Norway Norway - Isdalen, WhtFem 503UFNOR, multiple aliases, multilingual, Nov'70

[snooptroop88]

BBC World Service - Death in Ice Valley - The coded notepad

Where did the Isdal Women visit before her death in Norway?

www.bbc.co.uk

Here are what I think are the cities on the coded log with the heroin theory/GUESSES only:
L=london (guess); G=geneva (already known); O=oslo (known); B=bergen (known); R=rotterdam (guess/near certainty); M=munich (very strong guess); F=frankfurt (guess); V=vienna (guess);W=wurzburg (possibly west berlin but much more likely wurzburg, jmo); P=paris (known); A=amsterdam (very strong guess); N=nuremberg (guess); H=hirtshals, hamburg (also known=trondheim, bergen, stavenger)

All of the guessed cities have strong significance in terms of heroin routes. London, Paris, Amsterdam would be huge points for the Golden Triangle flow, but also Munich, a major heroin hub in the early 70s and Rotterdam, a port city that already had a history with Chinese opium traffic. Wurzburg was flooded with American servicemen related to Vietnam, so heroin was an issue. The area around and including Nuremberg (all of West Germany, really) had a significant and growing issue with heroin traffic and use. & also Isdal woman's Norwegian cities would make sense in terms of the chronology of heroin trafficking throughout Norway. It first became a problem in the late 60s in Oslo (on her list) with the flower power movement and was an epidemic by the 70s. There was opportunity in Stavenger in 1970 because of the oil boom, which might have made it a lucrative choice. In Bergen, Nygårdsparken had an open air drug area, which I believe started right around this time. Generally, from what I can find online, the economy of Norway was doing exceptionally well.

Also making a guess on this: ML 23 N MM
23 N is the fateful day of hotel checkout, 23rd November. This is flanked by "ML" and "MM" So I think the first "M" on each pair is March, there's a prior "L" in the March portion of the log. But when it appears in this series at the bottom (ML 23 N MM), I don't think that's "in" March anymore, it's from March. So a contact from March perhaps, March's London. The MM is I think Munich. The earlier March M for this isn't obvious, I think the 10 M at top of page is Munich without bothering to repeat the M, and if heroin was behind all of this, Munich was such an important location for her that this might make sense, so I think MM is March's Munich contact (or maybe hotel/location).

Think that single little H that appears on the log is h is Hirtshals/Hamburg, the little single "H" on that log for March is between Bergen and Amsterdam. so maybe she took Hirtshals ferry, Denmark, then went to Hamburg, a stop on the way to Amsterdam at the time, I believe. That would fit with the March chronology where that little "h" pops up between Bergen and Amsterdam.

One then wonders was she going to London again, maybe seeing the same contact from March? Here's why I'd be especially freaked out if she were planning on going to London. She'd be taking at least one ferry. This could be what the boots and umbrella were for, particularly the boots. I looked it up, Wellingtons on these ferries back in the day wouldn't be unusual at all. And she didn't buy those boots right away, she came back to the store for them. Maybe she got in touch with March's London to see if the boots would stick out like a sore thumb or if they were the right sort of thing for the trip. And she wasn't wearing the boots when they found her, correct? Which would imply maybe someone murdered her at some rendezvous related to business before the trip even happened. I would think it would also be possible she was facilitating some meeting between contacts in the area in which she died.

So this heroin theory "can" work. Is this the reality? Nooo idea, and with the number of possibilities, more likely not, there are too many options. It "could be." The art could be. The suicide could be. The espionage could be (jmo don't think she was a spy, think suicide is more likely than the spying). Some combination of factors. A million things could be, really. However, as I was working on this, I would note I saw Rotterdam as R on many lists where people are speculating. The one thing I'd tend to stand by no matter what is the ML 23 N MM, because it seems like these are clearly references to earlier March postings. But jmo.

