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| Original Police notes in internal police bulletin. |
Police report (case description published in an internal police news bulletin) describe Isdal woman as (dec. 1st 1970) - Entrance no 1058:
"Finding of an unknown female corpse": "Sunday November 29th 1.15PM the corpse of a young female is found at Isdalen close to Bergen. The following description is given: About 25-30 years, 164cm tall, slender attractive build, brown-black hair, small round face, brown eyes, small ears, marked spacing between the two foremost teeth in upper jaw. These were covered in gold on the back. Enamel-like compound of the front and many gold crown on molars. She wore: Blue knitted jacket, black outer trousers, large checkered green and blue shawl made from woollen fabric, semi-long blue rubber boots with white upper rim, drawstrings in front. She had in her possession a blue nylon ladies umbrella. On her arm she had a sports watch made of steel of the brand "SOLO". In her ears she had round gold filled ear clips."
The next day, dec. 2nd 1970, a new post was made. This post is entrance no: 1066:
"Amendment to C-1058": "Corpse has been subjected to strong heat, all clothing is completely or partially burnt. Corpse also has significant burn damage. Correction to description: About 30-40 years, 164 cm tall, slender, attractive built, brown eyes, small round face, small ears, long brown-black hair with ponytail. Around Ponytail is a headband; dark blue bottom colour with white and light blue star shaped drawings and flowers. Molars has preformed gold crowns that is normal in The East, and some places in south- and central America. 14 of the teeth has full or partial root canals, among these 2 wisdom teeth in the lower jaw. Marked spacing between the two foremost teeth in upper jaw. From remnants of clothes, one can conclude she was wearing the following: Assumed dark blue bubble jacket with belt, blue sweater, dark long insulated pants, black longs, black panties, blue (patterned) long sports socks. She had a dark fake leather hat with fur imitation. Blue rubber boots with white sole and white upper rim, drawstrings in front"
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| Guess NRK has the copytight. May have to remove if they ask. |
Police sketch (1970) / NRK - Missal sketch (2016)
Another thing I noticed is one witness that was shown the first set of Missal-drawings (2016), commented "her nose was pointier". Without it being explained in what way it was pointy. Had she said the same to a police sketch artist in 1970, he would most likely conclude the nose was pointing upwards, as that's the regular pointedness in northern Europe. I don't know how much schooling the original artist had, but I am not sure he was too mindful of details. It would be much more strange for him to conclude the nose was pointing downwards.
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| One of Missals vs 1970 |
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| Another one of Missals vs 1970 |
- Small rounder face
- Slightly narrow eyes
- Upward-pointing nose
2016 sketch
- Longer (more European shaped) face.
- Fuller lips
- Slightly narrow eyes.
- Downward pointing nose with a heavy "hump"
I don't know if any of the witnesses was directly involved with the 1970 drawing. I did read in an article on NRK or the newspaper "Bergens tidende" that police made the sketch based on the corpse, but artist could have read the witness statements unless sketch was made before witnesses came forth. The witnesses asked during Missal sketches, seem to agree this is a fairly accurate drawing (after first saying first sketch needed fuller lips and pointier nose).
I dont know if the collage of Missal sketches is a mix of "old" and "new" Missal sketches, or purely the latest ones. But it is evident that Police working from corpse felt the face was smaller and rounder than the Missal sketches are.
Body
Police description is consistent regarding body. Only other account describing her body that I have found, would be at least one witness describing her as having broad hips without being obese, and one stating "pretty legs".
Police does not say anything about abnormally wide hips, but indicate an attractive build. Picture of the burnt body shows obvious well trained thighs and legs in general on very a slender female. I would guess this much muscle on the thighs is somewhat abnormal, and worthy of a mention. The "wide hips without being obese and nice legs", is a strange description unless it is accurate.
If I'm not wrong, it came from a clerk at the shoe store she bought rubber boots. That should be a man that had seen quite a lot of legs and females in general, and a fairly good witness regarding female legs / body build.
The description is worthy of mentioning as long as there are no wide hips on the corpse. It opens the doors for a fair question: Did she carry anything around her waist / hips under her clothes?
