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

[Al Ka]

In a room at the Oslo Plaza Hotel, a young, elegant woman is found dead, with a gun shot wound to the head. Why did she check in under a false name? Why are the labels removed from her clothes? After 22 years, her grave is re-opened.

On 3 June 1995, a young woman is found dead on the bed in Room 2805 of the Oslo Plaza, shot through the forehead with a Browning 9 mm pistol. She checked in as Jennifer Fergate, but the name is false. Who is this stylish woman? Why are the labels removed from her clothes? Why is she carrying 34 rounds of ammunition?

A year later, the unidentified woman is interred in a nameless grave in Oslo. VG’s Lars Christian Wegner wrote about the simple funeral. For 20 years, he has pondered all the unanswered questions.

Now, in collaboration with the Oslo police, VG makes a final attempt to learn the identity of the Plaza woman. What really happened in Room 2805?

Saturday, 3 June 1995: Just after 7:30 p.m., receptionist Evy Tudem Gjertsen at the Oslo Plaza, Norway’s premier luxury hotel, discovered that something was wrong.

The guests in Room 2805, a Belgian couple, Jennifer and Lois Fergate, had far exceeded their credit limit.
---
The woman is lying on her back on the bed, staring at the ceiling with a gaping hole in her forehead. She must have died instantly. Significant blood loss. She holds the weapon, a 9 mm Browning pistol, in her right hand, which is resting on her chest.

The TV is still on, the room tidy. Not much luggage. No sign of other people having stayed in the room.
---
The investigation continues through the night. Both key cards are in the room. The door was double-locked from the inside. The window is ajar, but outside the mirrored glass façade stretches 28 floors to the ground. Everything indicates the woman was alone.
---
* “Suicide,” it says on a lab test order sent to the National Criminal Investigation Service, known as Kripos.

The case seems closed.

There are only two anomalies in the police investigation that evening and night:

* The labels on the dead woman’s clothing have been cut off.

* There are no relatives to notify. Belgian police report that there is no one named Jennifer or Lois Fergate. All information on the woman’s identity is false.
---
No passport. No wallet, no money, no credit card. No handbag, driver's license or keys. Not even toiletries or make-up – just a cologne bottle that was almost empty.

Anything that could have identified the deceased had been systematically removed. Had she done that herself, before taking her life? Had someone else removed all the traces?
---
Did someone kill the false Jennifer, and place the weapon in her hand to make it look like suicide?

Nor did the weapon tell detectives much. The serial number of the semi-automatic pistol, a Browning 9 mm, had been professionally removed – not just ground off, but etched away with acid. The technicians at Kripos, the National Criminal Investigation Service, managed to recover some of the number, but not enough to identify the gun. It had been made in Belgium, in 1990 or 1991. They got no further.

In the chamber of the pistol, the next bullet automatically moved up and into place, ready for firing, and seven more rounds waited in the clip. In a black attaché case next to the bed were another 25 cartridges. Jennifer had brought 34 live rounds in all. The black briefcase contained absolutely nothing but cartridges.

Not much could be gleaned from the autopsy of the young woman. Though she had claimed to be 21, forensic pathologists believed she was a bit older: 30, plus or minus five years.

Her eyes were blue, and her hair was dark and short; she weighed 67 kilograms (147 lbs) and was 159 centimetres (5′2″ inches) tall. Her fingerprints gave no matches in the Interpol data base. She had relatively expensive dental work in gold and porcelain, of a type widely used in the United States but also in some European countries, including the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.

http://pluss.vg.no/2017/06/08/2826/2826_24019177 (full story)
https://www.vg.no/spesial/2017/plaza-english/ (video and evidence)

 

[Al Ka]

All but one of the tags and brand labels had been removed from the Plaza woman’s clothes. Some snipped off stitch by stitch. Others cut or sliced away.

The only clothing label left was on a grey woman’s blazer hanging in the closet of room 2805. The jacket was from German fashion house René Lezard, and it would appear, from the police pictures, that the label was impossible to remove without destroying the lining.

The jacket had been sold in Germany, but that is all the police learned.

A turquoise travel bag was from the German manufacturer Travelite. The Travelite logo too remained in place, irremovable without cutting the bag.