 

[snooptroop88]

As a grim postscript to the last message, just noting this: People who move drugs sometimes will actually ingest large amounts of their drugs in pill form in plastic wrappers as they travel to various destinations. I did not think such a practice was in place in the 70s, but I looked it up, and it was, and the person trafficking the drugs might use cellophane or condoms. I imagine, too, plastic wrap could be used (if it existed at that time, i don't know). Wondered, too, if heroin pushers might also have barbiturates, the answer on this is yes. That means the murderers could have drugged her for some of the amount of barbiturates ultimately found in her system, or/and she might have taken some voluntarily. And she may have swallowed the bulk in plastic, thinking she was being used to move these to some destination. The murderers might have pushed her/struck her, she fell on the rocks, and they splayed her at that point and lit her on fire, so she'd have been on her back and I imagine with the same result in terms of her back largely being unburned. The plastic cellophane or whatever which might have been used in this hypothetical to swallow pills for traffic, the plastic in her stomach would have dissolved in the flames, based on what I've read.

Am unsettled by this because up until now, I've always thought the suicide was really the only method that fully explained the pills.

 

[snooptroop88]

Article on 1979 heroin bust in West Germany:
OPPENHEIM, West Germany, Aug. 26 (Reuters) — Twenty‐four American soldiers have been arrested by the West German police and the United States Military Police, smashing a heroin smuggling ring, the Oppenheim police said today.
They said three West German women and a Turkish man and woman were also detained Friday. The suspected ringleader was a 25‐year‐old West German woman, the police said.

Link for full article:

24 U.S. Soldiers Arrested in Drug Ring in Germany (Published 1979)

24 American servicemen are arrested by West German and US Military Police, Oppenheim, West Germany, as part of heroin-smuggling ring (M)

www.nytimes.com

Also, Isdal woman's jewelry. The earrings:

They look Romanian/Ottoman with the design, they resemble what is called "Ottoman Rose" design jewelry, that looks like this:

 

[snooptroop88]

BBC World Service - Death in Ice Valley - The coded notepad

Where did the Isdal Women visit before her death in Norway?

www.bbc.co.uk

And correction, in an earlier post, I was thinking the mystery "H" on the log which appears all by itself was between Bergen and Amsterdam. It's actually between Bergen and R, which I think is Rotterdam. (The A in the log is actually April, and the city's Rotterdam.) However, with that said, it's basically the same route: Hirtshals is a ferry option, and a stop in Hamburg would be likely traveling by train from Denmark to Rotterdam. (Amsterdam's less than an hour's drive to Rotterdam.)

Also of note: Isdal woman schedules trips for R, which I think is Rotterdam, in early to late June 1970, which would be right before the Holland Pop Festival held there, a massive event that drew huge, huge crowds and had highly significant drug activity. They say online it's a European Woodstock.

And she scheduled travel to R (which I think is Rotterdam) in early May. This is before a huge football cup victory where a Rotterdam-based football club Feyenoord won the European Cup. There were hundreds of thousands celebrating.

 

[Tricia]

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[fred&edna]

BBC World Service - Death in Ice Valley - The coded notepad

Where did the Isdal Women visit before her death in Norway?

www.bbc.co.uk

And correction, in an earlier post, I was thinking the mystery "H" on the log which appears all by itself was between Bergen and Amsterdam. It's actually between Bergen and R, which I think is Rotterdam. (The A in the log is actually April, and the city's Rotterdam.) However, with that said, it's basically the same route: Hirtshals is a ferry option, and a stop in Hamburg would be likely traveling by train from Denmark to Rotterdam. (Amsterdam's less than an hour's drive to Rotterdam.)

Also of note: Isdal woman schedules trips for R, which I think is Rotterdam, in early to late June 1970, which would be right before the Holland Pop Festival held there, a massive event that drew huge, huge crowds and had highly significant drug activity. They say online it's a European Woodstock.

And she scheduled travel to R (which I think is Rotterdam) in early May. This is before a huge football cup victory where a Rotterdam-based football club Feyenoord won the European Cup. There were hundreds of thousands celebrating.

thank you for all the information and research. it's fascinating, interesting and logical. and, it's going to take my little brain a week to digest all of the details you've shared. love it.

