I've also found
a website that sells a button similar to the button the victim had on her vest. The HCC pattern looks the same, but the finish and the edges are different. I'll add the picture because the auction expires in a few days.
That being said, could Azeb Gedefaw be a possible match? Her countries likely visited are Germany and the Netherlands, so Belgium might be a possibility as well, I think.
Interpol page for Azeb
The button is still available on the website. No one has bid on it yet. I've been following it for months now. Even asked the owner what the monogram HCC meant. He didn't know but your guess sounds spot on. Then again, now that someone mentioned the Roberto Cavalli monogram, I'm starting to think that's probably what the monogram was.
I think the button is from a cheap knock off. It looks like a
tweed marais jacket. Naval jackets/blazers usually have collars and aren't made of tweed. It's most likely a cheap 'fashion jacket',-impractical, with no lining, but looks really expensive. The jackets/blazer can be bought online and at any downtown weekday market in the Benelux, France or Germany. If you don't have the EUR for a jacket/blazer from Zara or H&M, this is what you could buy instead.
I'm not sure about this lady being Azeb, she could be. I think she looks more West African, than East African, though. These sketch artists don't know how to sketch certain faces so they always ends up looking nothing like the person actually did. I'm guessing they lack the information and resources on how to identify this ethnicity of victims. Is 'presumably' African, the same as definitely African? And if so, from which part? Could she be Afro Caribbean, American? Afro Latino or Hispanic?
She doesn't even look the same from the front to the side!
The eyes, the jaw and, where forehead starts and lips, all look different in both sketches.
Her description says 'very dark complexion'. Is it caramel (light)? Milk chocolate (medium)? Mahogany(dark)?
Is her hair is braided with extensions or is it her natural hair? Is she sporting flat Senegalese twists with a ponytail or are they cornrows in a ponytail? Did they look worn, well maintained, recently done? Maybe a hairstylist, hair salon or whoever does her hair, would recognize her?
I think this lady was French or English speaking West or Central African. There are more of them here in NW Europe than any other group of black sub-Saharan Africans, esp. in France and Belgium. The fact that no one has come forward after 5 years could suggest trafficking or 'sans papiers', or a combination of both.
If I were to guess from the front sketch, I'd say Guinean, Senegalese or Cameroonian origin. But this is just a guess.
Found this AI reimagining of her from
AI Witness.