Germany Germany/Italy - Found in Italian alps, WhtFem, 30+, well off, May 2004

[ApparentlyInDenial]

For anyone wondering: "Tropfen" means drops.

It's amazing how you figure all this pharma infos out. Great finds!!

Yeah I was quite happy with that!

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

Ok my last big find for the day.

Jane Doe was found with a pen with the logo of a company called 'Elektro-Blanz' (EB). The original Italian report says that the Italian prosecutor had asked EB if they had an idea who the pen might have been given to. They said that they didn't have any idea who Jane Doe was or how she got the pen.

I did a deep dive on EB today. It was a small electrical services company based in Hamburg, which has since been closed. Using Web Archive I was able to find an old copy of their website, and then the owner's name and phone number.

It turns out that EB's owner was in a folk-music band (pic attached), represented by an Austrian record label ("Berton Records"), but not the same label the email address comes from. Berton Records represents a lot of other bands/acts that congregate around folk music from those mountains (and the Austrian ones that link to them, the Tyrollean basically) in the German language.

There has to be a link. I'm guessing maybe EB's owner + HG + Jane Doe went to an event at the same time, or knew each other professionally. Maybe there was a folk-music event in northern Italy or in Austria in February/March 2004. Perhaps Jane Doe was an employee of HG, or a girlfriend.

 

[ClaireNC]

Wow @ApparentlyInDenial great sleuthing. Definitely seems like a music industry connection to this case. Keep in mind that the Grasleitenhutte Bergamo Refuge appears to cater to musicians. So it might not have been a ski event, but just some music industry people getting together in the mountains.

 

[ClaireNC]

I've just discovered: her medication "Tropfen" wasn't licensed until (9 February 2004). Her body was found on May 16, and she wouldn't have got the med the day it was licensed most likely. This narrows the window somewhat.

Yes it certainly does narrow it down. Great info.

 

[devertere]

Wow! You need to send all that in. That's amazing.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

Again, great sleuthing @ApparentlyInDenial! There doesn't seem to be an ME report available and it's unclear if they ever took any fingerprints. But wouldn't an ME note, if it was discernible, if someone had callouses on their fingers like those resulting from playing a stringed instrument, or fingernail trims consistent with such? This is asking way too much to know in retrospect, but sometimes the condition of hands is noted if it suggests a certain profession or activity.

It's possible the frostbite also made any determination of this, or the taking fingerprints, impossible.

The second partial email address also looks similar to HG's, further bolstering your music industry hypothesis.

 

[devertere]

We should also figure out if she is really still missing

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

We should also figure out if she is really still missing

This had crossed my mind. Normally public notice is given if a case is resolved. I've dug and dug and dug in Italian and in German, targeting Italy, Germany and Austria, and I've looked at French cases for the period too. There's nothing - no report of her being missing and no report of her being found apart from the Italian report. I can't even find a second Italian report to back up the RAI one.

She's a middle-class woman with nice clothes missing for for that long - the more I look at missing persons cases the more I wonder what the hell people think about their families!

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

Have a look at the attached. Left is Jane Doe's clothing, focus on the jumper. Right is an unnamed local company (15 miles away) that grows fruit, and where the staff/family who run the place seem to all wear the same green jumper.

It's the same type of jumper, you can just about see there's a band at the bottom and cuff. The photo on the right was taken in 2004. Not sure what to make of it, maybe Jane Doe did some seasonal work (they do start in April in that region). Maybe she's related.

It could be a coincidence.

 

[ClaireNC]

Another really interesting find. The colors do look the same, though in your opening post the UID's sweater is described as a green cashmere pullover. Would the local fruit company workers wear cashmere?

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

Another really interesting find. The colors do look the same, though in your opening post the UID's sweater is described as a green cashmere pullover. Would the local fruit company workers wear cashmere?

If they’re the owners of the company, possibly.

 

[devertere]

Oh my god, you are crazy good at sleuthing.

 

[devertere]

This had crossed my mind. Normally public notice is given if a case is resolved. I've dug and dug and dug in Italian and in German, targeting Italy, Germany and Austria, and I've looked at French cases for the period too. There's nothing - no report of her being missing and no report of her being found apart from the Italian report. I can't even find a second Italian report to back up the RAI one.

She's a middle-class woman with nice clothes missing for for that long - the more I look at missing persons cases the more I wonder what the hell people think about their families!

I'm not sure how it is in South Tyrol but Austria is super hush hush about missing persons and identified ones, unless it is a homicide investigation. There are, I think, 700 (?) missing persons cases and on the official site there are like 20 publicised ones.

If you'd like me to inquire with Tiers Police let me know. They might be quicker to respond to a german e-mail (older Italians are not the biggest fans of English).

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

Oh my god, you are crazy good at sleuthing.

I think it's my ADHD some things I can laser in on for hours and hours and hours.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

"burnt fragment of a local auto-bus line schedule" OK, I'm really puzzled by this. Why would it have been burnt? Maybe in an attempt to start a fire or draw attention?

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

"burnt fragment of a local auto-bus line schedule" OK, I'm really puzzled by this. Why would it have been burnt? Maybe in an attempt to start a fire or draw attention?

She apparently died of frostbite-related complications, so perhaps it really was to try to get warm or get help. I can't think of any other reason.

