Norway Norway - Oslo, WhtFem 20-30, Fake Name, shot in hotel room, Jun'95

[branmuffin]

I tried some different variations of the name "fairgate" or "fergate". I found this name "fergati"

Here's a link where this name is found. Look at the different spellings of the same and where the name can be found.

Fergati - Names Encyclopedia

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

The "2DY NON" on the ticket are Amadeus codes standing for two nights double-bedroom, two occupants, non-smoking.

 

[Beekarina]

Well....this has taken an unexpected turn. Much to consider.

 

[SimplyCass]

* I've just had more thoughts on that and, perhaps, that street had numbers higher than 100 at some point? I think she gave the address as 148? If it did then who's to say that there isn't some tenuous connection she, or her family has with that address?

[Snipped for focus]

I doubt that small villages/areas like that (or at least the sort of areas where "everybody knows everybody") would have major renumberings. That usually happens in bigger, denser cities during major renovations or slum clearance. I don't really know much about city/town planning (and especially even less about Belgium), but if the numbers had been higher, I imagine they might have been cut if they were to designate that area as a new street and start the numbers over again. Speculation/MOO.

Truth be told, this story as given/portrayed is so strange that even the people who fall in the "it was suicide" camp seem to think it's because of a lack of plausible theory for an outsider/unknown party to have killed her. A "Frankenstein" gun would make more sense as to why the serial number or origin of the firearm is so unclear, but other than that, nothing adds up to anything.

 

[Tristana]

I tried some different variations of the name "fairgate" or "fergate". I found this name "fergati"

Here's a link where this name is found. Look at the different spellings of the same and where the name can be found.

Fergati - Names Encyclopedia

This one is indeed a possibility, as a lot of evidence points to Jennifer being Belgian and there was a big Italian immigration in Belgium after WW2.

As I said, I believe Jennifer lived in the vicinity of Liège. (first image)

The numbers she called before her death were landline phone numbers. And the people she called lived in Jemeppe (second image), which is not far from Liège at all and, coincidentally, harbours a lot of criminal activity.

 

[branmuffin]

Suicide or murder. Whichever one it was, it doesn't really matter too much now. However she died won't give us anymore clues into finding out who she was - and that's the most important thing in my opinion.

If she was a high class escort, why have the gun and all those bullets?

If she was a spy, why be so sloppy with ID and street names/towns/post codes that don't match up.

What if the hotel receptionist had asked for her passport? She must have had one. Would that have been fake too?

Did she leave her other belongings in someone else's room....or did someone else take them there?

She seemed to keep very unusual hours according to the room key card info.

If she was going to commit suicide, why not do it straight away after check-in?

And why, if suicide, did she have so many bullets?

Hmmmm....just my musings and opinions. MOO.

Norway isn't in the EU so I don't know if a hotel guest would be required to show their passport checking in. Since a hotel guest is already in the country there may have been an assumption that she was there legally and just had to show another type of ID.

I don't think we know if the attache case with bullets even belonged to the JD. We do know that hotel staff had seen her with a large suitcase as well as the carryon even though the large suitcase and her clothing was missing. That does suggest someone else was in the room with her and choose to remove a lot of stuff whether it was because it was their stuff or because it would have identified them and they wanted nothing to do with a suicide. I'm still not sure if this was a suicide.

I still wonder whether one of the mysterious room guests had some kind of relationship with her. I wondered whether she may have been a flight attendant and she was having an affair with a pilot.

With all the hijackings that had been going on during that time perhaps the weapon and the bullets belonged to a pilot. Americans hadn't really experienced hijackings until Sept 11, 2001 but other national airlines especially those in Europe had.

 

[branmuffin]

This one is indeed a possibility, as a lot of evidence points to Jennifer being Belgian and there was a big Italian immigration in Belgium after WW2.

As I said, I believe Jennifer lived in the vicinity of Liège. (first image)

The numbers she called before her death were landline phone numbers. And the people she called lived in Jemeppe (second image), which is not far from Liège at all and, coincidentally, harbours a lot of criminal activity.

Criminality now, or then?

