Two Belgian suspected murder victims added to 'Identify Me' project

Two cold cases of unidentified women in Belgium, believed to have been the victims of murder, have been added to a Europe-wide project, Operation Identify Me.

Identify Me was launched in May 2023 by the Belgian, German and Dutch police, with the support of Interpol, to identify the bodies of anonymous women whose circumstances of death were unclear.

The French, Italian and Spanish police have now joined the operation, bringing the total number of cases that remain unsolved to 46.

Some 25 new cases have recently been added to the database, two of which are Belgian - one dating back to 2010 and the other more recently in 2022.

The first new Belgian case concerns a woman between the ages of 60 and 80, found on 28 July 2010 in the river Meuse, near Quai Godefroid Khurt in Liège.

She was 1m53 tall, with grey hair and blue eyes. She was found wearing a short black-checked jacket, a green T-shirt, a white top, blue-grey trousers and light-coloured leather sandals.

She was also in possession of distinctive objects, including a wooden walking stick, a Rodania watch, a gold wedding ring and a silver pendant depicting an Asian figure.

The second case concerns the body of a woman between the ages of 60 and 70, found in the port of Ostend on 6 August 2022.

She was 1.56m tall, with a normal build and brown hair dyed blond. She was wearing a dark T-shirt with ‘Ibiza’ written on it, blue denim trousers, a burgundy hoodie, black and white striped socks and size 38 black lace-up boots.

Operation Identify Me involves publishing information about the cases worldwide via a single website accessible to everyone.

Over the last year and a half of its existence, 22 international notices have been circulated, resulting in the collection of some 1,800 clues.

In Belgium, the operation led to the identification of British woman Rita Roberts 31 days after her body was found in Antwerp and two days after the operation was launched. Family members were able to identify her from a distinctive tattoo, contacting authorities after recognising it.

Six other cases proposed by the Belgian police in 2023 remain unsolved.

Operation Identify Me is supported by a video featuring several celebrities, including Belgian stars Axelle Red and Veerle Baetens.