Removing tags or labels is not uncommon. Most of us have cut off a tag that irritated our neck. But this was a systematic removal of identifying information.

She had no handbag. No glasses, house keys, car keys, sunglasses. Nothing to read, and no handkerchief or lipstick.

The pictures of the deceased show a pretty, elegant young woman, carefully made up. She was clearly someone concerned with her looks, clothes and style.

Why no toiletries bag? No makeup? The autopsy pictures show clean, attractive teeth, but there was no toothbrush in the room.

The only personal effect found in the hotel room was a cologne bottle on the small table by the window. But it contains a men’s scent, Ungaro Pour L’Homme 1, described as "powerful and masculine", which all the same does not preclude a woman’s using it.

http://pluss.vg.no/2017/06/08/2826/2826_24019177

 

[Al Ka]

The weapon, a Browning 9 mm pistol, was no help to the police either.

Its serial number had been etched away with acid.

The Browning is a powerful, semi-automatic weapon. When a shot is fired, the next round is automatically pushed into the firing chamber. The magazine holds nine cartridges. The pistol is manufactured in large numbers. It is reliable, often used by the police and the military, and is popular with criminals.

Experts at the laboratory of Kripos, Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service, managed to recover parts of the serial number. "The removal was done very professionally," the report says.

http://pluss.vg.no/2017/06/08/2826/2826_24019177

 

[Al Ka]

The registration form she filled out at the hotel is the most tangible information we have about her. Everything she wrote was false, including her name and that of her mysterious travelling companion. Can we decipher anything at all from this information?

The city she listed, Verlaine, Belgium, exists, but the postal code she provided is wrong.

(reception wrote her name as Fairgate but she herself twice wrote it as Fergate)

http://pluss.vg.no/2017/06/08/2826/2826_24019177

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Thanks for starting this. "Jennifer"'s case was mentioned on the Isdal Woman's thread almost a year ago (post #170):

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...es-multilingual-Nov-70/page12&highlight=isdal

 

[Al Ka]

Few other things to add:

Location on her registration card Verlaine, very small town, is just few km away from place where two 8 year old girls were kidnapped from, 3 weeks after Jane Doe death. Year later Dutroux was convicted after kidnapping, torturing and sexually abusing six young girls. Four of the girls were killed. He claimed to work for organized pedofile ring with gov and higher up people. (Everyone in Europe knows Dutroux case).

Oslo Plaza was 5 star hotel. She checked in in the very busy evening at 10.40pm when guests from 3 last flights of the day arrived - SAS, KLM and British Airways.

The view from the 28th floor of the Oslo Plaza was fantastic. Jennifer Fergate was given Room 2805, on the side on the hotel facing the city. In the 1990s the top six floors were called "The Tower". The best rooms in the house were there.

On the day she checked in, May 31, police officers were on the strike. And surprisingly also Oslo passport border control at their airport... She has called on the day to change her reservation booking from later date to that same day.

And also

Among the theories the police considered were whether Jennifer Fergate might have been an intelligence agent or if she might have been assigned to liquidate someone.

Security guards and agents were not unusual guests at Oslo Plaza, which often hosted government leaders.

"Norway, Sweden and Austria were typical ‘safe havens’ where intelligence services could hold meetings and work in peace," Kaldager says. "They were open, benign and naive countries, easy to travel to, with good infrastructure and little police control. A lot probably happened that the public never heard about."

What happens if an intelligence agent dies in a foreign country?

Well-known agencies like MI6 or the CIA would probably ask to have the agent returned, but for some services it would be typical for a dead person not to be reported missing. The agency might notify the family of what happened and pay them a nice compensation, while the family would have to promise to never talk about what happened.»

http://pluss.vg.no/2017/06/08/2826/2826_24019177

 

[ALadInsane]

Oslo police seems inefficient. This is clearly not a suicide.
No gunshot residues and no blood found in hands.
On top of that the weird positions of the fingers on the gun (thumb on trigger) and a hand still on the gun after firing a 9 mm Browning. Just not possible.
It is also very unusual for women to commit suicide with a gun.

She was killed by a professional that missed the first shot when using the pillow to muffle the sound. As the 2nd successful shot was heard by people in the hotel the killer did not have time to fully clean the room and make it look like a credible suicide. He took some of her personal belongings that may identify her but not all of them.

