The advancements in forensics and DNA analysis have been a major breakthrough for the criminal investigation process. However, it’s not always foolproof.
62-year-old Liselotte Schlenger was baking a patch of lemon cakes in 1993 when her life came to an abrupt end. She lived in the community of Idar-Oberstein, Germany, and had a happy life as a church warden. She had a rich social life, and loved her little dog dearly.
On that fateful day, a neighbour came around to have a cup of tea with her friend. The neighbour knocked, but Liselotte didn’t answer. The neighbour entered her home, and found her body on the kitchen floor. The neighbour immediately ran and called for the police.
Liselotte had been viciously strangled with a piece of wire. The wire had previously been used to tie together a bouquet of flowers that had been sitting in her living room. The wire had been used with such force that it had embedded into her neck. Further investigation told police that the wire was very common, and could be found in a number of places.
Strangely, Liselotte’s beloved Yorkshire terrier hadn’t made a sound at any point in the course of her murder. This led police to believe that she may have known her attacker. The force used in the murder also led them to believe that Liselotte’s murderer had been a man.
A neighbour reported seeing someone that they believed looked like a salesman leaving Liselotte’s home a few days before her body was found. The man had been carrying a pilot’s case, and had a body-builder like figure.
At the scene, investigators retrieved many items from Liselotte’s home, including a brightly coloured teacup. They also made attempts to find the man that the neighbour had seen, but the man was never identified.
With few leads, and few investigative avenues to pursue, the case went cold.
Many years later, advances in forensic science and technology were shown to be highly advantageous in criminal investigations. Investigators were still baffled by the murder of Liselotte Schlenger, and decided to test the items they’d collected from her home for DNA evidence.
Investigators were able to find traces of DNA, which were further tested. The results were a shock to all involved.
The DNA did not belong to a man at all – it belonged to a woman. They searched their police database for a match, but came up empty. Despite this incredible breakthrough, the case once again went cold.
In 2001, the mysterious woman struck again.
On March 26th, 2001, Joseph Walzenbach heard a knock at his door in Freiburg, Germany. He opened the door in order to let the person inside. As he turned his back, he was hit over the head multiple times by a heavy object. The police later found his body on the floor of his home.
Joseph didn’t only have injuries to his head, though. Police found that he’d been strangled with a piece of wire – just like Liselotte Schlenger.
Even though both murders occurred in communities several hundred kilometers away from each other, it was hard to miss the connection.
In the course of the investigation, investigators found that 125 euros had been stolen from Joseph’s home, and a lot of his items had been misplaced. They packed those up and took them in as evidence.
Investigators found traces of DNA on Joseph’s body, as well as on the items taken from his home. Test results showed that the DNA matched the sample found at the scene of Liselotte’s murder.
Police now had two murders, seemingly committed by the same person, possibly a woman, in two different locations, many years apart.
Over the course of the next few years, the mysterious killer’s DNA turned up in various places around Germany, France, and Austria. It seemed the woman had gone international.
In one instance in German, the woman, whom the press began calling The Woman Without a Face, left DNA on a partially eaten biscuit in a burgled caravan. In France, her DNA was found on a toy gun used to hold up a dry cleaner. In Austria, her DNA was found on a hooded cardigan, and a pair of tracksuit pants after a string of break-ins.
In another instance in Germany, the mysterious woman’s DNA was found on a discarded syringe. The syringe contained traces of heroin. Following this discovery, it was assumed that the woman may be a drug user, and her crimes were committed in an effort for her to find her next fix.
Despite the woman’s DNA turning up nearly everywhere, she rarely, if ever, left any other evidence that could lead investigators to figuring out her identity.
The Woman Without a Face was quiet for some time, until her DNA was found again in 2003. On New Years Day, the Dietzenbach police were called to a break in at a public office building. Not much was taken, except for some loose change, and minor property damage.
In 2005, a nomadic Romani man attempted to shoot and kill his brother. Police were able to locate the gun used in the attack in the Rhine River, but were unable to pull any other form of evidence from the gun. However, they did find traces of DNA from the Woman Without a Face on a stray bullet near by.
The man was arrested and charged for attempted murder. The man was interrogated, and asked about the identity of the mysterious woman. The woman seemed to align with different accomplices for each of her crimes, and leave very, very little behind. This was their first real tangible connection to her.
The Romani man claimed to have never met the woman. The gun had belonged to his father, and then passed down to him. It was highly unlikely that the gun had ever been in the woman’s possession – or anyone else’s, for that matter.
In court, the man testified to that, as well as to the fact that he acted alone. He had no idea who the woman was, and had never met her before. Police were confused. This man had freely admitted to attempting to murder his brother, why was he so closed-lipped about the identity of this woman?