 

[Bit of hope]

Thanks for making this thread @ApparentlyInDenial and providing all this information to all of you.

Somehow I have the feeling her hair is throwing us of a bit. Could it have been some kind of radical "make-over"? Maybe it helps seeing her with longer light brown hair/a different hairstyle? @victoriarobinson642 Do you have time to do some other hairstyles?

 

[sunnynz]

Have a look at the attached. Left is Jane Doe's clothing, focus on the jumper. Right is an unnamed local company (15 miles away) that grows fruit, and where the staff/family who run the place seem to all wear the same green jumper.

It's the same type of jumper, you can just about see there's a band at the bottom and cuff. The photo on the right was taken in 2004. Not sure what to make of it, maybe Jane Doe did some seasonal work (they do start in April in that region). Maybe she's related.

It could be a coincidence.

Ok, HOW did you find this?!

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Original link for her case:

Chi l'ha Visto - La sconosciuta di Tires (Bolzano) - La scheda

Her age is approximated there as 50 - 65 years old.
Doe Network is giving a considerably younger range of 30 - 50 years old:

360UFITA

I do wonder if she had/has any relatives wondering where she is. Or any friends who wondered where she went.

 

[Bit of hope]

Original link for her case:

Chi l'ha Visto - La sconosciuta di Tires (Bolzano) - La scheda

Her age is approximated there as 50 - 65 years old.
Doe Network is giving a considerably younger range of 30 - 50 years old:

360UFITA

I do wonder if she had/has any relatives wondering where she is. Or any friends who wondered where she went.

From chilhavisto

On 16 May 2004 in the municipality of Tires (Bolzano), at about 1800 meters above sea level in Val Ciamin, in the Rechter Leger area, near a small path not marked on the maps, about twenty minutes' walk from "path no. 3 "which leads to the Bergamo Refuge, the body of a woman of apparent age between 50 and 65 years, one meter and sixty centimeters tall, with dyed brown-blond hair was found. The analyzes revealed an abundant intake of alcohol and some medicines, which does not exclude the hypothesis of suicide, even if the death, which would date back to the period between December 2003 and April 2004, was caused by acute pulmonary edema and heart failure resulting from frostbite.
In the absence of documents, an identification is possible only through the things found in a backpack and the reconstruction of the face in an image that can evoke familiarity in those who knew it. The woman wore a white undershirt with "Speidel" brand straps, a green cashmere pullover, light blue "Angels" jeans, brown boots no. 38 "Alpina" brand, "Comfortex" line, a beige "Goldix" jacket, a gray wool cap, a white scarf. Among the things found: some bottles of liqueur, almost all empty; two packs of "Kim" cigarettes, certainly purchased in Italy; a plasticized fragment with part of an Austrian record label email address (… wischnig@ggrecords.at); a pen-gadget from Elektro-Blanz Gmbh of Hamburg; packs of medicines manufactured in Germany and Liechtenstein with information leaflets in German only (Stangyl, Novamin sulfon, Petadolex, *advertiser censored*-ratiopharm 500); a burnt fragment of a timetable of local bus lines of the SAD company, published at the end of December 2003 and in force until April 4, 2004, with the indication of the line Bolzano - Siè - Siusi / Castelrotto - Val Gardena - Selva Di Val Gardena . At the request of the Bolzano Public Prosecutor's Office, the Elektro-Blanz Gmbh of Hamburg stated that the pen with its logo has been out of production for about two years and is unable to establish any connection with the people to whom it was distributed. The German Federal Police of Wiesbaden, the Bundeskriminalamt,

Some observations:

This is an interactive map of the area she was found, that was very near to the Bergamo shelter (Grasleiten hütte) It's a hiking trail. (if you point on the map and move the red square that appears, it will show the height)

Da Tires al rifugio Bergamo - Rifugi del Catinaccio

www.rifugidelcatinaccio.it

As the point she was found the altitude is very high. (>2000 meter) there would be snow during the period she most likely died (December 2003 - April 2004). Based on her clothing, I think she was hiking the trail, although it would not be my thing during that period, got lost (didn't reached the shelter on time) and was overtaken by the cold. Maybe she mistakenly thought that alcohol would warm her up, explaining her alcohol use, but it does the contrary. It cools your body further down. In the mountains the temperature can drop down quickly when you get higher (even on a wonderful hot summer day where it's hot down the valley) It's very insidious.

The line Bolzano - Siè - Siusi / Castelrotto - Val Gardena - Selva Di Val Gardena: Bolzano has a station to get to the other places mentioned. It's the Eldorado for winter sports enthusiasts. It's really winter wonderland.

Selva Val Gardena Skigebied Gids, Lokaliteitkaart en Selva Val Gardena Skivakantie aanbiedingen

Selva Val Gardena skigebied gids, weer en sneeuwberichten, Selva Val Gardena pistes info, Selva Val Gardena kaarten en links naar chalet aanbiedingen in Selva Val Gardena

nl.snow-forecast.com

Selva Val Gardena includes the ski areas Selva, Castel-rotto, S.Cristina, Ortisei and Siusi. The area is connected with the Dolomiti Superski area and the nearby Alpe di Siusi. There are slopes etc to appeal to all abilities here.
Selva Val Gardena not only has written history due to its winter sports champions, but today it is still the annual meeting point of the world's elite.

Season is from 3 Dec 2022 - 11 Apr 2023.