UK UK - Mystery woman who died in 2004 fall from London tower block could finally be identified

[dotr]

The Wembley Point mystery: who was the woman who jumped to her death?

One October morning in 2004, a woman took the lift to the 21st floor of an office block in north-west London, bought a coffee in the cafe there – then opened a window and jumped out. No one knew who she was. Do they now?

www.theguardian.com

TY, from very lengthy link, rbbm...

''It was before 9am and workers were still filtering into Wembley Point. The woman got into the lift. Two fellow passengers recall she was intensely distressed. One told investigators he said something like: “Cheer up, love, it might never happen.” When they got out, she continued to the 21st floor, where there was a cafe. It was a workplace canteen, not the kind of place you’d know about if you weren’t familiar with the building.''

''In the cafe, the woman bought a coffee and sat at a table close to a window. She smoked a cigarette from an almost empty 10-pack of Marlboros and leafed through a copy of the Guardian she was thought to have brought with her. Then she stood up, climbed on to the table, opened the window and jumped out. “Things happened in a split second,” one person in the cafe at the time told investigators. “One moment she was sat very still in the far corner of the restaurant''.

''Soon after 9am, police retrieved the woman’s body from the river below. She did not have a single identifying document or object on her; no wallet, no bank cards or driving licence, no house keys, no phone.''

''But if she picked the building at random, why take an oil painting with her, and how did she know the cafe was there? “Security was quite lax, but the cafe wasn’t the kind of place where you saw members of the public,” Hedderman says. “And how would you know there were no safety locks on the windows? Even in 2004, I think that was quite unusual on such a high floor.”

''In the US, the rise of genetic genealogy and the huge popularity of commercial DNA testing sites such as 23andMe have helped to solve a wave of cold cases. But the British police do not currently use these commercial entities, and while they do check DNA against their own databases, in 2004 DNA science was still in its infancy – and it is not clear if samples were even taken from the Wembley Point woman.''

 

[Susikatze]

I guess she was an exchange student or guest artist somewhere. The painting is wonderful. I guess she was from an English speaking African country. And I guess she had a history of mental illness.
Not enough to pinpoint someone but it can be a start.

That case reminds me of the Galveston case of a Tanzanian exchange student who was found drowned and it took a long time to have him IDd. His family in Tanzania looked for him but it was hard to make a connection. In the US nobody missed him, the university was used to foreign students coming and going without signing off.

 

[Dpdan]

I am guessing that she wasn't a native Londoner from her clothing. On that morning it was around 13C /55F when she bought the bus ticket, imo too warm for so many layers, especially travelling by public transport in rush hour. It's odd there are no brands listed for her clothing, except shoes. That would be helpful to know. And do her rings have any hallmarks? The shell ring is listed as a conch but I think it's a cowrie shell - wikipedia notes cowries are a symbol of womanhood in Sierra Leone.

 

[dotr]

2022 rbbm

Wembley Point Woman pictured 18 years after death

A forensic artist's image is released by a charity seeking to discover the identity of the mystery woman.

www.bbc.com

''The charity is keen to trace anyone who worked in the building at the time, including then-employees of companies such as Loot, TNS, Loud and Clear Mental Health Advocacy and the American University in London.

Locate International understands that the tower used to host art exhibitions and is also keen to hear from anyone involved in these.

HR managers who worked in the building at the time and may have had an employee suddenly stop turning up for work in late October 2004, or stop claiming their pay, were also urged to make contact.

The woman is described as black, aged between 20 and 40, and about 5'1" to 5'3" (157cm to 162cm) in height.

At the time of her death, she was wearing a maroon bomber zip-up jacket with fabric cuffs, a black leather glove on her right hand along with a thin, black polo jumper and a claret, crew-neck jumper.

She also wore black tights, trousers and black Skechers boots with a zip and buckle on the sides.''

 

[MarziPanda]

Interesting that one of the companies using the building was 'Loud and Clear Mental Health Advocacy'. This charity no longer exists, ceasing in 2016. Probably just a sad, slightly ironic coincidence that she jumped from this building, although I suppose there could be a connection. She could have been someone who used the charity's services. The charity exclusively provided help to people experiencing mental ill health in the Brent and Harlow area of London. Unlikely that they did anything other than admin in a building like that though. I'm assuming she didn't work there (at least not at the time of her death) because I imagine police would have looked at the employees.

I think it's more likely that she was an artist who knew the building (at least, that there was a cafe on the top floor) because she had shown some work there.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Volunteer investigators say that Wembley Point Woman left behind £5.20 in cash, an oil painting and a seven-day bus pass purchased near Seven Sisters station on October 26 and valid until November 1 2004.

