawa | politie.nl

Case details in Dutch - I have highlighted some information which I think are important.

Het waspoeder wordt gebruikt door wasserijen en bedrijven die hun eigen bedrijfskleding wassen of kleding produceren. De herenkleding bestond uit een beige Tenson jas, maat 54. Aan de binnenzijde was bij de kraag een label op een brandplek genaaid. Ook werd een zwarte corduroybroek van Marks & Spencer aangetroffen. De drager moet tussen de 1.66 m en 1.70 m lang zijn geweest.

Loose translation - Washing powder found with the girl was mainly used by laundromat businesses and businesses who washed their own work clothes or produce clothing.

De vrouw was tussen de 20-35 jaar, had een tenger postuur en was 1.59 m lang. Ze had een Europees-Aziatisch uiterlijk en licht gekruld bruinzwart haar. Op haar kleding, en ook op de herenkleding, zaten stoffen uit de voedingsmiddelenindustrie.

Translation - Her clothing, and also the men's clothing, contained substances from the food industry.

Dode vrouw in kliko bak - De zaak | politie.nl

In de Gaasp, een riviertje tussen Driemond en Diemen, werd op 17 september 1999 een kliko bak gevonden met het dode lichaam van een onbekende vrouw. Ze was met schoten om het leven gebracht. Het…

www.politie.nl

 

[Al Ka]

News article from 2010 in Dutch showing previous clay recostruction done when case was reopened. Both old and recent facial reconstructions were done by British forensic artist Dr Caroline Wilkinson from University of Dundee in Scotland.

Older reconstruction

Reconstructie in Klikozaak Driemond

Reconstructie in Klikozaak Driemond

www.nhnieuws.nl

 

[Al Ka]

Article in Dutch from Dec 2023 showing Jane Doe unmarked grave with writing - Unknown deceased. It is mentioned that her body was exhumed in 2010 and DNA was extracted. Different forensic tests were also made - they estimated her age by her teeth, isotope tests were done and skull was flown to Liverpool for clay recostruction shown in previous post.

‘Het klikomeisje’ uit de Gaasp in wetenschapsprogramma Focus

AMSTERDAM - Al 24 jaar wacht ze op een naam, de jonge vrouw die in september 1999 werd gevonden in een kliko in de rivier de Gaasp. volgt in twee afleveringen forensisch rechercheur Carina van Leeuwen in haar zoektocht naar de identiteit van het meisje. Ze grijpt alle nieuwe ontwikkelingen in de...

www.rodi.nl

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Poor woman. My first thought is that she died while at "work." Maybe was abused or trafficked?
But then they think she grew up in western Europe. What could her situation be?

 

[Al Ka]

Article from 2018 - Police make public appeal to identify logo sewn on male jacket found near her - without success.

Cold case: Vrouw in kliko. Wie kent dit logo? - Amsterdamsdagblad.nl

Cold case: Vrouw in kliko. Wie kent dit logo?. Lees dit nieuwsbericht op Amsterdamsdagblad.nl

www.amsterdamsdagblad.nl

 

[Al Ka]

Recent cold case article in Dutch with lots of case information and some update

Behalve het lichaam van de onbekende vrouw, lagen er maar liefst negen zakken waspoeder in de kliko, alsmede een aantal kledingstukken voor mannen. De zakken poeder waren wellicht gebruikt om de afvalbak te verzwaren.

This article is first one to specify that there were 9 bags of industrial washing powder found with her.

De vrouw werd anoniem begraven op de begraafplaats Sint Barbara in Amsterdam.

She is buried in cemetary of Sint Barbara in Amsterdam.

Nieuwe informatie
Op 13 december 2023 kwam de zaak opnieuw in de media. Na een isotopenonderzoek was namelijk vastgesteld dat de vrouw vermoedelijk uit Italië kwam, of daar in elk geval een lange periode van haar leven had doorgebracht. Volgens het onderzoek ging het dan vooral om de regio de Dolomieten. Het cold case team liet weten dat zij al eerder aanwijzingen hadden gehad over een verband met Italië, en dat het isotopenonderzoek dit bevestigde.

New information - After an isotope test, it was determined that the woman probably came from Italy, or at least had spent a long period of her life there. According to the research, this mainly concerned the Dolomites region. The cold case team announced that they had previously had indications of a connection with Italy, and that the isotope research confirmed this.

De cold case over de kliko bak moord

Lees hier alles over de onopgeloste kliko bak moord. Wie was deze vrouw, en wie heeft haar vermoord? Heeft u een (anonieme) tip, laat het ons weten.

www.coldcasezaken.nl

 

[JennieM]

Recent cold case article in Dutch with lots of case information and some update


This article is first one to specify that there were 9 bags of industrial washing powder found with her.

She is buried in cemetary of Sint Barbara in Amsterdam.


New information - After an isotope test, it was determined that the woman probably came from Italy, or at least had spent a long period of her life there. According to the research, this mainly concerned the Dolomites region. The cold case team announced that they had previously had indications of a connection with Italy, and that the isotope research confirmed this.

De cold case over de kliko bak moord

Lees hier alles over de onopgeloste kliko bak moord. Wie was deze vrouw, en wie heeft haar vermoord? Heeft u een (anonieme) tip, laat het ons weten.

www.coldcasezaken.nl

9 bags of industrial washing powder?!

