Your favourite unsolved mystery?

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

they couldn't handle the truth. It is the truth they are hiding from.

Sideshow Bob: You can't handle the truth! No truth-handler, you. BAH! I deride your truth-handling abilities.

Jennifer Fergate or Room 2805, this is one of the weirdest murders of all time IMO.

Who was she? Secret Agent, call girl, victim of a robbery?
Why had she no I.D., no clothes tags, nothing to identify her origin?
What happened to her clothes?
Was she Belgian? German? East European?
Why has nobody recognised her with all the activity on social media these days?
The shots that killed her were heard, but nobody saw the killer leaving a locked room?

The summary is below, but you can explore the room and a lot more about the case and try to help solve it here: https://www.vg.no/spesial/2017/plaza-english/

And there are a lot of photos about what she was wearing here: https://imgur.com/gallery/FfJbQ

Summary:

On May 31, 1995, at 10.44 p.m, a woman named Jennifer Fairgate (signature says Fergate) checked in to room 2805 at the Oslo Plaza Hotel in Norway. Her order also included another person named "Lois Fairgate". For unknown reasons, she was not asked to provide any form of identification at the time.

The receptionist present recalls a vague memory of her being alone at the time of her checking in. However, another receptionist is certain that she observed Jennifer standing in the reception area accompanied by a tall man between the age of 35 and 40 sometime during her stay. He's not been observed nor identified since.

According to members of the staff, Jennifer spoke English when making her initial booking. On May 31, when calling to say she would arrive later that day and be accompanied by another person, she spoke German, presumably without an accent.

On her check-in form, she claimed to live on a street called Rue de la Stehde in the village of Verlaine, Belgium. However, no such street exists, nor is the area code she wrote down the correct one. There was also no companies in Belgium named "Cerbis" (her stated employer) at the time.

Based on registrations from her keycard and eyewitness accounts from the housekeepers, it's certain that she was not present in her room between 12:34 a.m. on June 1 and 8:50 a.m. on June 2.

On June 2, she extends her stay until the following Sunday. At 8:06 p.m. she orders room service. The food is delivered at 8:23 p.m. This is the last time "Jennifer" is seen alive.

Between Thursday and Saturday, three attempts are made to get in touch with her via the room's television, asking her to come down to the reception because of missing payments. The last message was sent at 7:36 p.m. on June 3, which someone in the room confirmed to have read.

After being informed that there had been a "Do not disturb" sign on her door for two days, the hotel supervisor calls security to go check on her room.

At about 7:50 p.m. that day, Espen Næss, the hotel security, knocks on the door. Seconds later he hears a gunshot from inside the room. Believing that two people are staying there, he walks back down to the reception, notifies his manager and calls the police. At this point, the room is left unattended.

At 8:04 p.m, the security manager walks upstairs, decides to open the door ever so slightly and spots a woman laying on the bed inside the dark room. After getting no response and noticing a sour smell, he decides to wait outside for the police to arrive, which happends half an hour later.

The police finds "Jennifer" laying dead in her bed with a single gunshot wound to the forehead, and a 9mm Browning pistol in her right hand. Despite there being blood splatter all the way up to the ceiling, no blood was found on her hand, nor was there any trace of GSR on it.

A second shot was found to have entered through a pillow before penetrating the matress and ending up on the floor. A burn mark on the pillow showed that it had been flipped after the shot was fired.

The police found nothing at the scene to suggest who the mysterious woman might be, nor that anyone besides her had stayed there. Neither a handbag, credit cards, passports or keys were located and almost all the tags on her clothes were removed. Her only personal belonging was a man's perfume (Ungaro Pour L’Homme 1.), and all the fingerprints on it belonged to the victim.

The coroner determined that she was about 30 years old, not 21 as she claimed to be when checking in.

The gun in question, a 1990/91 9mm Browning produced in Herstal, Belgium, only had a partial serial number on it. Also found at the scene was a briefcase (Braun Buffel) containing nothing but 25 bullets. Another 7 bullets were found in the pistol's magazine.

Both the housekeepers and room service observed a single duvet on her bed. At the time of her death, two duvets were present on it. The investigators failed to retrieve any hairs or fluids from the bed. It was thrown away the next day.

Room service also claims to have seen a trolley case in her room, which led her to believe Jennifer was a flight attendant. No such trolley was found afterwards.

One housekeeper mentioned seeing a particularly nice pair of shoes in her closet when cleaning the room on Thursday morning. After Jennifer's death, the only pair of shoes found in her room was the ones she was wearing, and the housekeeper was certain that it wasn't the same ones she had seen earlier.

Based on the content in her stomach, the coroner determined that she must have eaten her food on the same day she was found dead, which happend almost 24 hours after she ordered it.

"Jennifer" attempted to make two phone calls during her stay. Neither of the two numbers were valid. Based on numbers similar to the ones she called, it's been suggested that she tried to call someone in Grâce-Hollogne or Seraing, both neighbouring municipalities of Verlaine.

