Chapter 1: What mystery surrounds the Isdal Woman?
Hi, I'm Julia Cowley, a retired FBI profiler and host of the true crime podcast, The Consult, Real FBI Profilers. If you're fascinated with true crime and criminal profiling, then join us as we discuss real cases and examine the behavior exhibited before, during, and after the commission of the crime. You can listen to The Consult wherever you get your podcasts.
It's as close as it gets to being in the room with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit.
I'm Brett.
And I'm Alice.
And we are The Prosecutors. today on The Prosecutors. It's one of true crime's greatest mysteries. A woman's charred remains are located in a remote valley just outside of Bergen, Norway.
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Chapter 2: What were the circumstances of the Isdal Woman's discovery?
In a twisty investigation, clues about her identity unfold like a series of riddles. Over 50 years later, we ask, who is the Isdale Woman? Hello, everybody, and welcome to this episode of The Prosecutors. I'm Brett, and I'm joined, as always, by my bedorende, or bedorende, I think is actually how you pronounce it, co-host, Alice.
Oh, it's really good. Whatever language that was, I felt like you nailed it.
Well, that's Norwegian. Literally, apparently... In Norwegian, it means to stress the oar.
But... No, I think it means... I think that's how you pronounce it.
Chapter 3: How did the investigation into the Isdal Woman's identity unfold?
No. Oh. Oh, I see. Oh. I thought it's like if you're rowing, you put stress on the oar.
You are so sick. I don't know that you should be recording right now.
Well, it literally means charming or adorable. And you are charming and adorable.
Or an oar.
What was that?
Or an or. Well, they're like Vikings over in Norway. So, you know, they like boats. Well, how on point because we're talking about Norway today. So, well done. I don't think I knew any Norwegian words before tonight, but now I know.
Have you ever been to Norway? I have not. You've been so many places.
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Chapter 4: What evidence was found at the crime scene?
Unfortunately, my brother lived there for six months for work and I did not go because I either had just had, I was too late in my pregnancy to go. And then baby Allison was born. And then I was like, I should have traveled, but I didn't.
Well, I can appreciate why you wouldn't go if you had a young baby. But I got to say, I mean, Norway is high on my list of places.
Yeah.
I'd like to go. So maybe we can go visit and solve this case.
Maybe we can do an episode there.
There you go. I will say this is one of the famous cases in true crime, one of the most interesting cases in true crime. There is a great podcast, speaking of Norway, put on by Norwegian Radio and the BBC. It's called Death in Ice Valley and highly recommend it. It's really good.
available wherever you get your podcasts so after you listen to us you can listen to them and see see which thing they are pretty sold on one theory i'll say that that's all i'll say about it but it's really good and you should listen to it so with that alice do you have anything you want to say before we dive in i really want to dive in because this is like such it's half a century mystery
It's true. So tucked away in the Seven Mountains region outside of Bergen, Norway, is the famous Isdalen Valley. Isdalen Valley, which translates to Ice Valley, hence the name of the podcast, is a popular hiking spot for locals, despite its remote nature, because it is, probably like everywhere in Norway, I imagine, quite beautiful. It has lots of trails which wind around Lake Sverdikt.
I don't know how to pronounce that, but whatever, are surrounded by picturesque hillsides and lined with fir trees.
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Chapter 5: What theories exist about the Isdal Woman's death?
But behind the beauty, danger lurks. The terrain can be rugged and the hills are often steep. The trails are lined with signs warning hikers that the paths are rocky and slippery. And as such... The area is no stranger to tragedy and has seen its fair share of accidental deaths of hikers over the years.
And this, combined with the fact that the valley was a popular spot also for those looking to commit suicide during medieval times, earned it the popular moniker, the Valley of Death. Reminds me, Alice, when we went to Russia and did the Dyatlov Pass case. It's the Mountain of Death. Dead Mountain. And I just feel like don't go places.
I was going to say, they tell you in the name what's going to happen. Don't go. You know, I don't know about you, but I guess maybe they named it after a lot of people died there. But if you tell me the name includes death in there, I'm going to be like, I'm going to stay on comfort couch.
Comfort couch is where I will stay. I mean, think about a place where a bunch of people died is they died for a reason, right? Like they were just like you and now they're dead in the valley of death. So maybe you should avoid the valley of death. I don't know. That's just my advice for you.