 

[snooptroop88]

IW's ring. Researching jewelry, these terms came up as I searched her ring: "barrel ring," "Cabochon," "split-carved," and "filigree." The stone in the ring looks like a moonstone, and it's very flat. Based on what I could find online for tastes across Europe pre-WW2, such an item as IW's ring seems like it might hold more appeal for tastes in Bucharest/Romania or Germany than Paris or Belgium. Also, found a Turkish/Bohemian match that was pretty close. The absolute closest match I saw (jmo) was eBay and was supposedly made 1974, this (on left, eBay, on right, IW ring):

So essentially, this to me means she could potentially get it anywhere, anytime. But the fact that it may align more with Eastern European tastes generally is interesting. (Also, while the '74 ring seems in the spirit of hers, I think hers is probably much older, but just guessing.)

Rolling Stones stayed at Hotel Viking in Oslo in 1965. If that's the same Hotel Viking (think it is?), it evidently drew a pretty artsy crowd, probably not exclusively.

Oslo had some transportation strike in Oct/Nov 1970 so I am thinking the TOS on the log is Trondheim/Oslo/Stavenger. Maybe there was some kind of business she needed to do in Oslo that was held off because of the strike. As an additional note on this, the Dovre Line between Trondheim & Oslo was electrified at the beginning of that November and taking passengers. It's exceptionally beautiful, I thought of the photographer she's believed to have traveled with because if there were a point she might have needed a ride, this could be right around the time. And the beauty of the trip along that Dovre line is supposed to be spectacular, and that photographer's into landscapes.

The log's "M" being Munich, I think it is, but jmo. They've got some big coin show that's traditionally held in March in Munich every year, and first year was 1970. Numismata, an international show for coins/currency. Auction people, dealers, it's a big thing. Maybe the smuggling, antique coins? (Know the smuggling's already being considered/apologies if the coin fair's already in the thread.) I'm wondering, too, if it wouldn't serve the purpose of money laundering for drug cash, the dealers would use the drug cash to purchase valuable items, and resell the items for "clean" cash. And that coin fair falls right before a big spring festival in Munich, also held annually.

I only found this thread just recently & find the case fascinating, so please excuse the flurry of posts. But the longer I look at this, the more I feel IW was murdered, and if it was murder, it was savage-- brazen and vicious (heinous, jmo), but crafty, too. And I can picture potential murderers at this time, in this place, possibly trying to make that look like a suicide. And still curious, why no August & September on the log?? That's out of "R," and that's mid-month, it doesn't even come to the end of July. Looking it up. Two months in jail would be quite likely for possession of hard drugs in Rotterdam in 1970. So this drug theory is really starting to make me wonder now.

No matter how it happened, it's just incredibly, incredibly sad.
RIP. I really, really hope they figure out who she is.

 

[snooptroop88]

Have wondered on Marseilles when looking at the drug theory. Things had been moving away from Marseilles since the French Connection busts, but evidently things moved away slowly, and there was a certain crime boss in Marseilles at the time who mixed prostitution and drug trafficking, so sex workers might well have been working as drug runners as well. There were assassinations galore as FC collapsed. They were straight-on shootings, though, those hits were not being framed as suicides. But in the event of an informant being dealt with in Norway at the time, that might be different. Or maybe someone that just made some mistake in her dealings, the FC was falling apart.

Can see why some think the Lorch alias hints at suicide, the Lady Finella story from legend about how a Finella killed a king and then herself. But there are many Fennellas in history, there's one in a Sir Walter Scott, book, too (Fennella also known as Zarah), didn't kill herself. Found a few others, they didn't kill themselves. And the Fennella we're talking about now as IW-- neither did she, this wasn't IW's final alias. And we don't know whether she chose the aliases or someone else assigned them.

