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The Woman Without A Face

skunk

skunk

macrumors G4
Original poster
Jun 29, 2002
11,759
6,109
Republic of Ukistan
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...er-creates-phantom-serial-killer-1655375.html
DNA blunder creates phantom serial killer
Police admit they wasted 15 years hunting for the 'Woman Without a Face'

By Tony Paterson in Berlin
Friday, 27 March 2009

She was a mysterious serial killer known as the "The Woman Without a Face" and detectives across Europe spent more than 15 years doing their utmost to bring her to justice for at least six brutal murders and a string of break-ins. Yesterday, however, they were forced to admit that she probably didn't exist.

The only clues that "The Woman Without a Face" left behind at 40 different crime scenes were DNA traces. These were collected on cotton swabs, supplied to the police in a number of European countries. Now police investigators have established that in all probability the DNA had not been left by their quarry but by a woman working for the German medical company supplying the swabs, who had inadvertently contaminated them.

German police who had been leading the hunt said they had probably been involved in one of the longest and most perplexing wild goose chases in criminal history. "This is a very embarrassing story," admitted police spokesman Josef Schneider.

Doubts about the 15-year investigation began after French police tried to identify the charred body of a male asylum-seeker. When they took the DNA, they were astounded to discover it matched that of the mystery woman. "This aroused suspicions that it was the materials themselves which were contaminated," said an official at the German state prosecutors.

The long trail supposedly left by "The Woman Without a Face" started in May 1993 after police took DNA traces from the rim of a teacup found in the home of a 62-year-old German woman who had been strangled with a length of wire, taken from a bunch of flowers found in her sitting room.

The same female DNA trace kept resurfacing at crime scenes across Germany and Europe. Police were so baffled that they took DNA samples from more than 3,000 homeless women drug users who had a record of serious crime. They remained stumped.

But "The Woman Without a Face" showed no sign of stopping. In 2007, Michele Kiesewetter, a 22-year-old German policewoman was shot dead in her BMW patrol car in the city of Heilbronn. Again the DNA traces matched those of the mystery woman.

Eventually the authorities put out a €3m reward, saying that the reason the woman left no other traces was because she wore gloves.

Police have now launched an investigation into the methods used in the production of cotton swabs in an attempt to establish exactly how they were contaminated.​
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Oops!
 
Great story :). It's amazing how easy it is to contaminate things with DNA, bacteria, etc etc. Certainly not something for the German Medical Supply company worker to put on the C.V. :D!

This does show a complete lack of quality control both at the level of the company and with the forensics team(s) not running sufficient negative controls. Shamefully neglectful at both ends and something that undermines the public confidence in such evidence.

p.s. Does the €3m get awarded now she's been identified ;)?
 
I feel like (particularly in America) this could spur some kind of upwelling of felons convicted by DNA whose lawyers want to try to counter the evidence. :eek:
 
Love it! Couldn't have written a better story.

But after 15 years ... either the French are using some really old swabs or the same employee was contaminating them for years!
 
If ever this were appropriate, it's now:
 

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i followed that story for a while. it's hilarious (aside of the fact that there are real crimes and real victims).

I hope they women goes public and becomes a youtube star or something like that. this story needs to be in the media for a while to highlight the failure in good laboratory practices.
 
Rt&Dzine said:
But after 15 years ... either the French are using some really old swabs or the same employee was contaminating them for years!
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This part doesn't make sense. Fifteen years is a long time for either to have occurred.

MyDesktopBroke said:
The women who contaminated the swaps is actually the killer!!
velocityg4 said:
She may be the most diabolical they have come across. Contaminating swabs obviously unrelated so they can never pin it on her.
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I had the same thought.

Wouldn't that be a story.
 
sushi said:
I had the same thought.

Wouldn't that be a story.
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This is what I thought about, too, when I heard about it. The woman could have done anything she wanted (in fact there were many more cases where this DNA was found like broken garden houses, which had the police already wonder how these could fit together) and the DNA couldn't have been used as a proof.

There was another case where someone stole jewels from a mall in Berlin. The police found the DNA and arrested two brothers from which this DNA originated. Problem is, these were identical twinks, so both have the same DNA (on the level that can be used for criminal investigation). As the police cannot say which of the brothers did it, or if it were both (most probably), the proof isn't sufficient, so they had to let them go, although it's clear that it's at least one of them. Of course, they're still looking for other proof...

More info about the above case: the company who made the swabs says, they never said that their product could be used for DNA sampling. It's not clear at the moment whose fault this is.
 
Veldek said:
More info about the above case: the company who made the swabs says, they never said that their product could be used for DNA sampling. It's not clear at the moment whose fault this is.
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If that's true, the whole thing is even more bizarre. What are the odds of all these various police departments using swabs that aren't even qualified for DNA sampling?
 
Rt&Dzine said:
If that's true, the whole thing is even more bizarre. What are the odds of all these various police departments using swabs that aren't even qualified for DNA sampling?
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Hadn't even thought about this fact. Maybe they have a central purchasing office?

This story gets weirder all the time.
 
sushi said:
Maybe they have a central purchasing office?
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For various police departments throughout Europe? Seems unlikely. Maybe the swab company advertised the swabs for police work, but is now trying to wrangle out of their liability on a technicality. Something like, "we never stated they were for DNA collection, we meant that they were suitable for cleaning police officers' ears."
 
Rt&Dzine said:
For various police departments throughout Europe? Seems unlikely.
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Agree.

But when government entities are involved you never know. :)

Rt&Dzine said:
Maybe the swab company advertised the swabs for police work, but is now trying to wrangle out of their liability on a technicality. Something like, "we never stated they were for DNA collection, we meant that they were suitable for cleaning police officers' ears."
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Interesting possibility.
 
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