Norway Norway - Oslo - WhtFem 20-30 - Fake Name - Shot in Hotel Room - Jun'95 #2

[Marantz4250b]

And, further to my post of the other day; if anyone wants any specific photos of a Browning GP-35 I'll be able to do some tomorrow.

 

[AugustusWentworth]

Do we? The only things we have (unless I've forgotten something relevant) are what she wrote on the registration card. Lets not forget that she even spelled her name at least two different ways so I don't think we can put much faith in anything she wrote on it.

We don't know that she had any connections to where she gave as her address - anyone could write down any name and address but if they don't have documentation to prove it then it's meaningless. Verlaine may have no more relevance to her than perhaps being somewhere she passed through as a child on a family holiday for all we know.

In my opinion, people need to go back to first principles and start afresh; in reality there is very, very little we know to be provable facts about this case. We know that she was found shot dead in a hotel room with a few clothes, a Browning GP35 assembled from random parts in her hand and some ammo in a leather briefcase. None of that tells us a whole hell of a lot.

"According to a police document the Plaza woman tried to call two phone numbers in Belgium from the hotel. The numbers were identical except for one digit." Mystery at the Oslo Plaza

She was clearly trying to call someone there, for example, and she clearly had some knowledge of the area (while the address is fake, it is clearly based on real information - there is a Rue de la Station in Verlaine, she provided a realistic Belgian phone number, she provided an actual postcode from Luxembourg). Part of her gun was made in Belgium. Just to be clear, I'm not saying she was Belgian, I'm only saying that she had some ties to that area (maybe she lived there temporarily).

If I'm right (as I said, I submitted a potential match to The Doe Network and they submitted it to LE), she was just a runaway (not from Belgium)...

 

[AugustusWentworth]

"According to a police document the Plaza woman tried to call two phone numbers in Belgium from the hotel. The numbers were identical except for one digit." Mystery at the Oslo Plaza

She was clearly trying to call someone there, for example, and she clearly had some knowledge of the area (while the address is fake, it is clearly based on real information - there is a Rue de la Station in Verlaine, she provided a realistic Belgian phone number, she provided an actual postcode from Luxembourg). Part of her gun was made in Belgium. Just to be clear, I'm not saying she was Belgian, I'm only saying that she had some ties to that area (maybe she lived there temporarily).

If I'm right (as I said, I submitted a potential match to The Doe Network and they submitted it to LE), she was just a runaway (not from Belgium)...

Obviously, as I said, identifying the company name wouldn't add much, because she was most probably not working for that company anyway.

 

[ins71]

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

Kerstin Schwindhammer is missing only since 31. October 1996. Reportedly (Kerstin Schwindhammer) she has 3 kids. Therefore she is not the Oslo Plaza Woman.

 

[ins71]

Regarding the attaché case shown here: Mystery at the Oslo Plaza

Manufacturer: German family imited partnership, founded 1887 registered in the companies register of the local court of Bad Kreuznach under HRA 2192 (Registerportal | Homepage)

Business address can be found here Impressum

Similar cases still sold by company (Business- & Laptoptaschen). Price range 300-450 €.

according to company history (Die Geschichte von BRAUN BÜFFEL) company expanded in 1980s:
"1980s: BRAUN BÜFFEL continued its expansion. Extensive collections for men and women were created, offering a wide variety of models. The production area was also enlarged, reaching a total of 2,000 sqm of production, storage, and office space. At the same time, the brand’s internationalization advanced, both in Europe and in Asia. In the Asia-Pacific region, BRAUN BÜFFEL entered into an alliance with its licensing partner Lianbee-Jeco in Singapore, which continues to this day. Today, BRAUN BÜFFEL is present with small leather goods in the traditional leather goods retail trade, with 1,000 points of sale across German-speaking countries, the Benelux region, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, and Asia."

"Today" in the above paragraph means 2025, not described in the company history is the market presence in in detail during the 1980-1990s.

Current company outlets (seem to be newer development according to company history) and distributors (department stores and specialty retailers) can be found here STORES & OUTLETS. However, that does not reflect the circumstances during the 1980-1990s.

the Büffel trademark has been registered 1980 (DPMAregister | Registerauskunft des Deutschen Patent-und Markenamtes (DPMA)). That does not mean that the company has not used the logo prior to the registration.

I assume that authorities and amateurs have already asked the company during which period this specific model has been distributed and in which countries their products have been sold in the 1990s. However I have not found information whether and how they answered.

 

[ins71]

Minor addition:

According to the company history BRAUN BÜFFEL entered into an alliance with a licensing partner Lianbee-Jeco in Singapore. According to the trademark registry entry is owner of the buffalo trademark a company with Singapore corporate seat (BB Global Holdings Pte. Ltd., Singapur, SG). According to Singapore company search ( BB GLOBAL HOLDINGS PTE. LTD. (201529217D) ) BB Global Holdings Pte. Ltd. and Lianbee-Jeco have the same business address: 315 OUTRAM ROAD, #09-09, TAN BOON LIAT BUILDING, Singapore 169074. So it might be that BB Global Holdings and Lianbee-Jeco are part of one group of companies and that the reference to "licensing partner" means that Lianbee-Jeco licenced the trademark to Braun Büffel KG. In this case it would be unlikely that Braun Büffel KG used the buffalo logo prior to the registration of the trademark in 1980 by BB Global Holdings. That would narrow the sales date of the case down to the period between 1980-1995.