However, police did come up with a theory that could explain her movements. If these two did know each other, it was entirely possible that they belonged to the same, or related, nomadic communities. This would explain why she travelled, and why she didn’t seem to stay in one place for too long.
A year later, police were called to an apartment break-in in another German town. Witnesses were able to describe the perpetrator. The man had short brown hair, dark eyes, a large nose, and a thin vertical line of facial hair that ran from his lower lip to his chin.
While investigating the scene, police were surprised to find that the Woman Without a Face’s DNA was found at the scene of the break in. This prompted a different theory of their perpetrator – that the person either identified as a man, or disguised themselves as a man while committing their crimes.
The man witnesses had seen leaving the apartment was never identified.
In 2007, the case of The Woman Without a Face hit its climax.
22-year-old Michèle Kiesewetter and her partner, Martin Arnold, were eating lunch in their patrol car. Both were police officers in the German community of Heilbronn. They were parked in the shade of a tree, enjoying the peace and quiet.
Suddenly, two people climbed into the car behind them, and shot both officers in the head. They then stole their weapons, and their handcuffs. The bullet casings found at the scene indicated that two different guns had been used to commit the attack.
Michèle was killed instantly, while Martin survived. Martin stayed in the hospital for months while in a coma. When he woke up and recovered, he indicated that he had no memories at all of the events that occurred during the attack. The last think he remembered was being parked in the shade of a tree, eating lunch.
The scene held ample clues, though, such as the bullet casings, as well as DNA left on the inside of the car. The DNA matched a profile on record – The Woman Without a Face.
Having escalated her activities to murdering police officers, the entire country was keen to see her apprehended.
Over 16,000 hours were devoted to finding the mysterious woman. A reward was offered for any information leading to the apprehension of this woman. DNA samples were taken from over 3,000 women in order to compare to The Woman Without a Face’s profile.
Following the attack on the police officers, The Woman Without a Face was given another nickname by the media – The Phantom of Heilbronn.
Despite the nation-wide manhunt for her, this woman did not seem deterred.
In 2008, three used car salesman from the country of Georgia were found murdered in a German forest. Their bodies were later found dumped in the River Rhine.
Eventually, two men were arrested for the murders. Blood evidence proved that the bodies of the three Georgian men had been in the trunk of one of the suspects’ cars. Another car belonging to another suspect also contained a very familiar DNA profile – it seemed that The Woman Without a Face had struck again, in a bit way.
Between 1993 and 2008, around 40 known crimes were attributed to this mysterious woman. And police were growing ever more frustrated in their efforts at finding her.
In 2009, suddenly, everything made sense. But it did not make things better.
In 2009, French authorities were trying to identify a charred body that had been found 7 years earlier. They believed that the body belonged to an asylum seeker who had gone missing 7 years prior. They attempted to match the man’s fingerprints to those on his paperwork, to no avail – his fingers were too burned for comparison.
However, they tried something new. They attempted to pull a DNA sample from the touch DNA that had been left on the paperwork. When the results came back, French authorities were bewildered – the DNA matched the profile for The Woman Without a Face.
Seeing as the missing asylum seeker was, undoubtedly, male, as was the charred body, it was not possible that the DNA results were accurate. Every investigator who had ever touched the case of The Woman Without a Face was flummoxed. It forced them to re-examine their cases from a much different angle.
Another DNA test was ordered on the asylum seeker’s paperwork, but this time, using a different cotton swab. When those results came back, no trace of The Woman Without a Face’s DNA was found. Further testing of the swabs confirmed an ongoing theory – the woman’s DNA had been on the swabs all along.
The DNA actually belonged a woman who worked at the factory where the cotton swabs were packaged. While they underwent a rigorous sterilization process to remove bacteria, they were not sterilized for DNA. The company itself even stated that their cotton swabs were not fit for criminal investigation.
Every case touched by the contaminated DNA had to be revisited, and re-examined.
In 2011, two neo-Nazis were found to be responsible for the attack on Michèle Kiesewetter and Martin Arnold. They had taken their own lives during a botched bank robbery. The guns stolen from the officers were found on the men.
The murders of Liselotte Schlenger and Joseph Walzenbach remain unsolved to this day.
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Sources:
The ‘Woman Without A Face’ was linked to countless murders. She never existed. – Helen Vnuk – Mammamia.com
DNA blunder creates phantom serial killer – Tony Paterson – The Independent
The Woman Without a Face – Sue Coletta – Kill Zone Blog
Hunting the Woman Without a Face – Victoria Suzanne – Medium
Casefile podcast – Case 178: The Woman Without a Face
Phantom of Heilbronn Wikipedia page