Chapter 6: How did the police interpret the findings related to the fire?
We have done way too many cases. I've read about way too many cases where the place is named something like the mountain of death, the valley of death, the river of death, sea of death, cave of death, whatever. Just don't go into the place named death. for death. That's my advice.
It's free advice. I'll even call it legal advice.
There you go.
Fine.
I'm going to call it legal advice again. But in 1970, a body was discovered that was out of the ordinary, even for the Valley of Death. As investigators dug further into the victim's background and identity, the circumstances surrounding her death became more and more mysterious.
Now, over 50 years later, not only are we no closer to solving the mystery of her death, we don't even know her true identity.
which seems crazy in this day and age with like genetic genealogy, how much we know with all the technological advances. Maybe with these technological advances, are we gonna get closer? I don't know, but first we have to understand why, even though this is named the Valley of Death, This particular woman drew a lot of question marks.
You would think the valley of death, another death would not raise eyebrows. But let's dive into the investigation. So on the morning of November 29th, 1970, two girls ages 10 and 12, they were out walking around Lake...
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Chapter 7: What items were found with the Isdal Woman and what do they suggest?
with their father when they decided to explore a little ways off the path and up the hillside. By the way, this is the only way my kids go on walks, is to go off the beaten path and run around. One of these girls all of a sudden stumbled across a clearing in the forest. And to her horror, she made a gruesome discovery. Because sticking out of the jagged rocks was a woman's body.
But it wasn't just anybody. It was blackened and charred, and her hands were raised, almost as if she had been trying to shield her face. Now this group quickly made their way from Isdal Valley to the nearby city of Bergen, where they called the police.
Can you imagine? I mean, you got a 10 year old, a 12 year old coming upon this. It's just awful. But that's something, something you never forget. And in Ice Valley, they actually talk about that and about how terrible this was for this group. But it also, you know, it gives you an idea of how isolated she was.
I mean, this was actually kind of lucky that they even stumbled upon her and she wasn't on the path like they just happened to. to decide at this spot. I mean, as they're walking around the lake, there's a lot of different places they could have struck off. And they decided to do it here and they stumble upon this woman's body.
And for these young girls to find it, I mean, the horror. If I, I would be scarred quite literally for life.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of the missing labels on her clothing?
And especially to see such a devastating picture, right? It's almost like she was frozen in the most horrific time of her life. And that's the way they found her.
The police were called around 9 or 10 a.m., and they began the 45-minute trek up to the valley, because obviously these girls and their father, they had to go all the way back to town in order to call the police, and the police have to go back out to this beautiful place. It's beautiful because it's remote. Now, the following is an excerpt directly from the police report.
The body of a seemingly young naked woman lying in a steep scree of large stones on a clearing in the fir tree forest. The body lay outstretched on her back in a small opening between the rocks with the head to the northwest. Her legs were stretched out with the right foot slightly bent under the ankle of the left foot, pinched between two slabs of rock.
Both arms of the body were bent up in front of the chest in a position that is called boxer position on fire damaged bodies. Her head was bent backwards, resting on stony ground. The whole body was burned by fire. It was reddish brown and sooted and gave a convincing impression of having been enveloped by a short but intense surface fire."
Extensive damage at the knees of the body, calves, and lower thighs suggest, however, that a subsequent fire of a more prolonged nature has arisen here. It's assumed that this is connected with the finding of burned rubber boots by the knees of the body. Regarding a detailed description of the damages, we refer to the autopsy documents.
The neck, head, and the lower arms with hands that has not been covered were more sooted than the rest of the body.
And yeah, so this boxer position thing, as Alice said, when the girls first found her body, she has her hands like up. as if she's sort of shielding herself or defending herself. And when you first see that, you think, okay, this is a sign of someone who's been attacked because she sort of died in a defensive position.
But what we know is that when someone is in a fire like this, because of the way the skin reacts to fire, there's a contraction of the skin. And when that happens, it naturally pulls the arms up to the chest. So her arms weren't necessarily in that position when the fire began. And sort of living or dead when the fire began, it would cause that movement.
It doesn't tell us as much as you might initially thought. Also, just the description of the fire. So this is a, as it says, a surface level fire. So basically almost like a flash fire. It happens. It happens to our entire body. We're going to talk some more about the damage done to our body, but it's relatively fast. And then it creates this secondary fire.
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