The unknown “woman with the flower tattoo”, whose body was found on a quay on the Scheldt River in Antwerp in 1992, has been identified more than three decades later thanks to an Interpol investigation. This is Rita Roberts, a 31-year-old British woman who was murdered while she was playing sports.
Identification has been possible thanks to the striking tattoo he had on his left arm, which until now had not been useful in identifying his identity. Now it has been possible thanks to the international dissemination by Interpol, with the collaboration of the police of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, of around twenty unsolved cases.
A relative of the victim recognized the details of the tattoo (a black flower with green leaves) on a television news program and contacted the British police. Roberts last contacted his family through a postcard he sent in May 1992, after moving from Cardiff to Antwerp.
Most of the cases that are being publicized involve women whose forensic evidence has shown that they were murdered, such as the case of Rita Roberts.
The family said that although the news was difficult to process, they were grateful to know what his tragic fate had been. “This cross-border collaboration has given the missing girl back her identity and allowed the family to know that she is at peace,” the family said in a statement. Jürgen Stock, secretary general of Interpol, said the case highlights the need to connect police forces around the world.
