On Nov. 29, 1970, a father and his two young girls were hiking through the Isdalen Valley, or Ice valley, just outside the city of Bergen, Norway, when they discovered a woman, burned beyond recognition. The family would report the body, and as police began investigating the death, little did they know they would be investigating one of the strangest and weirdest mysterious death cases the world has ever seen. 50 years later, even with more sophisticated investigating techniques, we’re no closer to discovering who this woman was and how or why she died. With no identify, the woman became to be known as the Isdal Woman.
Once the father told the police of the body in Ice Valley , the police ventured in to investigate. Officers on site that day noted how treacherous and unforgiving the terrain was where she was found. As the officers climbed the steep path, they would begin to smell the burnt flesh before seeing the corpse. Then they spotted the woman on a pile of rocks.
The woman was lying on her back mostly undressed, her body badly burned, and her face unrecognizable. The body was in a boxer’s position, with arms retreating back toward the chest. It should be noted this is a common position for people who have been burned alive. Odd items were found around the woman as well. Next to her corpse, police found jewelry, bottles and clothes with the labels suspiciously scratched off, a watch, umbrella and rubber boots. The Police said the objects were circling the body in a strange ritualistic like pattern.
As the police began their investigation, they needed to answer several key questions including who this woman was and how and why she was killed.
The autopsy might provide the answer to the question “How did she die”?
The autopsy determined that she died from an overdose of sleeping pills and also carbon monoxide poisoning. It also showed that she had been burned alive and wasn’t killed beforehand in another place.
Still, these findings raised other questions such as: Did she commit suicide? Did she fall into a fire? Was she murdered?
With every question though, a preponderance of evidence showed that there didn’t appear to be any simple explanation.
For example, there wasn’t any evidence of a fire at the scene.
As the incestigation began, it produced some encouraging results from the start.
In the first few days of the investigation, police found a locker at the train station in Bergen. The reason they were able to find this locker is that the locker rental period had expired and could be opened. Inside there were two suitcases that could be directly tied to the woman. The police could make this connection because One item, a pair of sunglasses had a fingerprint that matched the woman. Despite being to connect it to woman, once again all materials had been stripped of their labels.
One of the interesting finds from the locker note though was a coded note found in one of the suitcases. When it was eventually cracked, it was a list of places where the woman had stayed. The police discovered that she stayed in several Norwegian hotels using a number of aliases and fake passports. Also, she frequently requested to change rooms. It was also discovered She spoke English with an accent, using some German phrases. The more evidence police found, the more it seemed the Isdal Woman was a spy.
After cracking the note, the police were able to talk with some witnesses who saw the mysterious woman and they got a description. the woman was around five-foot-four, between the ages of 25 and 40, with long brownish-back hair,”. She had a small round face, brown eyes, and small ears.
With a description of the victim and suspicious circumstances surrounding the death, shockingly the police closed the case just a few weeks after their investigation. It was ruled a suicide.
Since then, many have questioned this finding and over the past five decades more information has to come light as well as several theories have formed concerning who this woman was and her death.
It was long thought that with advanced testing techniques, investigators would finally be able to uncover who this woman was and perhaps more importantly what she did. However, after 50 years it still remains unsolved. Still, despite not finding answers to the main questions, science has given us more information on the woman and progress has been made.
One of the more interesting developments are the results , stable isotope analysis of the woman’s teeth in 2017. It shows the woman had been born about 1930, plus or minus four years. Aldo this analysis shows she was born near Nuremberg, Germany, but had moved to France or the France–Germany border as a child.
These findings supported earlier analysis of the woman’s handwriting, which speculated that she had been educated in France or a neighboring country.
Other DNA analysis shows common findings and suggests she came originally from France or Germany. Still, many hoped that the DNA analysis would be able to snyc her to a relative or other bloodline.
In such a mysterious case, there are several theories concerning who this woman was.
The first is that she was involved in espionage.
Initially, many believed her to have been an Israeli spy, with Mossad known to have been active in Norway in the 1970s. NowThis is now viewed as less likely, since when her DNA profile was released, it showed she was likely of European descent. Others think she might have been working for a radical left-wing group.
The second theory is that she was a sex worker. People who believe this point out she travelled and carried multiple wigs which could have been at her client’s request. She was also seen with several different men. Did she try and expose one client and he murdered her? It’s certainly possible.
One other theory is that the Isdal Woman was a victim of a religious cult. This theory is based on the fact that the woman was found with several small bottles containing a liquid that was later identified as a form of gasoline. This led some to believe that the woman had been involved in a cult ritual.
Another theory is that the Isdal Woman was a victim of a contract killing. This theory is based on the fact that the woman had been found with a large amount of cash and several fake passports, which suggest that she might have been involved in some sort of illegal activity. It is also possible that she had been working as an informant or a spy and that her death was the result of a contract killing.
Finally, some have suggested that the Isdal Woman’s death was indeed a suicide. This theory is based on a note found in her suitcase, which references pills. This led some to believe that the woman had planned her own death and that she had intended to take a large number of pills in order to end her life.
Some also suggest that she suffered from mental illness. People point out her codes were pretty easy to crack. Also, she might have been suffering from paranoia, and that would explain the ids and the wigs.
Let’s hope someday we discover who this woman was, what she did for a living and maybe that will help solve the questions around her death.
