In early June 1992, it is the beginning of summer in the Belgian city of Antwerp, and a walker discovers a body floating in the murky waters of the Groot Schijn river.
It’s a barren place, this little green corner surrounded by the industrial hustle and bustle of the city; Just meters away, cars speed along one of the busiest stretches of the city’s expressway, while in the foreground stands the imposing shadow of the Sports Palace, Antwerp’s equivalent of Wembley Arena.
There is also a water treatment plant here, and the body was washed up on a grate leading to the plant.
It quickly becomes clear that she – because it is obvious that she is a woman – has been the victim of a violent crime; She was stabbed multiple times, causing injuries to her back and neck, and she may have been in the water for some time.
But who is she?
Rita Roberts, from Cardiff, was found dead in a river in Belgium more than three decades ago. She was recently identified thanks to her flower tattoo and an international campaign launched in May
The next day, June 4th, a short report documenting the discovery appeared in the pages of the Gazet van Antwerpen newspaper. It says that nothing was found anywhere on the body that could lead to identification.
All investigators seem to know about this anonymous victim is her appearance.
She is between 30 and 45 years old, 1.7 meters tall and has dark hair that reaches past her shoulders.
Her clothing is also distinctive: DAG sneakers, a T-shirt with the inscription “SPLINTER,” dark blue Adidas jogging pants and a pink terry cloth band in her hair. But what stands out most is the tattoo on her left forearm.
This tattoo is very distinctive and features a black flower with green leaves; Underneath the flower is a decorative scroll with the letters “R’Nick.”
With a tattoo as unique as this, surely someone can identify this unknown victim of the most violent of crimes? But no, at least not back in 1992.
Her killer is never found, nor is her identity. Although details about her clothing and tattoo have been released, the victim remains anonymous – apparently unmissed.
Buried in an unmarked grave, the woman with the flower tattoo becomes one of the lost – the scant details of her identity added to the long list of nameless crime victims that litter every country.
And there, in that grave without a memorial stone, she might have lain for many more years if it hadn’t been for the most extraordinary breakthrough.
Rita Roberts’ flower tattoo helped police identify her body. A request for information related to 22 unsolved cold cases in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany
Last week, 31 years after that terrible morning in June 1992, the mysterious woman with the flower tattoo was identified.
She is Rita Roberts, a 31-year-old who comes not from Belgium but from Cardiff, 380 miles away.
And now, after speaking exclusively to her shocked and grieving family, the Mail can for the first time piece together the disturbing backstory of Rita’s life, which ended so violently hundreds of miles from home.
It turned out that Rita, who was no stranger to the police and the courts, was on the run when she was killed.
She had fled to mainland Europe after a feud in the seedy area of Cardiff where she had been living, where she had become involved in arson, prostitution, theft and extortion, to name just a few of the offenses in her short Life.
But for her family, who had spent 31 years – the equivalent of a lifetime – searching for the “passionate, loving and free-spirited” young woman, this identification brought both relief and sadness.
An extraordinary story has emerged in Cardiff about the family who endured a “torturous search” for a loved one who simply vanished into thin air.
They roamed Britain and Europe looking for her. At one point they feared she had died in the 1992 Dutch airline disaster, when a Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed into an apartment block in Amsterdam, killing 43 people.
Speaking to the Mail on Friday, Rita’s younger brother Jason, 54, said he had never given up hope of finding his big sister, who he described as a “female Peter Pan, full of life and laughter”.
Jason had been to Holland and Belgium twice to look for Rita and met with police in both countries, but said they were not interested in helping.
“I was blocked the whole time – they just referred me to the Salvation Army and the police in the UK,” he says with bitter regret.
“I think we all knew something terrible had happened. “Rita always sent my mother birthday and Christmas cards.”
Rita Roberts’ body was found in the murky waters of the Groot Schijn river in early June 1992
When the cards stopped, the fear began for Rita’s family.
The breakthrough in the case came in May this year, when Belgian, Dutch and German police filed an appeal together with Interpol. This ongoing appeal, Operation Identify Me, aimed to identify 22 women believed to have been murdered.
It was the first time the international police group went public with a list seeking information about unidentified bodies from so-called “black notices” that typically only circulated internally within the Interpol police network around the world.
It bore fruit almost immediately. Back in the UK, in County Durham, Rita’s younger sister Donna, 61, saw a report on the appeal and recognized the description of her missing sister’s tattoo.
The family traveled to Belgium to meet with investigators and asked the Antwerp family court to change the death certificate of the woman with the flower tattoo to finally give her a name. And last week that request was confirmed.
When it was announced that Rita had been identified, her family issued a statement.
“The news was shocking and heartbreaking,” they said. “Our passionate, loving and free-spirited sister was cruelly taken away. “There are no words to truly express the grief we felt then and still feel today.”
About Rita herself they said: “Rita was a beautiful person who loved traveling.” She loved her family, especially her nephews and nieces, and always wanted to have a family of her own.
“She had the ability to light up a room and wherever she went, she was the life and soul of the party. “We hope she is at peace where she is now.”
Who was Rita Roberts? Born in October 1960, Rita’s birth certificate bears only the name of her mother Eirlys, a woman who went to her grave in 2001 at the age of 68 never knowing what had happened to her eldest child.
Rita’s father was Malta-born Joseph Cordina, a fisherman who had started a new life in Wales, married twice – although never to Eirlys – and had numerous other children.