 

[branmuffin]

My two cents on this. I hadn't followed closely until the documentary, but I've been thinking and here are some possibly pertinent thoughts. Some of it may be completely irrelevant but it might spark a thought or two:

FERGATE

- "Fergate" spelled this way is a surname in Morocco and Algeria only;
- "Fergate" is an Indian brand of ferrous sulfate iron tablets. These are produced in a town called Vellore in India (reminded me of Verlaine).

HOW DID THEY COME UP WITH FAIRGATE? TV LINKS?

- There was a big TV soap called Knots Landing, a Dallas spin-off, in the 1980s and 90s. The main character was Karen Fairgate. There was another major character called Valene;
- Knots Landing was created by David Jacobs, who created Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman;
- A major character in Lois & Clark is Kathy, played by Jennifer Hooper;
- Lois & Clark was broadcast only in the UK/Ireland/US between 1993-95-97.

NORWEGIAN INTELLIGENCE GROUP THAT USES COUPLES - FOUNDED IN 1995

- The "E 14" group was founded in 1995 and classified to the highest level;
- "E 14" is known to use coupled agents on missions;
- They seem to have been used in many countries, but their true nature and missions will of course be secret.

ISRAEL/MOSSAD ASSASSINATION SPREE

- Mossad were known to be actively assassinating enemies in Europe in the early-mid 1990s, with at least Gerald Bull in Belgium (1990) and Atef Bseiso in Paris (1992);
- Mossad previously had a major hit go wrong (they killed the wrong guy) in 1973 in the Lillehammer Affair.

FINLAND'S TITTINEN LIST?

- In 1990 the new German intelligence service gave a list of all the Finnish citizens who had been communicating with the Stasi to the Finnish government (who very quickly locked it away);
- Could the fallout from this list have involved hits in Oslo? Could there have been a similar list for Norway? If our Jane Doe is German, could this German programme of informing nations of Stasi links have something to do with clandestine meetings and possibly hits in Oslo?

MAJOR NATO-RUSSIA SUMMIT IN NETHERLANDS ON 31 MAY 1995

- This is background only and pure speculation, but NATO, which I believe was chaired by Norway at the time, held a two-day summit in the Netherlands with Russia, in which they announced an unprecedented cooperation agreement.

NEARBY PALESTINE MISSION/EMBASSY

- Just some background perhaps, but the Palestinian mission is the closest diplomatic mission to the Plaza Hotel by far, it's a 600m walk from the door.

I checked out that name when looking for variations of Fairgate. I picked up on the country of Algeria where a hijacking of an Air France happened in December 1994. Which may tie in with my hypothesis of a pilot being armed before 2001.

 

[annpats]

I don't think pilots and air hostesses would be staying in the top 3 floors of this hotel. It was expensive, swanky and posh. Plus, I thought it was pretty much ruled out she wasn't an air hostess...? No-one from the airlines that flew to Oslo recognised her, I seem to recall.

She definitely had involvement with someone on another room. A newspaper with 2816 on was found in her room. I think that's likely where her suitcase and other belongings were. She may have he taken them there herself, during the 20 hours she was missing. She left her room....it doesn't mean she left the hotel.

With this mystery, I always wish that when the room attendant knocked, her had called for help on his radio instead of running off.

 

[annpats]

Norway isn't in the EU so I don't know if a hotel guest would be required to show their passport checking in. Since a hotel guest is already in the country there may have been an assumption that she was there legally and just had to show another type of ID.

Guests always have to show some form of ID even if they're from one EU country staying in another. Even back in 1995. Norway not being in the EU would have made this more likely, not less.
She may have been a regular visitor to the hotel, hence they recognised her and didn't ask for ID during the busy check-in period.
Alternately, she may have been staying there as a high-class escort and the hotel's major managers knew who she was, as she was a regular visitor to their many VIP political guests on the top 3 floors.....

 

[annpats]

I wondered if she chose the name Jennifer as it sounds a bit like Jemeppe.

I played around on google, and interestingly enough, there is actually a real 'Jennifer Fernez' in Jemeppe. (And she has short dark hair too).

Fernez is very close to Fergate. So maybe her name wasn't too made up.