Whatever this case is it involves lots of money: she checked in a 5 star hotel in Oslo, one of the more expensive cities on earth, and had what look like expensive clothes.

was there any footage from CCTV in the hotel or streets nearby?
did she had an accent?
by her looks I would say European caucasian woman, not nordic and not from southern Europe.

 

[ALadInsane]

victim facial reconstitution


victim´s clothes found in the room



victim´s clothes found on body

 

[AliceInPain]

Oslo police seems inefficient. This is clearly not a suicide.
No gunshot residues and no blood found in hands.
On top of that the weird positions of the fingers on the gun (thumb on trigger) and a hand still on the gun after firing a 9 mm Browning. Just not possible.
It is also very unusual for women to commit suicide with a gun.

She was killed by a professional that missed the first shot when using the pillow to muffle the sound. As the 2nd successful shot was heard by people in the hotel the killer did not have time to fully clean the room and make it look like a credible suicide. He took some of her personal belongings that may identify her but not all of them.

Whatever this case is it involves lots of money: she checked in a 5 star hotel in Oslo, one of the more expensive cities on earth, and had what look like expensive clothes.

was there any footage from CCTV in the hotel or streets nearby?
did she had an accent?
by her looks I would say European caucasian woman, not nordic and not from southern Europe.

So what's your theory on the fact the room was locked twice from the inside?

ETA: I agree it's odd her hands were so clean. And isotope testing showed she may have been German, if I remember correctly.

 

[ALadInsane]

So what's your theory on the fact the room was locked twice from the inside?

ETA: I agree it's odd her hands were so clean. And isotope testing showed she may have been German, if I remember correctly.

As said by one of the experts in the VG video it was possible to do it with the hotel card systems they had in 1995.

 

[ALadInsane]

25 may 1995 was Ascension day, June 5th 1995 was Whit Monday. Weird that she choose to travel exactly outside of those 2 days that granted long weekends if she came from a country where Ascension and Whit Monday are observed.
Here are the European countries where BOTH days are a holiday:
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Sweden
Norway

Ascension only is a holiday on the above European countries and Switzerland.
Whit Monday on the above countries and Hungary, Ukraine, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Monaco.

The DB newspaper has a postmorten image. Oddly it shows her cranium is intact considering she was shot in the head. Maybe it´s a reconstruction or after embalming .


Strange choice of haircut for a fashionable woman in 1995. Earlobes are attached.

 

[coffeeandacig]

<snipped> by coffeeandacig

Strange choice of haircut for a fashionable woman in 1995. Earlobes are attached.

<snipped and BBM>

Short pixie cuts never go out of style, not even in the 90s. However, her hair appears more utilitarian in its appearance. Leads me to believe that she was accustomed to wearing wigs frequently.

 

[ALadInsane]

Found some more articles on this case (none are in english). There is an update with isotopes results for this UID.

update with results from isotopes analysis
Ny analyse i uløst mysterium: Plaza-kvinnen kan være tysk

gun serial number analysis
Plaza-kvinnens våpen: Politiet kan ha lett feil sted

analysis of evidence in the room
Wer war die tote Frau auf im Oslo Plaza? DIE SPUR FÜHRT NACH DEUTSCHLAND

refining her age range
Nye spor i 23 år gammelt mystisk dødsfall

Belgium article with crime scene photos
Het Mysterie van kamer 2805

to summarize what the above articles say, after they used several experts they were able to determine:
- A new technique was used to refine her age range. She was 23-25 years old.
- Her gold ring was of low quality and made in Germany.
- Her handrighting was characteristic of Germany, Austria, Belgium or Swizerland.
- The labels in her coat, travel bag and case are for German brands.
- She spoke with the hotel in german and in english with german accent.
- isotopes analysis show she most likely grew up in either north Germany, coastal Norway or Denmark.
- The gun contained parts from different guns. Probably assembled by criminals for sale as second hand.
- Investigations are convinced she was from Germany.

