A mysterious tattoo, a black flower tattooed on the left forearm, has allowed the identification of the British Rita Roberts 31 years after her disappearance.
Interpol has announced that a body found in a river in Antwerp in 1992 belonged to the British woman.
It was a relative of his who saw the tattoo on a website called ‘Identify Me’: “A member of his family in the United Kingdom recognized the tattoo and notified Interpol,” explains a statement from Interpol, which is based in the French city of Lyon.
Rita Roberts could be identified thanks to a “black flower tattooed on her left forearm, with green leaves and the word ‘R Nick’ inscribed underneath,” adds the international police cooperation organization.
This unprecedented campaign, launched by Interpol in May, appeals to the general public to help identify the bodies of 22 women recovered over several decades in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands (including that of Rita Roberts) and thus move forward in investigations into these unsolved cases.
Interpol publishes on its website and social networks a selection of information, until then reserved for internal use, dedicated to the identification of human remains.
Nearly “1,250 contributions from the public” have already been collected, but Rita Roberts is the first to be identified thanks to the program.
Her relatives moved to Belgium and “formally identified her,” Interpol says.
The young woman had left Cardiff for Antwerp in February 1992. The last sign of life received by her family is a postcard dated May 6, according to the Belgian police. She was then 31 years old.
On June 3, a body was found in the Het Groot Schijn river. The victim, according to the Belgian police, “died by violent death.”
His tattoo attracted attention, but nothing allowed him to be identified.
“After 31 years, a murdered, unidentified woman was able to recover her identity and her family can move on,” highlights Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock.