Germany Germany - Bremen, WhtFem 490UFDEU, 28-32, Charkov jewellery made in 1956, Jul'02

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Wer war die tote Frau aus der Weser?


The Doe Network: Case File 490UFDEU

Reconstruction of Victim, Jewelry

Date of Discovery: July 30, 2002
Location of Discovery: Bremen, Germany
Estimated Date of Death: Unknown
State of Remains: Unknown
Cause of Death: The victim had been strangled

Physical Description
Estimated Age: 28 - 32 years old
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Height: 167cm
Weight: 50kg
Hair Color: Dark blonde, curly hair, 43 cm long. Possibly permed.
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Thick eyebrows. Slender build. She may have a 10-12 year old child. Shaved body hair. Manicured, long nails with gold and purple polish. Purple polish on her toenails. No scars, nor fractures.

Identifiers
Dentals: Available. Natural teeth without anomalies. All wisdom teeth erupted. She had dentals fillings.
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Bright cotton slip, size 140 (child size).
Jewelry: Hair clip with a sharp, green butterfly as ornament; Silver earring with a red stone (produced in 1956 in Charkov / Ukraine), in the right ear; Golden earring with black stone in the left ear.
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Discovery
The victim was located in the Weser river, near the Bremer Weserstadion. She was wrapped in linen, a plastic bag and air cushion, and then in a carpet (2m x 3m). She is possibly from eastern Europe

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Polizeipräsidium Bremen
Agency Phone Number: +49 (0)421 362-3888 or +49 (0)611 55-13101
Agency E-Mail:

E-mail

Information Source(s)
BKA


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This link contains a picture of the carpet Jane Doe was found in:

Polizei Bremen Bremen. Aber sicher! - Fund einer weiblichen Leiche


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Informative article from 2017:

Wer war die tote Frau aus der Weser? - Nachrichten aus Bremen - WESER-KURIER

Presumably the woman was lured to Germany with false promises. Maybe as an asparagus cutter, maybe as a gardener. In Bremen, the woman was probably forced into prostitution by human traffickers. When she resisted, she died. This is supported by the fact that the woman was found almost naked.

But all of these findings were not enough to solve the case. The police are hoping for clues from the population. The case was presented in 2002 on the ZDF television program “Aktenzeichen XY”, as well as on Ukrainian television. In Bremen, the search message ran almost 50 times in the open channel - mostly in the evening program. “We were hoping that prostitutes would watch and recognize the dead,” says Kok. In fact, around 140 reports were received after the broadcast - but the investigation was not successful.

Young women from Eastern Europe are still being forced into prostitution

For the hottest lead to date, Commissioner Kok had to wait ten years: In 2012 he received a letter from Interpol in Minsk. Inside was a DNA sample from the missing Belarusian Nadezhda Kletskova. 16 of 18 possible points matched the DNA of the dead from Bremen. Again, no luck for the investigators.

Jürgen Kok still receives two to three reports a year. Even though the murder was 15 years ago. "This act is not an isolated incident," says Kok. The problem is always the same, he explains: Young women from Eastern Europe are lured to work in Germany and disappear. “They are still being forced into prostitution,” he says. If they die, the parents are told a story about an accident at work. Sometimes several thousand euros are paid in compensation and they commit themselves to silence.

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Additional sources:

Mysteriöser Mord beschäftigt Bremer Kripo - WELT

 

[Rootje]

bump.

 

[Susikatze]

Such a frustrating case as well. i wish there was more info and I wish there was more to do to help identify her and bring her name back. I am sure she has family, maybe an elderly parent, a sibling or a grownup child, probably in another country, who terribly miss her... and wonder why she stopped calling from Germany...
Such a pretty lady.

 

[branmuffin]

Why is LE so specific as to the age of a possible child?

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Why is LE so specific as to the age of a possible child?

From this link

Wer war die tote Frau aus der Weser? - Nachrichten aus Bremen - WESER-KURIER

"The teeth told the investigators even more: The woman probably had a child. This is indicated by a particularly narrow growth groove. Comparable to the annual rings of a tree. The child must have been between eight and ten years old when the mother died."

It might sound strange to be able to determine pregnancy and birth through teeth, but it reminds me of something my grandma once told me about how much pregnancy can affect your dental health, which can be read about here. Still, I had no idea it could still be "visible" so many years later. I also see that my quoted link operates with a possible 8-10 y/o child, not 10-12 y/o as described in the DoeNetwork page.

 

[Susikatze]

I think its kind of a puzzle game they played.
The lady has some birth scars, indicating she once gave birth naturally.
And her teeth show a stress line (i guess the wisdom tooth?) 8-10 years in the past. This may mean pregnancy but can also mean infectious disease, malnutrition, high fever and many other situations that slow down enamel growth.

They combined both and deducted she possibly was pregnant 8-10 years ago. If its accurate, cant say.

 

[Susikatze]

Actually the stress line may also be in her bones... as dentition happens normally in childhood...

 

[SerenaB]

The red earring she was wearing is a typical erring from Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc.).

The problem is that there is no good database of missing people in these countries. I tried searching the interpole one and local police websites but no success so far. Moreover, people often would not file a missing person report if their loved one is in another country for work

 

[Susikatze]

I agree and that is a big problem. I am sure she has a child and maybe elderly parents and siblings who wonder why they never heard from her.
I mean, it is not the times anymore where you had problems calling Germany from Ukraine (back then SU).. nowadays it is so easy to keep in touch, everybody has a smartphone everywhere.
They probably think she became rich and successful and forgot about them...

