The final day

On Friday 2 June, 36 hours before the Plaza woman was found dead, she was observed by room steward Karin Løvbrøtte, who saw her hanging out the red “Do not disturb” sign on the door. At one point, the Plaza woman must have gone out, because at 11:03 a.m. she (or someone else) entered again. From then on she never left the room, unless she went out and someone let her back in without needing to use her key card. At 8:06 p.m. she ordered food from the hotel’s room service, a “Hotbite” of bratwurst and potato salad. Shift supervisor Kristin Andersen brought the food up and was let in at 8:23 p.m. The Plaza woman was ready with a 50-kroner note, an unusually generous tip. Andersen recalled that no belongings were visible in the room; it appeared almost sterile. A day later, when forensic technicians documented the scene, half the food remained. In the autopsy, 50 ml of food, including sausage bits, was found in the woman’s stomach and had undergone very little digestion. This is interesting. If the food had been eaten on Friday night, it would long since have been digested. The forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy declared Saturday night as the time of death, so she must have eaten the food that day, almost a day after its delivery to the room.

Once on Friday and once on Saturday, the Plaza woman used the hotel’s pay TV service. The police documents contain no information as to the channel or language selected. When Jennifer Fergate on Wednesday afternoon informed the hotel that she would be arriving with a man that evening, room steward Vigdis Valø was told to add an extra duvet, soap and towel, since the room had been prepared for one person. When the room was cleaned the next day, only one pillow and duvet had been used. The extra duvet was folded up and put aside. Valø placed the unused duvet in the closet and made the bed for one person. We know now that the Plaza woman was away for almost 24 hours from Thursday to Friday. Since the “Do not disturb” sign hung on the door for two days, the room was not cleaned either Friday or Saturday. As the Plaza woman was getting ready for bed on Friday night, the bed was still made up for one person. When the police photographed the dead woman on the bed on Saturday night, both duvets were in place again. The duvets were lying next to each other. The bed was mussed. Nothing in the documents indicates that the bedding was examined for hair or other biological traces. A few hours after the woman’s death, the bed and bedclothes were discarded. During the course of Friday and Saturday, three bottles of soft drink from the minibar were emptied – a Coca-Cola, a Coca-Cola Light and an Asina orange drink – and a bag of potato chips was opened. The beer in the minibar remained untouched.

It would appear that during the same period the Plaza woman either ironed some clothes or planned to do so. In the police photos an ironing board can be seen leaning against the wall between the desk and the wardrobe. On the luggage shelf, next to Jennifer’s elegant leather jacket, an iron is visible. Room 2805 was apparently the kind that required guests to order an iron and ironing board from the front desk if they wanted to press their clothes. Someone in the room has also showered or bathed. When the Plaza woman was found dead, the hotel’s white bathrobe lay on one of the duvets. In the bathroom a used bath towel lay on the floor mat. Beside the sink was a bar of soap, and one of the small bottles was open, possibly the shampoo. In the crime scene photos the woman appeared well dressed – all in black – and lay on her back on the bed. She had make-up around her eyes, but it’s hard to say how old it was.

For three days the Plaza woman lived for free at the luxury hotel, without settling the bill. At 2:19 p.m. on Thursday the front desk sent her a message via the TV screen in the room, requesting that she contact reception. The message was acknowledged from inside the room at 8:55 a.m. the following day. Message number two came on Friday at 8:57 p.m. Eight minutes later, it was acknowledged with “OK”.