WHEN a woman's badly burnt body was found in the woods alongside a suitcase full of secret codes, wigs and eight fake passports, police were dumbfounded.

Who was she - and why had she been killed?

19 The burnt body of the Isdal Woman was found on November 29, 1970 near Bergen in Norway Credit: Bergen State Archives

19 Scientists collect DNA evidence from the scene Credit: Paul S Amundsen/NRK

The woman's body was found by a father and his two daughters, who stumbled across the freshly-burnt remains of a woman while hiking in the woods behind Mount Ulriken on a chilly Sunday morning.

The body was wedged between two rocks in an area known as 'death valley', due its popularity as a suicide spot in the Middle Ages.

In the vicinity police found a charred umbrella, two water bottles and a near-empty bottle of locally-produced liqueur, as well as a shawl, a pair of boots and woollen jumper.

A post-mortem revealed she died of an overdose, with 50 sleeping pills discovered in her stomach - but evidence of smoke inhalation showed that she was still alive when she was set alight.

19 The female, shown in a forensic drawing, is believed to have been in her late 30s and from Nuremberg in Germany

19 Her body and belongings were found on a Sunday morning

It is thought carbon monoxide poisoning from the fire contributed to her death.

Analysis of her teeth put her age at just 30 years old and the police's first thought was that she'd killed herself.

But other clues pointed to something much more sinister.

While her clothes - not designed for the icy conditions - were largely destroyed, investigators saw that any logos and labels had been cut out, perhaps to conceal their origin.

19

19 She wasn't dressed in adequate clothing for the chilly temperatures Credit: Reinhardheydt /Wikipedia

19 Analysis of her teeth by investigators revealed her to be around 30 - although this was later revised to nearer 40 Credit: Kripos

Jewellery and a watch had also been removed and placed around her body like, according an official, "some kind of ceremony".

Then, a witness came forward to say he's seen her being followed through the wilderness by a group of men.

19 The watch found with her had been removed, along with jewellery, before her death Credit: Bergen State Archives

Following the success of podcast Death In Ice Valley which covers the case, - and is produced in conjunction with BBC World Service and Norwegian broadcaster NRK - DNA tests have provided new evidence which revealed that she was in her late 30s and had links to Nuremberg, Germany.

More than 20,000 amateur sleuths have since been trying to crack the case, and the most popular theory is that she was a foreign spy.

Suitcases abandoned at a train station

Despite her burns, police had been able to take finger prints and these matched prints found on two leather suitcases abandoned at a local train station.

19 Her fingerprints were linked to luggage left in Bergen train station Credit: NRK

Inside, police found clothing, prescription lotion, a diary, and a postcard - but anything that could have identified the woman had been deliberately cut out or scraped off.

The postcard was traced back to an Italian photographer who, when interviewed, said he remembered giving it to a mystery woman at a dinner but said he didn't know anything about her.

Police also found wigs, non-prescription spectacles and money in various currencies, giving rise to the theory she was a spy.

19 Labels and logos had been deliberately removed from all belongings Credit: Bergen State Archives

19 Handwritten notes with secret codes were also found Credit: NRK

After an appeal, witnesses also came forward to claim they had seen her take notes during a military test of rockets in western Norway.

Could she have been planted by a foreign power - like Israel's intelligence agency Mossad - to monitor secret trials of the new Penguin missile to be potentially used against the Soviet Union?

This idea was given further weight by the discovery of a notepad with handwritten number sequences, which were eventually cracked to reveal an extensive travel itinerary beginning in March 1970.



Eight passports and movie star looks

Investigators discovered the woman had travelled between Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Oslo in Norway.

She had also visited Paris, Hamburg and Basel.

19 The woman travelled across Norway and Europe Credit: NRK

Whichever hotel she checked into, she used one of eight fake passports all bearing different names.

Investigators discovered the names she used - among them Vera Schlossneck, Alexia Zarna-Herchel and Elizabeth Leenhouwer - simply don't exist.