Amongst the items on her desk was a plastic newspaper bag containing an edition of USA Today. The bag was addressed to room 2816, located on the opposite end of the hallfway from 2805. The investigators also found a fingerprint on the bag, which they were unable to identify at the time. A request for an international search was recently submitted through Interpol.

One of the guests, a Belgian man staying in room 2804, told the journalists that while checking out on that Saturday morning, the receptionist had told him that a woman was found dead across the hall from his room, several hours before the police were called to the scene.

Another guest claimed to have been woken up at night by loud banging noises coming from one of the nearby rooms. She also told the police about a foreign couple that had peaked her interest.

Numerous theories about Jennifer were being considered by the investigators at the time, including her being part of a failed drug operation, working for a secret intelligence agency, being a high-class escort or even the missing wife of Italian mobster Leoluca Bagarella.

The police recently opened her grave, hoping to find out where she came from or even who she might be. The results are currently pending.

Greybottle wrote: »

Jennifer Fergate or Room 2805, this is one of the weirdest murders of all time IMO.

Who was she? Secret Agent, call girl, victim of a robbery?
Why had she no I.D., no clothes tags, nothing to identify her origin?
What happened to her clothes?
Was she Belgian? German? East European?
Why has nobody recognised her with all the activity on social media these days?
The shots that killed her were heard, but nobody saw the killer leaving a locked room?

The summary is below, but you can explore the room and a lot more about the case and try to help solve it here: https://www.vg.no/spesial/2017/plaza-english/

And there are a lot of photos about what she was wearing here: https://imgur.com/gallery/FfJbQ

Summary:

On May 31, 1995, at 10.44 p.m, a woman named Jennifer Fairgate (signature says Fergate) checked in to room 2805 at the Oslo Plaza Hotel in Norway. Her order also included another person named "Lois Fairgate". For unknown reasons, she was not asked to provide any form of identification at the time.

The receptionist present recalls a vague memory of her being alone at the time of her checking in. However, another receptionist is certain that she observed Jennifer standing in the reception area accompanied by a tall man between the age of 35 and 40 sometime during her stay. He's not been observed nor identified since.

According to members of the staff, Jennifer spoke English when making her initial booking. On May 31, when calling to say she would arrive later that day and be accompanied by another person, she spoke German, presumably without an accent.

On her check-in form, she claimed to live on a street called Rue de la Stehde in the village of Verlaine, Belgium. However, no such street exists, nor is the area code she wrote down the correct one. There was also no companies in Belgium named "Cerbis" (her stated employer) at the time.

Based on registrations from her keycard and eyewitness accounts from the housekeepers, it's certain that she was not present in her room between 12:34 a.m. on June 1 and 8:50 a.m. on June 2.

On June 2, she extends her stay until the following Sunday. At 8:06 p.m. she orders room service. The food is delivered at 8:23 p.m. This is the last time "Jennifer" is seen alive.

Between Thursday and Saturday, three attempts are made to get in touch with her via the room's television, asking her to come down to the reception because of missing payments. The last message was sent at 7:36 p.m. on June 3, which someone in the room confirmed to have read.

After being informed that there had been a "Do not disturb" sign on her door for two days, the hotel supervisor calls security to go check on her room.

At about 7:50 p.m. that day, Espen Næss, the hotel security, knocks on the door. Seconds later he hears a gunshot from inside the room. Believing that two people are staying there, he walks back down to the reception, notifies his manager and calls the police. At this point, the room is left unattended.

At 8:04 p.m, the security manager walks upstairs, decides to open the door ever so slightly and spots a woman laying on the bed inside the dark room. After getting no response and noticing a sour smell, he decides to wait outside for the police to arrive, which happends half an hour later.

The police finds "Jennifer" laying dead in her bed with a single gunshot wound to the forehead, and a 9mm Browning pistol in her right hand. Despite there being blood splatter all the way up to the ceiling, no blood was found on her hand, nor was there any trace of GSR on it.

A second shot was found to have entered through a pillow before penetrating the matress and ending up on the floor. A burn mark on the pillow showed that it had been flipped after the shot was fired.

The police found nothing at the scene to suggest who the mysterious woman might be, nor that anyone besides her had stayed there. Neither a handbag, credit cards, passports or keys were located and almost all the tags on her clothes were removed. Her only personal belonging was a man's perfume (Ungaro Pour L’Homme 1.), and all the fingerprints on it belonged to the victim.

The coroner determined that she was about 30 years old, not 21 as she claimed to be when checking in.

The gun in question, a 1990/91 9mm Browning produced in Herstal, Belgium, only had a partial serial number on it. Also found at the scene was a briefcase (Braun Buffel) containing nothing but 25 bullets. Another 7 bullets were found in the pistol's magazine.

Both the housekeepers and room service observed a single duvet on her bed. At the time of her death, two duvets were present on it. The investigators failed to retrieve any hairs or fluids from the bed. It was thrown away the next day.