The woman also had a copy of the Guardian newspaper dated October 29 2004.

Volunteer investigators have opened more than 100 new lines of inquiry into finding out who this woman is.

Britain's nameless victims: Stories behind the forgotten men and women

Dating back as far as the 1970s, these men and women have been declared dead but their identities remain shrouded in mystery, their stories untold.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Aurora90]

Bumping. Any confirmation of DNA?

 

[MarziPanda]

I wish this case were more well 'advertised' in the UK. I had never heard of it until finding this thread. Maybe it was in the local London media more (I'm in the Midlands). Hard for the recon to reach the right people (anyone who knew her) if it's not in the media much.

She may not even have been living locally (although I think she probably was). I would say that in 2004 the majority of black people in the UK lived in London, but there were black people living all over the UK too (especially in other major cities). My coworker is in her 50s and talks sometimes about how at her school in Nottingham there were almost as many ethnic minority kids (mostly black and Pakistani) as there were white kids.

Maybe I missed it but did any witnesses say whether she had an accent? She bought a coffee, so she must have spoken to the cafe worker. It would be good to know whether she had a foreign accent or not. I also wonder if the police checked with immigration. If she had been told she was being deported, that might have triggered her actions.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I wish this case were more well 'advertised' in the UK. I had never heard of it until finding this thread. Maybe it was in the local London media more (I'm in the Midlands). Hard for the recon to reach the right people (anyone who knew her) if it's not in the media much.

It's not as simple as that. A team at Locate has been working on Wembley Point Woman for a year or more and (IIRC) she was the subject of a huge media push a few months ago by our media team. If it's the case I'm thinking of, it actually got a lot of take-up by local news sheets and other media in the London area but I've not heard whether there were any workable new leads.

The truth is that cold cases involving missing persons and UIDs aren't usually of much interest to the media. The stories aren't usually "big" enough for local TV or radio, and the nature of local press has changed in recent decades from being a newspaper with advertising to an advertising vehicle with some "human interest" stories. When one of my own team's cases went to appeal last year, despite a media blitz by the media team not a single outlet ran with the story. The local papers (common owner) went with a story of a swollen hedgehog found by a member of the public. Hours of work for no result whatsoever.

 

[MarziPanda]

It's not as simple as that. A team at Locate has been working on Wembley Point Woman for a year or more and (IIRC) she was the subject of a huge media push a few months ago by our media team. If it's the case I'm thinking of, it actually got a lot of take-up by local news sheets and other media in the London area but I've not heard whether there were any workable new leads.

The truth is that cold cases involving missing persons and UIDs aren't usually of much interest to the media. The stories aren't usually "big" enough for local TV or radio, and the nature of local press has changed in recent decades from being a newspaper with advertising to an advertising vehicle with some "human interest" stories. When one of my own team's cases went to appeal last year, despite a media blitz by the media team not a single outlet ran with the story. The local papers (common owner) went with a story of a swollen hedgehog found by a member of the public. Hours of work for no result whatsoever.

I did see the push a few months ago I think, so that's something! It would be cool if a broadcaster could take up the case and do a documentary. Compared to some other UID cases, this one has some unusual circumstances that might catch people's interest, like the way she died and the painting she had. Even popular true crime Youtubers making a video might help. But as you said it sadly isn't interesting enough for most people. And I doubt there's enough info to make a full length documentary.

Sadly it might be the case that she doesn't have family in the UK, in which case it might not even matter if the case were to be seen by more people.

 

[Muddy K]

It's not as simple as that. A team at Locate has been working on Wembley Point Woman for a year or more and (IIRC) she was the subject of a huge media push a few months ago by our media team. If it's the case I'm thinking of, it actually got a lot of take-up by local news sheets and other media in the London area but I've not heard whether there were any workable new leads.

The truth is that cold cases involving missing persons and UIDs aren't usually of much interest to the media. The stories aren't usually "big" enough for local TV or radio, and the nature of local press has changed in recent decades from being a newspaper with advertising to an advertising vehicle with some "human interest" stories. When one of my own team's cases went to appeal last year, despite a media blitz by the media team not a single outlet ran with the story. The local papers (common owner) went with a story of a swollen hedgehog found by a member of the public. Hours of work for no result whatsoever.

Thank you for this post. I appreciate your perspective and think you really nailed how MSM has changed over the years.

That being said, the elements of this case are so compelling (and sad) that it astounds me that people don't find enough here to hold their interest. I've continued to think of her since I first encountered the story. She's haunting.

I don't think anyone should disappear from life unremarked upon, unrealistic as that belief may be.