Isotopes maps from VG article
https://www.vg.no/spesial/2017/plaza/embed/ai2html/img/plaza2-Plaza_victim_3_5.png
https://www.vg.no/spesial/2017/plaza/embed/ai2html/img/plaza2-Plaza_victim_5_2.png
https://www.vg.no/spesial/2017/plaza/embed/ai2html/img/plaza2-Plaza_victim_14_9.png

 

[Romulus]

Doe Network link

1420UFNOR

1420UFNOR - Unidentified Female

Date of Discovery: June 3, 1995
Location of Discovery: Oslo, Norway
Estimated Date of Death: Minutes prior
State of Remains: Rocognizable face
Cause of Death: Suicide by gunshot

Physical Description
Estimated Age: 21-35 years old
Race: White
Sex: Female
Height: 159 cm (5'2")
Weight: 67 kg (147 lbs.)
Hair: Black and short, possibly dyed.
Eye Color: Blue
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers
Dentals: Available. Relatively expensive dental work (gold and porcelain), widely used in the U.S., Switzerland, The Netherlands and Germany.
Fingerprints: Available.
DNA: Available.

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Black clothing. Long blouse, bra, long silk underwear, stockings and high-heeled shoes made in Italy. Three light-colored bras were located in her travel bag. Four jackets were also found. One was black and leather, another was a light-colored wool material. All but one label from the clothing had been removed.
Jewelry: Gold ring on right middle finger. Citizen Aqualand diving watch. It held three 370 batteries manufactured in late 1994, marked with "W395." The etching was possibly done by the merchant who changed the batteries. The watch appeared to have been manufactured around 1992.
Additional Personal Items: Ungaro Pour L’Homme 1 cologne (made for men). Turquoise-green cloth travel bag. Black Braun Büffel attaché case with eliphant logo.

Circumstances of Discovery
The woman checked into the Oslo Plaza Hotel on Wednesday, May 31, 1995 accompanied by a male companion at about 10:44 PM. She used the alias name "Jennifer Fergate" (or "Fairgate," as the room was assigned) and the man used the name "Lois Fergate." She claimed to be 21 years old and native to Belgium. The pair stayed in room 2805, which cost 1845 Kroner per night (2,900 today).

"Jennifer" spoke fluent German and English. The pair stayed in the room for three nights and did not pay for their stay, despite warnings from hotel staff that were acknowledged. "Lois" was not in the room between Thursday and Friday morning. The "do not disturb" sign had been placed on the door on those days as well.

On June 3, a gunshot (later discovered to be a "test firing" into the woman's pillow) was heard by a security guard at about 7:50 PM and a second shot was soon heard later. After a few minutes, the guard entered the room and discovered "Jennifer" lying supine on the bed with a gunshot wound to her forehead. The gun rested in her hand; held to her chest. The suicide was likely planned, according to police.

The weapon was a Browning 9mm pistol. The gun was manufactured in Belgium in 1990 or 1991. The serial number had been dissolved in acid. Some numbers were later discovered after examination. There were 32 live rounds for the gun in the woman's briefcase.

The woman had no passport with her or any identifying characteristics. Both of the hotel keys were in the room, indicating "Lois" did not plan to return after departing.

Police and witnesses theorized the woman could have been anything from a secret service, flight attendant, high-end prostitute, participant in a major drug opperation or an assassin. There is no evidence supporting any theory.

The woman was buried on June 26, 1996 in a pauper's grave.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: VG
Agency Contact Person: Lars Chr. Wegner
Agency Phone Number: +47 22 00 03 06
Agency E-Mail: jennifer(at)vg.no
Agency Case Number: Unknown

Information Source(s)
VG+
Nieusblad

 

[Kano]

25 may 1995 was Ascension day, June 5th 1995 was Whit Monday. Weird that she choose to travel exactly outside of those 2 days that granted long weekends if she came from a country where Ascension and Whit Monday are observed.
Here are the European countries where BOTH days are a holiday:
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Sweden
Norway

Ascension only is a holiday on the above European countries and Switzerland.
Whit Monday on the above countries and Hungary, Ukraine, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Monaco.

The DB newspaper has a postmorten image. Oddly it shows her cranium is intact considering she was shot in the head. Maybe it´s a reconstruction or after embalming .
View attachment 134585

Strange choice of haircut for a fashionable woman in 1995. Earlobes are attached.