 

[Susikatze]

Recent cold case article in Dutch with lots of case information and some update


This article is first one to specify that there were 9 bags of industrial washing powder found with her.

She is buried in cemetary of Sint Barbara in Amsterdam.


New information - After an isotope test, it was determined that the woman probably came from Italy, or at least had spent a long period of her life there. According to the research, this mainly concerned the Dolomites region. The cold case team announced that they had previously had indications of a connection with Italy, and that the isotope research confirmed this.

De cold case over de kliko bak moord

Lees hier alles over de onopgeloste kliko bak moord. Wie was deze vrouw, en wie heeft haar vermoord? Heeft u een (anonieme) tip, laat het ons weten.

www.coldcasezaken.nl

Eh, everything is assumptions unless DNA is done (and not only MtDNA). My feeling is she was a possibly trafficked woman from Vietnam or China who worked in the food or laundry industry, probably undocumented.
I dont believe isotopes plus they are very eurocentric and hardly take similar signatures worldwide into account. The "italian dolomite" signature can be SE Asian as well.
Her ckothing is European but she could have bought it in Europe already.
Jmoo

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Eh, everything is assumptions unless DNA is done (and not only MtDNA). My feeling is she was a possibly trafficked woman from Vietnam or China who worked in the food or laundry industry, probably undocumented.
I dont believe isotopes plus they are very eurocentric and hardly take similar signatures worldwide into account. The "italian dolomite" signature can be SE Asian as well.
Her ckothing is European but she could have bought it in Europe already.
Jmoo

My experience of the Netherlands and friends there is that Indonesian heritage is prevalent. My friends have black hair, dark eyes. It could be that.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Wondering if the red and white colours represent a Swiss connection somewhere. It neighbours that region, so not a huge stretch.

 

[Sjöberg]

So the current main theory is that:
* she might be partially asian
* she probably grew up in Northern Italy
* she was 18-35 years old when she was found in 1999, so she was born in 1964-1981

Excuse my stupidity, but were there many part-asian couples in Nothern Italy in the 60s and 70s? I understand that she might have been less asian than 50% and that the "asian" is very vague and that nothing of it is probably very certain. However, it would be interesting to check marriage records from the regions they suspect - because I have a feeling there were very few italian-asian mixed marriages. I tried to get some data and this paper says there was a notable number of filipinos in Milan in 2001. While the numbers here are bigger than I would have expected, I suspect they are still small for smaller towns and in the 60s and 70s, especially for mixed marriages?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

The "italian dolomite" signature can be SE Asian as well.

I believe you and wonder why they don't just list all known possibilities. They could say they believe the most likely possibility is X, but that YandZ are also possibilities.

 

[Al Ka]

My experience of the Netherlands and friends there is that Indonesian heritage is prevalent. My friends have black hair, dark eyes. It could be that.

My first thought when I saw newest sketch was also that she might have Indonesian heritage due to Dutch/Indonesian history, plus she also resembles my Dutch/Indonesian friend.

I was surprised to find out though that there might be some links to Italy.

 

[Carovb5]

Has anyone any knowledge of the 'succesfullness' of sketches based on DNA?
For instance: when someone has parents from 2 totally different nationalities, is it 'measurable' in their DNA how their heritage would be visible in their features? Or is it programmed to just mix both heritages into a possible look? I think this is very important info to start looking into possible matches...
A lot of missing peoples info doesn't mention their heritage, just what would define their look the best (white, native, black, asian,...).

 

[Bit of hope]

This is a docu about the case from Dec. 13, 2023. Sadly only in Dutch.

In September 1999, a young woman was found in a wheelie bin in the Gaasp river near Amsterdam. She has been waiting for a name for 24 years. Forensic detective Carina van Leeuwen is tireless in her search for the identity of the bin girl. She uses all new developments in forensic science to gather more information about her. Forensic techniques have improved so much since the murder that she hopes it will now be possible to give her a name.

Need to knows:

• A picture of the wheelie bin and the approx. place where she was found in the Gaasp.
• She was cast in concrete
• Cause of death. A bullet was found in the brain tissue and another one stopped beneath the skin, above the right ear.
• The Public Prosecution Service and the Dutch Forensic Institute want to use private genealogie databases for investigations. As a start they want to use it for two unsolved cases. The court now granted persmission to try out a number of cases as a pilot in the Netherlands, like in America, where this has been very successful.
• The girls' DNA has now been compared with DNA in the database for missing persons and the DNA database for criminal cases, because maybe she has a criminal family member. However no match has been found. The lather is growing, with a possible match in the future.
• If the first two cases are successful and there is permission for more cases <because of very strict privacy laws in the Netherlands each case needs to be presented before a court> we will also do the same with the wheelie bin girl.
• Isotopes are also used to narrow down tips and give some direction for investigators.They have had tips from all over the world, including the Netherlands. Now we know that the woman hasn't spent her youth, her adolescence and the last period of her life in the Netherlands.
• The Isotopes also show that she is most likely from Central-South Europe, like parts of the Dolomites or the Jura area
• They also have tips from Italy. <hopes up here>