Fingerprints
A complete set of fingerprints are shown obviously lifted from the burnt corpse. They had not been removed mechanically as some claim, and they have survived where her nose did not. The fire must have been more extreme in her face area than on her fingers, or the 1970 sketch artist did not interpret the corpse correctly (if indeed he did the sketch based on the actual corpse).
I would assume a police sketch based on an actual skull would be fairly true regarding placement of eyes relative to mouth, top of skull and jaw. I find it strange if the 1970 sketch is not pretty accurate in that regard, and the only explanation I can think of that would justify an artist not to be able to see the massive nose depicted by Missal based (solely / mainly) on witness accounts is if the fire had burned away not only flesh but also underlying tissue and more importantly cartilage.
I'm not going to post pictures of the body. Look elsewhere for that. Instead, I'm going to show the fingerprints lifted from the corpse. If nose and tissue and cartilage was destroyed, the fingers was remarkably well preserved.
Just as a side note, I would blame kids for handling my sunglasses like the ones depicted below obviously has been. You don't normally touch the glass like this.
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| Fingerprint card. |
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| Fingerprints on sunglasses in suitcase. |
Age
Police estimate female of 25-30 years on dec. 1st. The correction to 30-40 looks like it is made at the same time the dentist has done his analysis. If nothing else, this all could point to a very fit 40 year old. Or 30 for that matter (given original Police estimate was solely based on appearance of body.
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| X-rays of the teeth of Isdal woman from 1970. |
Wrist Watch
Police report describes a steel sports wrist watch branded "SOLO".I am no watch expert, but the little I could dig up seems to point to an inexpensive "noname" brand or "rebrand". Lots of "SOLO" wrist watches on eBay, but brand itself is not listed in any of the "Collectible watch brands" lists I have found. I found one at a collector online that claim it is French, but still no reference information. Whatever watch this is, it seems to me it is an anonymous choice. Or she could have fell for the brand mane itself. Solo. Alone. Single.
The only watch I found from earlier than 1970 (for sure, -and I didn't spend weeks looking) was a men's watch. It is stainless steel, marked as "dustproof", and has a "SOLO" brand plus one marking saying "SHOCKPROOF" and another saying (believe it or not) "FOREIGN", where any Swiss Made would have been branded exactly that. From the info I found, its mechanism is called "Lorsa P62", and it is described as being "of respectable" accuracy for its age.
The watch below can still be seen here: http://www.antiquesatlas.com/thevintagewristwatch/browse.php?code=as170a2510
I found references for the Lorsa P62 several places. It is a men's size mechanical insides, and might be French or actually Swiss. Of course I have no Idea what movement is in Isdalen womans watch, but it could be a reliable piece of mechanics even though the SOLO-name looks more like a multi branded design. Anyone better at watches should be able to dig up some more general info on this brand.
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| Mens SOLO watch 60s |
Umbrella
Seen in a picture of the corpse is an umbrella in the foreground leaning between rocks. It is upright (handle up) like as if it was placed there by her. You don't place your umbrella that way if it is raining or snowing. You also would find it easier to light a fire under an umbrella if there was rain.
It is not "the Norwegian way" to hike with umbrellas. One wears raincoats if hiking. She would have looked like a tourist bringing an umbrella into the Forrest.
Clothes
Her clothes are described pretty well for being almost completely destroyed by the fire. Most noticeable is the bubble trousers and the jacket with belt / waistband closure. This closure / belt is a known because the locking mechanism for the belt was found at the site of the corpse. It is visible on pictures (two round metal objects of about 1.5 inches diameter each.
The trousers described sounds more like something a Norwegian would wear if being stationary in winter time, and not something one wears to hike. But that could have been different in 1970.
Also, Norwegians would probably not hike in rubber boots. We would wear leather boots with heavy bottom soles. Again, her appearance is somewhat out of the ordinary. Would be easy to recognize her as a tourist (even if you couldn't see her face).
A small piece of clothing was also found after / upon moving the corpse. Her ponytail was held in place by a dark blue hairband with lighter blue and white star shapes/ flowers. No point trying to google that. Without seeing it, any connection to classical natinal colours or patterns would be wild guessing.
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