Launched by Interpol on behalf of police forces in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, Operation Identify Me calls on members of the public to help identify 22 girls and women who were murdered between 1976 and 2019.
The move marks the first time Interpol has publicly shared details pertaining to bodies from unsolved cases, but the international police group hopes the campaign will help police forces make some progress in identifying the identity of the 22 women.
The decision to launch the campaign was sparked by an unsolved murder of a woman, who was found in a wheelie bin in the Gaasp river near Amsterdam in 1999 (case code NL07). After working to solve the case for over 20 years, Dutch police ultimately contacted police in Germany and Belgium, which is when they learned of several other possible murder cases with unidentified female victims.
Together, the three countries compiled a list of 22 cold cases. All victims are believed to be between the ages of 15 and 30, with nine of the 22 having been discovered in the Netherlands at some point between 1976 and 2005. Currently, the campaign is focussing on identifying the women, so that the families of the victims can be informed.
Of the nine cases put forward by Dutch police forces, one woman was discovered in a suitcase in a canal in Amsterdam (NL03), another in a suitcase in the IJ River (NL08), a third on a boat in the Dutch capital (NL06), and the woman with the bracelet (NL05) was discovered in a creek in Amstelveen.
Case NL01 refers to a victim found in a parking lot alongside the A12 motorway in 1976, while NL04 refers to a woman found in a parking lot at the Het Zwin visitors’ centre near the Dutch border with Belgium.
Discovered in 1990, NL02 refers to the so-called Teteringen Girl who was found in the village of Teteringen on the outskirts of Breda. Finally, NL09 - the most recent case from the Netherlands - refers to another woman who was also found in a suitcase in the Thorbeckesingen in Schiedam to the west of Rotterdam.
For more information about each of the 22 unsolved cases, or to share any details or tips you have that might be able to assist police in their investigations, please visit the Interpol website.
Thumb: Dutchmen Photography via Shutterstock.com.