Tragically, Joseph also died without ever knowing what happened to Rita. Her sister Donna was born in 1962, her brother Anthony in 1964 and then Jason in 1969. Raised by a single mother, her childhood couldn’t have been easy.
Grangetown, where they grew up with their father, extended family and half-siblings, is a close-knit community, albeit a once-downtrodden corner of Cardiff that was known for years for crime and violence.
And for young Rita Roberts, trouble was never far away. Court reports from February 1983, when Rita was 22, to a few months before her disappearance detail a life often spent on the wrong side of the tracks.
Facing charges of extortion and theft, her defense lawyer told the court: “She was involved in prostitution, drink and drugs from a young age and it was perhaps inevitable that she would become involved in a serious case.”
Rita’s last appearance before Cardiff magistrates came in 1991, when she was accused of setting fire to a house in the city with intent to endanger the lives of seven people.
Her brother Jason, now a father of three and a gaming software developer, says the court appearance was the result of a vendetta between rival families that culminated in a drunken Rita throwing fireworks through an open window.
Rita had lived in Amsterdam and Belgium in her twenties. What is remarkable, says Jason, is that she had already been to Antwerp, where she had to endure a period of forced prostitution from which she was rescued
The case, says Jason, was thrown out of court, but the vendetta simmered, leading to more trouble and another warrant for Rita’s arrest.
Since Rita knew that she was threatened with a prison sentence, she fled to Belgium with her sister Donna’s passport, he says. Rita had lived in Amsterdam and Belgium in her twenties. What is remarkable, says Jason, is that she had already been to Antwerp, where she had to endure a period of forced prostitution, from which she was rescued by her family.
“She was assigned to work on the game but managed to get a message to us in Cardiff,” says Jason. “Our brother Tony went to bring her back. She was in terrible condition, half-starved. It took three months of feeding her before she began to recover.’
Rita left Cardiff for the last time in February 1992 – four months before her body was found.
The last her family heard from her was a postcard she received in May of this year.
“My mother knew we had lost her,” says Jason.
“It was never talked about, but I could see it in her eyes.”
Then, in October 1992, the worst aviation disaster in the Netherlands occurred when an El Al jumbo jet crashed into an 11-story apartment block in the Amsterdam suburb of Bijlmermeer on a Sunday evening.
Since her family knew that Rita had connections in the Netherlands, they feared the worst.
“We thought she was in Belgium, Holland or Germany and hoped she would make a new life for herself,” says Jason. “Then the plane flew into a high-rise building and killed so many people.” . There were unidentified bodies: we thought one of them might have been Rita.’
Now, of course, he knows that Rita had actually died across the border in Antwerp four months before the crash.
Heartbreakingly, the extended family mourned Rita’s half-sister Caroline, who died of cancer in June this year, upon learning that the body found in a river in Antwerp was Rita.
“It was the tattoo that identified her,” says Jason. “As far as I know, DNA testing has never been done.
“I remember Rita getting a tattoo – it was pretty crudely drawn. But my sister Donna remembered the rose tattoo; She insisted, so we knew it was Rita.’
Jason’s grief and regret is shared by the rest of this large family with different last names but deep family ties. “Even though we have different mothers, we are one family,” explains Jason. “We can fight among ourselves, but as a family we stick together. If anyone or anything goes against the family, we come together.”
A photo released by Belgian police of the shoes Rita Roberts was wearing when she died
His half-sister Joanne Bryan agrees. “Rita and I were half-sisters, but we were very close,” she remembers. “I always saw her as my sister. She was the best – she was a nice girl, a good girl. And very pretty.
“I was 17 when she disappeared and that was a long time ago. But we kept looking – you never give up hope when it comes to family.”
Another relative, who did not want to be named, said: “We always feared the worst when she didn’t send her mother a birthday card and then there were no Christmas cards.” For Rita, family was everything. “She was a lovely girl who would do anything for anyone.”
So does the revelation that Rita has been dead all these years bring any relief?
Jason says, “It brought some closure for me.” When I saw the photo of her, it brought back a lot of fond memories.
“But when I was told she had been murdered all those years ago, I was at a loss for words.
“Our mother died, but she is the one I feel sorry for.” She suffered in silence for so long. We expected Rita to show up for years, and I think we all hoped that she had built a new life for herself and was moving on. You don’t like to think bad thoughts.’
As this family finally comes to terms with their loss, the fact remains that what happened to Rita is far from being resolved. Who killed her and why?
Belgian authorities are asking the public for any information about Rita and the circumstances of her death.
The clothes Rita Roberts was wearing when her body was discovered in 1992
And of course there are the other 21 female victims of the Interpol campaign who are still unknown.
This is a pain that only a family that has suffered such a loss can understand.
This anguish was made clear by Rita’s sister-in-law, Paulette Roberts, who wrote on Facebook that while the family struggles with the pain of losing Rita, “we are also compelled to raise awareness for 21 other unidentified women, who were like Rita.” Waiting to be recognized and reunited with their families.
“Their stories remain shrouded in anonymity and it is our collective responsibility to shed light on their plight.”
“We ask for your help by sharing a post.” [about Operation Identify Me] in your networks.
“Not only will you honor Rita’s memory, but you will also contribute to the possible reunification of other families who are desperately searching for their loved ones.”
So far, Rita has been identified first, although 1,250 tips have already been received about the other cold cases.
Meanwhile, Rita’s family plans to finally bring her back to Cardiff.
Sister Joanne says: “Rita will be taken home and buried. “She was loved – you don’t leave your loved ones behind.”