The source of the luggage was eventually located to a shop in Bergen. The owners described her as an elegant and well-dressed woman who spoke English well, but with an accent.

Lillian Menes Kohne, a waitress at the Hotel Neptun in Bergen where she stayed, recalled: "She mostly wore a white blouse and black trousers.

"Dark, mid-length hair, a pretty lady."

19 The woman stayed in the Hotel Neptun and Hotel Hordaheimen in Bergen Credit: Getty - Contributor

She continued: "She seemed very serious, sombre and mysterious."

A former bellboy also at the hotel, Frank Ove Sivertsen, added: "She was the kind of woman we hardly ever saw other than in magazines and movies."

Staff said she was fluent in French and German.

Strangely, she also requested to swap hotel rooms multiple times.

Other witnesses mentioned that she had a gap between her front teeth, ate porridge for breakfast, smelled strongly of garlic and wore a fur hat.

19 A waitress described her as looking "sombre" and "mysterious" Credit: NRK

Information about her appearance was used to create forensic drawings of what she may have looked like which were then distributed to the public.



German who fled in World War II?

With no further leads, the woman's death was ruled a suicide and she was buried in 1971 in a Catholic funeral with police in attendance.

But investigators knew there remained many question marks over her story.

Thanks to improvements in forensic science, more light has since been shed.

19 Witness statements were used to create this first drawing of her Credit: NRK

DNA testing and isotope analysis of her jaw - which wasn't buried with her - revealed she had moved from Eastern or Central Europe, possibly France or Germany, right before or during World War II.

Further research has suggested she is from Nuremberg in Germany.



Spy theory

The theory that she was a spy travelling around Norway seems plausible, given that the country was a hotbed of espionage activity during the Cold War of 1947 to 1991, thanks to its proximity to Russia.

If true, it's still unclear which foreign power she may have been working for.

19 It is thought the woman may have been spy for a foreign power Credit: NRK

The local Bergen Police found that when they began investigating links to foreign intelligence and Israel they were "shut down" by higher powers.

Some believe she could have been monitoring trials of the new Norwegian Penguin missiles, which took place from the late 1960s.

19 Her death was ruled a suicide and her catholic funeral was attended by police Credit: NRK

Researchers are still investigating if this could be a lead.

Chased by men through the woods

Another witness added weight to the idea that she had been murdered, perhaps due to her dangerous line of work.

Local sea captain Ketil Kversoy believes he walked by the woman on a Sunday afternoon while hiking back down to Bergen.

Walking 20 metres behind her were two men, and all three stood out because they were wearing clothes more suitable to a town.

"I was surprised. Some people were coming up the mountain. That wasn't normal. I'd seen nobody else and I had been walking for a couple of hours," he told the BBC.

19 The identity of the woman remains a mystery despite her death being ruled a suicide Credit: KRIPOS

"I remember her hair, dark hair, not too long. And also the men coming behind had dark hair. They didn't look Norwegian, I was thinking southern Europe."

Kversoy added: "She was looking at me and her face, to me it looked like she was scared and she was giving up.

"When she looked at me, I felt that she started to say something but she didn't and then she looked behind her and saw these men. I'm sure she knew they were going after her."

19 The Hotel Hordaheimen in Bergen is one of the places the woman stayed Credit: Google

Eventually, Kversoy went to Bergen Police, but he was told the death had now become an international case.

Some conspiracy theorists believe the Norwegian secret service know why she was there and what happened to her but are keeping quiet.

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Researchers still hope to find out who the mystery woman really was so that her relatives can be contacted and she can be laid to rest in her home country - and advances in technology could soon make this possible.

It is believed researchers will next try to cross-reference her DNA profile with the big global commercial databases that are often used to reignite cold cases as well as helping people trace ancestors.

Only time will tell if the Isdal Woman's true identity will be revealed.