CLOSURE

‘Woman With the Flower Tattoo’ Murder Victim ID’d After 30 Years

Rita Roberts’ family last heard from her via a postcard the month before her death.

A woman murdered in Belgium in 1992 has finally been identified after an unusual police campaign. British woman Rita Roberts, 31, was ultimately discovered to be the victim after her family recognized a distinctive black flower tattoo published in a BBC article earlier this year. The article reported on Interpol’s Operation Identify Me, in which the international police agency publicly released black notices, which seek information about unidentified bodies and which are usually only circulated among police forces. Roberts had left her home in Wales in February 1992 and traveled to the city of Antwerp in Belgium. Her body was discovered against a grate in a river in June, and it was apparent she’d suffered a violent death. Roberts’ family, who last heard from her via a postcard the month before her death, said the news was “shocking and heartbreaking” but they are thankful “to have uncovered what happened to Rita.”