Speaking of her aliases, they may have been coded to provide clues as to how drug shipments were coming in:

ALEXIA ZARNA-MERCHEZ You've got "chez" as part of that, and "mer." Chez mer in French="at sea" Also, that Marseilles drug don at this time, his name very close to Zarna. Looking at the letters of difference and kind of playing around with them, I got "n Parma" from those letters, Parma's in Italy. North could be the Adriatic Sea, and the Adriatic Coast was big for drug traffic at the time, Slovenia particularly mentioned. Alias Alexia's from Ljubljana, which is Slovenia. Moreover, Alexia's at Hotel Neptun, Neptune's god of the sea. Most of this could be just coincidence, but the "chez mer"-- jmo, not a coincidence. Finally, there's a Hotel Alexia in Turkey, pretty famous one. I don't know if it was Alexia back then, but my guess would be yes.

GENEVIEVE LANCIER, stayed in Viking Hotel, Oslo. There's Pas-des-Lanciers railway station on the Paris–Marseille railway. It's close to an airport. Signaling something might be coming in by air-- maybe. But the "Lanicer" to emphasize a clandestine Marseilles connection might be the better guess. And FENNELLA LORCH, stayed at St. Svithun Hotel, one would pray to this saint in the event of drought. Maybe no shipment? CLAUDIA NIELSEN stayed in KNA-Hotellet, Stavanger; KNA's an established auto club, so maybe product coming on overland route?

There are some real stretches in here, but the Alexia Zarna-Merchez looks very suspicious, jmo.

Might be all connected with drugs. & the idea that she may have ingested those barbiturates for trafficking purposes, enclosed in some kind of plastic that melted away in the flames, this is a frightening prospect. But would a runner ingest in plastic for barbiturates? It's definitely less likely, they're not "high value" drugs. But if she were expecting to cross a border with them and was scratching off doctors' names from eczema cream (??), it becomes far more likely, jmo. Borders controlled for barbiturates without a prescription. While IW died nowhere near a border, there's that ML 23 N MM. If ML really is March's London, IW may have thought she was taking a flight to London.

& just saying, if she were some kind of informant, can't picture the traffickers wanting LE to know for a fact they killed her, and can't picture LE wanting the general population to know a drug informant was brutally murdered. And there's (arguably) just as strong a case that she wasn't.

 

[djanga]

I just saw a video that she has been identified as Margot Elise Hoffman, is it true? i am confused, is it a reliable information?

Margot Elise “The Isdal Woman” Hoffmann...

One of the greatest and most well-known unsolved mysteries in Norwegian history, The Isdal Woman is an unidentified female whose body was found at Isdalen (Ice Valley) located at the foothills of Ulriken, A Mountain near Bergen, Norway. Evidence shows that she was likely born in Germany during...

www.findagrave.com

 

[Lorrie]

Nope, it is not true!

 

[djanga]

Nope, it is not true!

Thank you I was confused!

 

[Lorrie]

I understand that! It have been asked here before...

 

[ReDReq]

Okay, time for my sleuthing input. Finland and Sweden sold the pills in question in pink/lilac form.

I also feel like mentioning this particular snipet on information

Nordic Passport Union

The Nordic Passport Union is an agreement that facilitates freedom of movement between the Nordic countries—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. The Nordic countries share a long history of international cooperation; prior to the Secon…

www.freemovehub.com

Also when it comes to eugenics (makes my skin crawl.), multiple European countries did forced sterilisations to "the unwanted". This group pretty often included people suffering from mental health issues to epilepsy among others.

And on subject of espionage.... AFAIK, KGB favoured beautiful girls in their honey trapping regime, and put them through very throughout education, which included learning languages...

Another thing that occurred to me, that in my country, it was easy to pick up a child without any family alive and educate him/her to be part of the espionage attempts.

Also on the way she demised... yes, it sounds very personal - like she rubbed someone the wrong way.

Also maybe I am a bad example while hailing from Northern Europe: I may possess many attributes of IW, while being shorter and heavier - and I do not possess Jewish roots, or even Balkan/Slavic Roots. I have been tested quite broadly due other reasons genetically.
But I know how I am easily confused to be a gypsy and from Mediterranean area (Spain and Türkiey). Funniest has been to-date to be asked am I inuit. But yes.... rambling.