 

[Susikatze]

I hope that in a few years, a young Ukrainian man or woman will scour the internet for their missing mom and find her.

 

[djanga]

The red earring she was wearing is a typical erring from Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc.).

The problem is that there is no good database of missing people in these countries. I tried searching the interpole one and local police websites but no success so far. Moreover, people often would not file a missing person report if their loved one is in another country for work

There is a TV show called “Wait for me” which shows stories of missing and found people. They do have an online database with a few million of registered missing people cases (I believe it is for all Russian speaking countries). Unfortunately not all the cases have photos and unfortunately it is difficult to look for somebody on this database if you do not know their name.

 

[SerenaB]

There is a TV show called “Wait for me” which shows stories of missing and found people. They do have an online database with a few million of registered missing people cases (I believe it is for all Russian speaking countries). Unfortunately not all the cases have photos and unfortunately it is difficult to look for somebody on this database if you do not know their name.

I tried looking there as well and found nothing. Maybe it make sense to contact them directly and send her picture, they might feature it in the show

 

[Panhypopit]

The red earring has hallmarks and/or maker marks stamped on. The clip on back of the stone is interesting as I don’t ever see that, but you could add an extra piece to the earrings I suppose by hanging something off the triangle to make them longer or different and then change them back.

 

[djanga]

I tried looking there as well and found nothing. Maybe it make sense to contact them directly and send her picture, they might feature it in the show

I tried looking on it but did not find an option to arrange it by countries or years, it makes it impossible to find her there. Yes, I think writing to them can be a good idea.

 

[Susikatze]

Yes it was made in 1956 in Charkiv, Ukraine. It is very typical Soviet style and made from Russian red gold. If our JDs mom was born in the 1940s or early 50s, and our JD was born around 1970-75, it could have been her earring she got as a child. And she gave to her own daughter when she grew up or also as a memory when she went abroad.

The hair clip is cheap and nothing exciting, cheap costume jewelry. The second earring looks like a surgical steel stud you get when you get new earrings. She probably had to open her ear piercing again, it likely was closed over time. Thats why she only wore one of her moms earrings. Mismatched earrings were not fashionable anymore in 2002.

The red earring has hallmarks and/or maker marks stamped on. The clip on back of the stone is interesting as I don’t ever see that, but you could add an extra piece to the earrings I suppose by hanging something off the triangle to make them longer or different and then change them back.

 

[Susikatze]

No, it is the clasp to close the earring. It is not for hanging anything

The clip on back of the stone is interesting as I don’t ever see that, but you could add an extra piece to the earrings I suppose by hanging something off the triangle to make them longer or different and then change them back.

 

[Susikatze]

Police believes she is a victim of human trafficking. I find that very credible. Plenty of pretty young women were lured from their cities in Ukraine, Belarus or Russia with the promise to work as cleaner, nanny, kitchen aide, nurse aide or agricultural laborer, just to be forced into prostitution upon arrival. She is not the first known case like that, there was another Ukrainian lady (she was finally identified after many years) who was found murdered in Austria. She supposedly lived with a foreign "husband" in Italy for some time. There were 3 other women found dead, so they suspect a serial killer. Mordopfer nach Jahren identifiziert: Serientäter?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

This poor woman. I think she was not identified over the last year, because her case is still on the BKA's website:
BKA - Fahndung nach Personen

With what's now happening to her country, identification may be even less likely.

We don't talk enough about how there wouldn't be a human trafficking issue if so many weren't willing to buy victims.

 

[branmuffin]

One thing I noticed when watching the terrible, unconscionable devastation of Ukraine is that many women in the destroyed maternity wards were actually surrogates. The babies were to be handed over to the genetic parents. Commerical surrogacy has been legal in Ukraine since 1997. I wondered if perhaps she birthed a child as a surrogate. Here's a couple of links.

Surrogacy in Ukraine: legal regulation and judicial practice

The stranded babies of Kyiv and the women who give birth for money

The investigating officer repeatedly referred to the slightness of the deceased. How slim and childlike her body was, even though they said she stood about 5 feet 6 inches. The only article of clothing she was wearing were underpants in size 140 which is a child's size ten in North America. I know shaving has become the norm for women everywhere but I wondered, considering she had shaved pubic and underarm hair what with her slight physical appearance and the children's non sexy underwear she was being passed off as an underage child in the trafficking business.

It's very interesting the bit about Ukrainian moms giving one of their earrings to their daughters when they moved out of the family home. If true that could suggest that she left Ukraine voluntarily. However, wearing one earring doesn't prove she was from Ukraine.

I found a couple of women from Eastern Europe who have a passing resembance to her but I'm sure the German police have exhausted all possibilities.

2371DFBLR - Valentina Fedorovna Karpov

2816DFBLR - Alesya Fedorova

The body was suspected of being in the water for about 4 weeks so I presume advanced decomp occurred. However, the report said the UID had no scars so I presume the skin was intact enough to also discern whether she had any tattoos.

I found this report on murdered or attempted murder of prostitutes since prostitution was legalized in 2002. The last one is interesting because it is the UID on this thread but with a name attached which the the person whose mother sent in DNA which matched the deceased except for two alleles.

http://prostitutionresearch.com/wp-...-Germany-since-legal-prostitution-in-2002.pdf

 

[Susikatze]

I doubt the surrogacy theory. She was found in 2002 and thought to have a child at least 8-10 years old. In the early 1990s, surrogacy was pretty unknown.
Also even today, surrogate moms are just a tiny percentage of Ukrainian women - like egg donors in the USA.