 

[Beekarina]

The thing is, in 1995 one did not always need to show ID. It was a different time. We are examining this in hindsight after a crime, through the lens of this and the time we live in now.

We already know other guests who stayed at the same time did not show ID, and were basically just hurried to their rooms.

"Jennifer" had a look that was very common in mid-90s urban Europe. She would have blended in pretty much everywhere, and not likely drawn any particular attention to herself.

 

[Beekarina]

I wonder if they have ever compared "Jennifer" with the Isdal Woman? It would be a strange idea, but could they be related?



*To clarify, I mean could they be relatives.

 

[annpats]

The thing is, in 1995 one did not always need to show ID. It was a different time. We are examining this in hindsight after a crime, through the lens of this and the time we live in now.

We already know other guests who stayed at the same time did not show ID, and were basically just hurried to their rooms.

True, but she would have had ID on her at some point during that trip. A lot of European countries have national ID cards. She could've had either that or a passport, and also certainly some sort of a bank card too.
Yes, they may have been in her fake name, but she would have had them. It was 1995, not 1965.

It was either chance (or planned by staff) she wasn't asked for ID or payment.
There wouldn't be many hotels that would let people just walk in and get a room without payment or ID for 2 days, even in 1995, and certainly not in an expensive high-class hotel like that.....and one that is known to have had secret NATO meetings and other foreign government representatives staying there!

 

[FaerieDust]

I definitely think she was travelling with someone else. Either they were in the same hotel but a different room or a different hotel entirely. I think maybe she had ties to organized crime in some way, that's the only way the gun and everything makes sense to me. Maybe she wanted out of whatever relationship/group she was involved with but felt she couldn't escape so she used the gun on herself instead of the intended target? Maybe whoever she was with abandoned her with no clothes or anything so she felt she had no choice but to kill herself?

I think about her a lot. There's so many twists to this case.

I think it's interesting about the cologne bottle in the bathroom too. Here's a link if anyone's interested in reading about the notes and stuff.

 

[annpats]

Yes, definitely at least one other person involved. Suicide or murder? Both pros and cons for both theories. It's all so odd.

This case just spins my head around. So many possibilities, that branch out into more possibilities, and other possibilities that don't make sense contradicts the ones that do.

I'd love to see this Jennifer Fergate case solved, along with the Maura Murray and Jennifer Kesse cases. They're my top 3.

But they all have so many twists, turns and endless 'did she, didn't she, could she, would she' plus poor witnesses, dead ends, flaky police work, and the years that have passed....I don't think they'll ever be solved.

MOO.

 

[Beekarina]

Having ID, and being required to show it, are two different things though.

Both passports and National ID cards were much simpler documents in the 1990s.

Bank cards? Perhaps. She may have just as easily used a "cash only" lifestyle, whether she was involved in something shady, or if this actually was simply a suicide.

There are also different accounts of what happened when "Jennifer" checked in. The front desk supervisor's account, I believe, claimed she did ask for ID. (Who knows if this is accurate, if she is lying, or if she is simply "remembering" what she would typically have done?) Another employee remembers seeing "Jennifer" in the lobby with a man, possibly exchanging USD.

I think it is equally likely "Jennifer" simply did not trigger any red flags. Of course she would check out, settle her bill, and on to the next.

Think of it this way: was there a rash of young women scamming hotels out of rooms in the 90s in Oslo? No. So why would they be suspicious of "Jennifer"? She is only of interest now, because of her mysterious death.

 

[Beekarina]

We are also focused on the lack of payment at check in. Why? Again, we know other guests simply were shown to their rooms. I do not think we should assume "Jennifer" (and perhaps "Lois") never intended to pay. It may simply have worked out that way.

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

We are also focused on the lack of payment at check in. Why? Again, we know other guests simply were shown to their rooms. I do not think we should assume "Jennifer" (and perhaps "Lois") never intended to pay. It may simply have worked out that way.

She did pay at check-in, in cash. She just didn't provide a credit card number for her account.

 

[annpats]

She did pay at check-in, in cash. She just didn't provide a credit card number for her account.

No, she didn't pay anything. That's why she was getting internal messages on her TV in the room telling her to come and pay at reception, and why the staff member knocked on her door in the first place.