
The Isdalen mystery - radagast
https://www.nrk.no/dokumentar/xl/the-isdalen-mystery-1.13249066
======
lb1lf
I am too young to remember this first-hand, but my parents were studying at
the University of Bergen at the time; they vividly remember the case -
unidentified bodies being exceedingly rare in Norway, this was the #1
conversational item for weeks, if not months.

Lots and lots of theories as to her origins and the purpose of her tour of
Norway not to mention the question of who killed her, and why.

General consensus at the time was (at least in my parents' circles) was that
it was too elaborate to have been a suicide - many thought she'd been in the
employ of some Warsaw pact intelligence service, possibly being killed by
associates after some falling out or the other. After all, if our counter-
intelligence had gotten hold of her, they'd simply lock her up or deport her -
or, if you are of a more sinister disposition, disappear her.

Anyway - all just conjecture and guesswork; the idea was just to write a short
comment to suggest that this case is very special by Norwegian standards -
then I got a bit carried away...

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mwidell
Reminds me of the Tamam Shud Case
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamam_Shud_case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamam_Shud_case)

~~~
tyingq
Hmm. Interesting. Both bodies had brands / tags removed from the clothing.
Both had "secret codes" on them. Both had left suitcases in a local transit
station, again, with labels / brands removed.

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olalonde
There are some interesting theories and discussions about the case on the
/r/UnresolvedMysteries subreddit[0]. My favorite one is that she might have
been part of a check scams league[1].

[0]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/search?q=isdal&...](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/search?q=isdal&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all)

[1]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/3anykc...](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/3anykc/the_woman_from_nowhere/csjsfy1/)

~~~
robert_h
Interesting. Also search for Isdalen
[https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/search?q=isdale...](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/search?q=isdalen&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all)

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iffycan
scree: a mass of small loose stones that form or cover a slope on a mountain

~~~
creeble
Thanks!

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nl
There appears to be a follow-up story, but it is in Norwegian only:
[https://www.nrk.no/dokumentar/xl/er-dette-
isdalskvinna_-1.13...](https://www.nrk.no/dokumentar/xl/er-dette-
isdalskvinna_-1.13137112)

~~~
mgv11
It is just interviews of the people who worked at the hotel at the time the
lady was there. They also got multiple drawings of the lady done, which they
showed to these people who remember her. The drawings are not 100% according
to the witnesses, but good enough they say. Must have made quite an impact the
lady and the event since they remember all that still.

------
privong
The wikipedia page has some additional information not covered in this story:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isdal_Woman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isdal_Woman)

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anotheryou
Spoiler: "until now" means just some new media thing about it, no news

~~~
emilga
On the contrary! Here are some of the recent developments in the case:

\- A brand new police-sketch of her face (after interviewing witnesses) aiming
for photo realism. (As opposed to the sketch from the 70's which is more
stylistic in nature.)

\- Handwriting analysis of her diary, itineraries, etc. to narrow down where
she could've been educated.

\- A complete DNA profile from samples of her internal organs. (Samples were
previously thought missing, but have recently been rediscovered.)

\- Her teeth (also previously thought missing) have been sent for isotope
analysis to narrow down her geographic area of origin. Her dental work is also
being studied to match repair methods with country.

~~~
cure
you mean teeth?

~~~
emilga
Yes! :)

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Shivetya
Sadly it takes sensational stories like this get notice but in the US alone
more than a half million get reported each year with nearly eight thousand
missing at any one time

At least here they have a body. There are tens of thousands of other bodies
that cannot be identified in the US alone. So going forward it will probably
take genetic sampling at birth so that everyone can be identified or every set
of remains can be. How much of society trusts government to do only that?

~~~
pavel_lishin
> _So going forward it will probably take genetic sampling at birth so that
> everyone can be identified or every set of remains can be._

How many people are reported missing is irrelevant in this discussion; a
better question is, how many unidentified bodies are found in the United
States every year?

~~~
ptaipale
Yeah. I was once reported missing (by my mother) to the police because I
didn't arrive from the big city in the bus she expected. I had just chosen the
next one, two hours later.

I was 20 at the time and serving in the army. There I was actually leading
company-strength motor marches.

Talk about overly worried parents.

As to your question, a quick Google arrives at a story claiming the number is
4,400:

 _" U.S. medical examiner and coroners' offices receive an estimated 4,400
unidentified human bodies every year, according to the first national census
of medical-legal death investigations, "Medical Examiners and Coroners'
Offices, 2004." Of these, about 1,000 are still unidentified after one year,
and 600 are buried or cremated."_

[http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/07/07/11/unidentified-
hum...](http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/07/07/11/unidentified-human-
remains-how-many-are-there-in-the-us-what-happens-to-them.htm)

~~~
13of40
I get the feeling that a big slice of that remaining 1000 still wouldn't be
identified even if they were genetically sampling at birth. Simply because the
kind of person who ends up as an unidentified body in the U.S. is less likely
to start out being born in a hospital, or being born in the U.S. at all.

~~~
ptaipale
Sure, but that's still a human tragedy - there are probably people out there
who would like to know that their loved one has deceased.