 

[ins71]

regarding the shoes depicted here (Mystery at the Oslo Plaza):

The manufacturer/brand label has been removed (to conceal the wearer’s whereabouts / place of purchase (likely), or for comfort reasons (unlikely)). If foul play were involved, the perpetrator would not have had enough time to remove all manufacturer labels from the clothing. I therefore assume that the victim had already methodically removed the labels before departure in order to conceal traces that could contribute to her identification. As far as I have seen in the thread, nobody has yet taken a closer look at the application / decorative patch on the heel. The photo is quite pixelated and taken from an unfavorable angle. Cropped enlargement:
Right shoe:

Left Shoe:

As far as I can make out, the patch is rectangular with its upper corners slightly pulled upward. The patch appears to be edged with a gold-colored border. Inside die golden border the color of the patch seems to match the black color of the shoe. However, shifted from the center to the right, a reddish area can still be seen, with a highlight appearing in its center (slightly shifted to the upper left corner . It is not clear whether this is a flat print or an object (glass crystal?)." If it is a crystal-like object, the highlight could be a reflection of the camera flash (this is supported by the fact that the orientation of the highlight points toward the imaginary axis of the camera lens).

It is possible that additional ornaments are attached to the patch.

Attempt by author of this post of a rectified view of the patch, view from the back:

I do not assume that the patch is a trademark-like feature that the manufacturer places on all of its models, but rather a fashionable decorative application on that specific shoe. Nevertheless, the patch could make it possible to determine the manufacturer and, as a consequence, draw conclusions about the distribution chain / place of purchase, and thus about the victim’s movement profile.

 

[ins71]

Further observations regarding the shoes shown here (Mystery at the Oslo Plaza) .

The creases/flex marks in the leather suggest that the shoes were not new but have already been worn for some time. It is possible that the wearer is not accustomed to using shoe trees. The wear on the letters MAD in ‘MADE IN ITALY’ (decreasing from left to right) also points to extended use (I assume that the magnification shown by VG is an image of the interior and not of the sole of the shoe. After all, in VG’s image of the right shoe, a faint white lettering can be seen, which could be the country-of-origin marking shown in the magnification.).

Assuming that a well-to-do lady in her mid-20s owns at least 20 pairs of shoes which she wears in rotation, I conclude that these shoes were purchased earlier than 1995.

The differing wear on the country-of-origin marking suggests that the wearer tended to place more weight on the inner side of the right foot when stepping. On the other hand, the heel sole of the left shoe does not show oblique wear. Rather, the heel sole appears to have been recently replaced.

 

[maestro]

I’ve always thought she was an ex stasi or East German spy been decommissioned for the wall coming down

 

[maestro]

I’ve always thought she was an ex stasi or East German spy been decommissioned for the wall coming down

There’s a similar female spy dispatched in Norway years earlier the isdal woman or something

 

[ins71]

Some info on the turquoise-green travel bag from the German manufacturer Travelite VG shows here (Mystery at the Oslo Plaza)

I assume travelite GmbH + Co. KG, Handelsregister: Amtsgericht Hamburg, HRA 63382 is meant. contact details can be found here: Impressum Travelite | Kundenservice

The limited partnership has been founded 10.11.1961 according to the companies register.

The trademark register (DPMAregister | Registerauskunft des Deutschen Patent-und Markenamtes (DPMA)) shows 15 registered designs for travelite. The travel bag mentioned above is not among those designs.

26 trademarks (word trademarks and combined word/figurative trademarks) can be found in the trademark register.

The picture shown by VG is very pixelated. However, the enlarged lettering applied to the bag looks like that:

One can make out the lettering travelite. It can be seen that the letter ‘v’ is displaced downward. This is interesting, since the company registered this lettering (because of its distinctive typography) as a word/figurative mark in Germany in 1977 (registration number 967945). The protection remained in force until 2007.

An attempt to register the trademark internationally 1990 was not successful:

However, we can assume so far that the travel bag has been produced after 1977.

Current distributors can be found here: Händlersuche bei Travelite | Verkaufsstellen (Focus: Germany, Denmark, Belgium)
However, that gives no idea about the distribution net of travelite in the period up to 1995.

I assume that authorities and amateurs have already asked travelite regarding the bag (production period, distribution chain, etc.) However, I found nothing whether and how they answered.

 

[maestro]

Further observations regarding the shoes shown here (Mystery at the Oslo Plaza) .

The creases/flex marks in the leather suggest that the shoes were not new but have already been worn for some time. It is possible that the wearer is not accustomed to using shoe trees. The wear on the letters MAD in ‘MADE IN ITALY’ (decreasing from left to right) also points to extended use (I assume that the magnification shown by VG is an image of the interior and not of the sole of the shoe. After all, in VG’s image of the right shoe, a faint white lettering can be seen, which could be the country-of-origin marking shown in the magnification.).
View attachment 616997
Assuming that a well-to-do lady in her mid-20s owns at least 20 pairs of shoes which she wears in rotation, I conclude that these shoes were purchased earlier than 1995.

The differing wear on the country-of-origin marking suggests that the wearer tended to place more weight on the inner side of the right foot when stepping. On the other hand, the heel sole of the left shoe does not show oblique wear. Rather, the heel sole appears to have been recently replaced.
View attachment 616998

Spy’s tend to use second hand shoes and change their gait