It took 31 years to get her name back: “The Woman with the Tattooed Flower,” whose body was found in a river in Antwerp, was a British woman who left for Belgium in 1992, Interpol said on Tuesday.
According to a press release from the Lyon-based International Organization for Police Cooperation, Rita Roberts was identified by a “black flower on her left forearm with green leaves on it and the inscription ‘R’Nick’ underneath.” .
“A family member in the UK recognized the tattoo in the media and notified Interpol and the Belgian authorities via the Identify Me website,” she explains.
This unique campaign, launched by Interpol in May, calls on the general public to help identify the bodies of 22 women found over several decades in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands – including that of Rita Roberts – and to advance the investigation into these “unsolved cases.” .
Specifically, Interpol publishes on its website and social networks a selection of information previously reserved for internal use and included in its “black notices” dedicated to the identification of human remains.
Almost “1,250 donations from the public” have already been collected, but Rita Roberts is the first to be identified thanks to this program.
Her relatives then traveled to Belgium and “officially identified” her, Interpol said.
“Turn the page”
“It broke our hearts. Our passionate, loving and free-spirited sister was cruelly taken from us. There are no words to express the grief we felt then and that we still feel today,” his family wrote in a statement sent by British police, requesting anonymity.
“Although the news was extremely difficult to accept, we are very grateful to learn what happened to Rita,” she continued. “She was solar and wherever she went, she was the soul and life itself. We hope that wherever she is today, she is at peace.”
The young woman left Cardiff for Antwerp in February 1992. According to Belgian police, the last sign of life her family received was a postcard dated May 6th. She was 31 years old at the time.
On June 3rd, a body was recovered from the river Het Groot Schijn. According to the Belgian police, the victim “died a violent death.” His tattoo had attracted attention, but nothing had allowed him to be identified.
“After 31 years, a murdered, unidentified woman was able to regain her identity and her family was able to move on,” concluded Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock.
Now the Belgian authorities are calling on the public to clarify the circumstances of his death.
Rita Roberts, strongly built and about 1.70 m tall, was wearing a dark blue, mauve and light green T-shirt, sports trousers and hiking boots, Belgian police said, hoping to revive the memories of those who had previously met her She died.
According to investigators, she would have stayed in the Netherlands.
Any information can be provided “via a form on the Interpol website,” the press release said.