Operation Identify Me: Interpol Solves 31-Year-Old Cold Case of British Woman
In a breakthrough for international law enforcement, British-born Rita Roberts has been identified through Operation Identify Me, a joint European police appeal led by Interpol, 31 years after her body was discovered in an Antwerp river. This case underscores the critical work of Interpol's DNA unit in bringing closure to families of murder victims whose names may remain unknown for decades.
The Discovery and Initial Investigation
In June 1992, the body of Rita Roberts was found floating against the grate of a water treatment plant in the Groot Schijn River, near Antwerp's docklands and main arena. Belgian police suspected murder but were unable to identify her, with a tattoo of a black rose with green leaves and initials on her left arm serving as the only clue. Without her name, leads on her killer stalled, leaving the case in limbo for nearly 30 years.
It wasn't until Dutch police recognised a pattern in their own cold cases—many involving unidentified women, like Roberts, who had been murdered or died in suspicious circumstances—that a cross-border approach was initiated. They suspected these victims might be foreign nationals, possibly involved in human trafficking or with families abroad unaware of their disappearance.
The Role of Interpol and Operation Identify Me
Dutch authorities contacted Belgian and German forces, eventually reaching out to Interpol about an international appeal. This led to Susan Hitchin, who leads the forensic DNA unit at Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, France, taking on Roberts' case and others. In 2023, Interpol launched Operation Identify Me, publishing details of dozens of women across Europe to locate family members and revive stalled investigations.
Hitchin recalls the moment Roberts' family in the UK recognised her distinctive tattoo in news reports about the appeal. "It's one of those messages that sends a shiver down your spine, because you can see it's credible information—not just people trying to be helpful," she says. "You sit up and take notice." While investigators have yet to solve how Roberts was killed, her family, who had lost touch before her death, finally have answers after she moved to Antwerp at age 31.
The Broader Crisis of Unidentified Deaths
Roberts' case highlights a global crisis of unidentified deaths, with thousands of bodies discovered annually in Europe alone. The lack of identity complicates murder investigations, and Hitchin notes that the 47 cases Interpol has received from national police forces are just the tip of the iceberg. She expresses frustration over the slow progress in re-opening cold cases and improving data sharing between countries.
"When we hear from Rita Roberts' family what it means to people, knowing that someone's looking for their loved one, it brings back the frustrations about why more countries aren't participating and why this data sharing isn't systematic," Hitchin explains. "It's incredibly frustrating. We still have situations where a body is found over a border and the two countries don't share that data so the person goes unidentified."
Challenges and Successes in Identification
One poignant example is Angelique Hendrix, a woman reported missing in 1990, whose remains were identified only after 34 years. Her skull was found in 1991, just 6 miles from her Dutch home but across a river and the Belgian border. Her parents died without closure because Belgian law at the time prohibited sharing DNA data with Interpol's missing persons register.
As migration increases, Hitchin emphasises the need for better systems to share data on missing persons. "We can raise awareness and reach out through law enforcement channels, but ultimately it's down to the countries to have those policies in place," she says.
Vulnerable Victims and Ongoing Efforts
The women most at risk of dying anonymously are often migrants or those detached from family and society. A recent case on Interpol's appeal list, referred to as FR01, involves a woman whose skull and leg bones were found in a rubbish bag in Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb, in June 2021. Bone analysis indicates she was of African descent and about 20 years old, with French police suspecting murder but having no missing persons reports to identify her.
Raphaël Prieur, head of the Paris criminal investigation department, notes, "Someone who has friends and family will inevitably be reported missing. We don't like to generalise, but these cases tend to be people who are socially excluded, poorly integrated, and who lived in isolation. That's why it's even more important to take care of them."
A Mission for Dignity and Justice
For Hitchin, the fear of victims being forgotten drives her work. "Sadly, this the killing of women by men is not going away, but what we can do is send out a message to society that we do care, that all lives are valuable and we will do what we can to acknowledge these women, even if they have become marginalised and fallen through the cracks in society," she says. "We want to at least be able to give them their names back. We want to give them back that dignity, even in death."