Short hair was in with the younger raver kids in 1995. For the picture, the wound is between the eyes. You can see the patchwork and misshapen areas if you look close. I am guessing that the idea is that she was leaning forward with the gun against her head, between the eyes. That helps explain the thumb/trigger placement and the bloodsplatter but i do agree that it would be odd for her to not drop the gun in that position.

There was an entire line about a 2nd bed duvet found in the room that was never investigated. Seems the best answers in this case lost.

 

[Al Ka]

Short hair was in with the younger raver kids in 1995. For the picture, the wound is between the eyes. You can see the patchwork and misshapen areas if you look close. I am guessing that the idea is that she was leaning forward with the gun against her head, between the eyes. That helps explain the thumb/trigger placement and the bloodsplatter but i do agree that it would be odd for her to not drop the gun in that position.

There was an entire line about a 2nd bed duvet found in the room that was never investigated. Seems the best answers in this case lost.

Looking at new photoshoped postmortem I do agree that it does look that she was shot between the eyes. That fact does bring up many questions and it is quite unusual for suicide.

I am not into conspiracy theories at all but suicide by gunshot to the head are usually done by shot to temple/side of the head or on rarer occasions to the mouth. Shot between eyes definitely seems more like execution to me.

 

[Elainera]

Wow what a puzzle. I have so many questions!

Why did they reopen her grave? To extract DNA?

Is there no description of "Lois Fergate"?

How did she/they arrive at the hotel? Taxi?

I'm puzzled that she has not been recognized by someone. Is there no family or friends missing her? No matching missing person report anywhere in Europe or the US?

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Why did they reopen her grave? To extract DNA?

Yup, and to perform isotope testings on her teeth, which placed her mostly in parts of Germany.

Is there no description of "Lois Fergate"?

""I remember there was a long queue of guests," recalls Sascha René Anonsen, an Oslo Plaza receptionist that evening. "It was all about assigning rooms as quickly as possible. We mustn’t keep the guests waiting."

Jennifer’s room had been pre-booked by phone. The hotel’s booking department registered her last name as «Fairgate», though she signed twice as Fergate.

Anonsen has a vague memory of her standing in front of the reception desk alone, checking in and receiving her room key card. He can’t say for certain.

Evy Tudem Gjertsen has a different memory, one she has stuck to for 22 years.

In her witness statement a few days after the death, she said she thought she saw the Plaza woman together with a man.

"And I still stand by that," she says today. “I’m sure she was with a man. I was at my regular station at reception, and on the other side stood that woman. Next to her was a dark-haired man."

In her statement to the police she described the man as a bit taller than the woman, maybe 185 cm, and somewhat older, possibly 35 to 40.

But was it during check-in that she saw the man, or later?

In her police statement, Tudem Gjertsen said it might have been in connection with exchanging currency that she saw the couple, and that it might have been later in the evening. In 1995, it was common for hotel guests to obtain local currency at the front desk.

"I have a feeling that the man handed money over the counter and that it may have been dollars, but I’m not sure," Tudem Gjertsen says today. "Nor can I say if the man was with her when she came. But I stand by seeing her in front of the counter with a man.""

Quote from Mystery at the Oslo Plaza


----------------


An odd thing, though: She brought several bras with her, but seemingly no panties, apart from those she was wearing.

 

[Elainera]

Thank you Mrs Badcrumble!

No toiletries too right?

Well I think she was murdered. Her killer, likely "Lois", intended to take all her luggage but maybe there was no time left and in a hurry he forgot the bras and some other items.

Hopefully the dna will give them a lead, if not in a criminal database maybe via ancestry.com or similar services.

 

[haylestarp]

I can't see that anyone has written a lot about the watch she was wearing? It was a Citizen Aqualand, model CQ-1021-50. Branded with C022-088093 Y, 2010779, GN-4-S. They are looking for people who have that watch with a similar number.

As of the other man, Lois, he is described as 185 cm high, somewhat older than her, maybe around 35-40 of age. The perfume in the room was a man's 8 Ungaro Pour L’Homme 1), but only had the fingerprint of Jennifer.

On the other hand, the bed was only made for one person, one of the duveys (planket) put in the wardrobe. But when she was fond, both of them were laid out on the bed.

She was also missing from the room between 20-24 hours, with no trace of where she could have been.