Room service also claims to have seen a trolley case in her room, which led her to believe Jennifer was a flight attendant. No such trolley was found afterwards.

One housekeeper mentioned seeing a particularly nice pair of shoes in her closet when cleaning the room on Thursday morning. After Jennifer's death, the only pair of shoes found in her room was the ones she was wearing, and the housekeeper was certain that it wasn't the same ones she had seen earlier.

Based on the content in her stomach, the coroner determined that she must have eaten her food on the same day she was found dead, which happend almost 24 hours after she ordered it.

"Jennifer" attempted to make two phone calls during her stay. Neither of the two numbers were valid. Based on numbers similar to the ones she called, it's been suggested that she tried to call someone in Grâce-Hollogne or Seraing, both neighbouring municipalities of Verlaine.

Amongst the items on her desk was a plastic newspaper bag containing an edition of USA Today. The bag was addressed to room 2816, located on the opposite end of the hallfway from 2805. The investigators also found a fingerprint on the bag, which they were unable to identify at the time. A request for an international search was recently submitted through Interpol.

One of the guests, a Belgian man staying in room 2804, told the journalists that while checking out on that Saturday morning, the receptionist had told him that a woman was found dead across the hall from his room, several hours before the police were called to the scene.

Another guest claimed to have been woken up at night by loud banging noises coming from one of the nearby rooms. She also told the police about a foreign couple that had peaked her interest.

Numerous theories about Jennifer were being considered by the investigators at the time, including her being part of a failed drug operation, working for a secret intelligence agency, being a high-class escort or even the missing wife of Italian mobster Leoluca Bagarella.

The police recently opened her grave, hoping to find out where she came from or even who she might be. The results are currently pending.

Was there a window in her room, through which the murderer may have escaped?

The clothing missing tags in that Jennifer Fairgate story reminded me of Peter Bergmann (unidentified man found dead on a beach in Sligo; had been spotted around the town for a few days; post-mortem found terminal cancer yet he had neo trace of medicine in him.)

oneilla wrote: »

The clothing missing tags in that Jennifer Fairgate story reminded me of Peter Bergmann (unidentified man found dead on a beach in Sligo; had been spotted around the town for a few days; post-mortem found terminal cancer yet he had neo trace of medicine in him.)

and Talman Shud

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamam_Shud_case

The 'American Dyatlov Pass'/The Yuba County Five is another mystery.
I was reminded about it recently.

Five men with Psychological issues and/or Autism went to a Basketball match and went missing after abandoning their car on the way home.

February 24, 1978. Chico, California. After embarking on a road trip to attend a basketball game, five mentally disabled young men – 24-year old Jackie Huett, 29-year old Bill Sterling, 30-year old Jack Madruga, 32-year old Ted Weiher, and 25-year old Gary Mathias – begin the 50-mile drive back to their homes in Yuba County, but never arrive. Four days later, their abandoned car is found in some snow on an isolated mountain road, but the five men, a.k.a. “The Yuba County Five”, have gone missing. After the spring thaw hits, the remains of four of the victims are discovered at different locations throughout the area, but Gary Mathias is never found. While the cause of death is determined to be exposure, there are many unanswered questions. Why did they drive over 35 miles off the highway to such an isolated location? What prompted them to abandon their vehicle? Did an eyewitness see other people with the five men on the road that night?

Four of the five young men were found deceased. One of the deceased was found in a cabin. That cabin contained food and enough fuel to last for months- yet the fuel was never used and the man found there had lost almost 100 lbs and died of exposure. Three of the men were found deceased in various areas outside the cabin.
There were some possible signs of the fifth man in another cabin nearby- yet his remains have never been found and he is presumed deceased with his body yet to be discovered. What drove these young men to abandon their still operable car? Why were they all found in different spots? Why wasn't the fuel in the cabin used and why didn't they all stay in that cabin since it had plenty of food and fuel?

http://mentalfloss.com/article/532063/bizarre-hell-disappearance-yuba-county-five
https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/2017/12/7/mathias-group-from-yuba-city
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/07/06/5-boys-who-never-come-back/f8b30b11-baeb-4351-89f3-26456a76a4fb/?utm_term=.25b1fa387f6d
http://trailwentcold.com/2017/11/29/the-trail-went-cold-episode-48-the-yuba-county-five/

Suckit wrote: »

The 'American Dyatlov Pass'/The Yuba County Five is another mystery.
I was reminded about it recently.

Five men with Psychological issues and/or Autism went to a Basketball match and went missing after abandoning their car on the way home.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/532063/bizarre-hell-disappearance-yuba-county-five
https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/2017/12/7/mathias-group-from-yuba-city
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/07/06/5-boys-who-never-come-back/f8b30b11-baeb-4351-89f3-26456a76a4fb/?utm_term=.25b1fa387f6d
http://trailwentcold.com/2017/11/29/the-trail-went-cold-episode-48-the-yuba-county-five/

Jesus. That's a good one :eek:

Paddy Losty