Mystery Unsolved Inc True Crime

The Enigmatic Death of the Isdal Woman

This week on Mystery Unsolved True Crime we cover the case of the Isdal Woman. One of the most mysterious cold cases of all time and I know I say that a lot but not only are the culprits suspicious but the identity of the woman itself is a factor here.

Reynard relays the information, "On November 29th, 1970 in the Isdalen Valley near Bergen, Norway a family on a Sunday hike discovered the body of a woman wedged between large rocks. One of the first people on the scene and the last one living, police lawyer Carl Halvor Aas remembers the first thing they noticed was the very strong scent of burnt flesh. The body was severely burnt and the arms were in a boxer position in the air common in burned bodies. While the front of the body, including her face was burned beyond recognition, the back side was bizarrely not burned. The officers were unable to tell how long she had been there or when she'd died. The woman was believed to be about five feet and four point five inches tall, aged between twenty-five and thirty years old."

"Items recovered from the body and scene included jewelry, a broken umbrella, bottles, a watch, remnants of nylon stockings, and rubber boots. However, oddly, the jewelry and watch were not found on the body but rather, beside it as if they had been placed there. All of the identifying labels on her clothes had been removed. Even the bottles found with the body had their labels rubbed off, with no clues as to her identity. The police began looking for a witness who might be able to identify her. She is referred to as the Isdal Woman."

"An autopsy of the body discovered a large amount of fenema, a sleeping pill, in her stomach. Around fifty to seventy pills. Her blood stream had not fully absorbed them before her death. They also found smoke particles in her lungs which denotes that she was still alive while she burned. Petrol was also found at the scene near her body and it was evident that it was utilized in the burning. There was also a high level of carbon monoxide in her system, a strange bruise on the right side of her neck was also discovered. After the autopsy, the death was determined to be a probable suicide due to the sleeping pills and the carbon monoxide from the fire."

"In fact, the spot where she was found was the scene of many suicides in the Middle Ages and also where some unfortunate hikers fell to their death in the 1960s thus earning the title Death Valley from locals. The site was remote, difficult to clime and definitely not a hiking path."

"Considering the curious state of the crime scene, it's understandable to be skeptical of the ruling that it was a suicide. But before we dig into that let's first provide some context by attempting to answer one question. Who was this woman? The first major clue came three days after the body was discovered when two suitcases were found at the train station in Bergen. Inside the suitcases was a pair of non-prescription glasses with a fingerprint on the lens. The fingerprint was a match to the Isdal Woman effectively linking the suitcases and all their contents to her, which is important since the suitcases contained several mysterious items."

"Inside the suitcases were clothes, wigs, a comb, hair brush, make-up, money from Germany and Norway as well as coins from Belgium, Switzerland and the U.K. A tube of eczema cream was also found in the suitcase but the prescription label that would indicate the patient and prescribing doctor had been removed. The labels of the make-up had also been removed and the efforts to identify the brands failed. Beyond these items, there was one item that seemed particularly promising if not strange, to the police. A notepad with a code written in blue ink. A code that could not be cracked by the police...at first. But, we'll get to that in a bit."

"The second major clue also came from the suitcase and was a plastic bag from a shoe store about a hundred and thirty miles away in Stavanger, Norway. Rolf Rørtvedt, the store owner's son described blue celebrity boots he sold to a woman about three weeks prior. The boots matched the ones found at the scene."