Polish authorities are hoping to crack a 16-year-old murder mystery after an American DNA firm created a facial reconstruction of the victim, whose headless body was discovered in northern Poland.
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In April 2009, members of a local tourist club were hiking near the village of Drzewina, about 35 kilometers from Gdańsk, when they came across a black garbage bag partially submerged in a pond and wrapped in a chain.
When they pulled it ashore, they discovered the dismembered body of a woman.
Police quickly launched an investigation, but with no head, arms or legs, and with a patch of skin bearing either a tattoo or birthmark having been removed from the torso, little could be determined beyond the woman’s gender.
Despite numerous investigative efforts, including interviews with potential witnesses and the collection of biological evidence, the case went cold, and by December 2009, the investigation was shelved.
However, in November last year, investigators reopened the case after American company Parabon NanoLabs, which specializes in DNA phenotyping to predict the appearance and origin of a victim based on biological material secured at the crime scene, led to the creation of a portrait of the woman.
Now making the photo available to the public, Lieutenant Anna Banaszewska-Jaszczyk from the Provincial Police Headquarters in Gdańsk said: “These are groundbreaking findings.
“We appeal to people who have information on this case, who for some reason have not yet come forward, or who recognize the woman shown in the portrait, to pass this information on to investigators.
“We guarantee full anonymity to anyone who provides information on the identity of the victim, as well as the perpetrator of the murder.
“Every clue may prove crucial to solving this case and may lead to its resolution.”
