Death in Ice Valley: an unidentified body, abandoned suitcases, and unmarked cosmetics

Photo obtained by Runa Sandvik through the Freedom of Information Act.

The story of the woman found dead in Isdalen near Bergen, Norway in November 1970 has been told through countless articles, a documentary, and a podcast. The body, found by two young girls and their father out on a Sunday hike, had been exposed to strong heat and had considerable burns. The labels on her clothes had been removed and trademarks scrubbed from items at the scene. When police located her suitcases three days later, they found more of the same: clothes without tags, cosmetics without labels. The investigation also turned up a coded notepad and multiple identities, some wondered if she may have been a spy.

More than 50 years later, the authorities still don’t know who she was or what she was doing in Bergen. But records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act last month show that the police in Oslo requested assistance from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation in identifying the unmarked cosmetics found in the woman’s suitcase. 

Two months into the investigation, the Central Criminal Police in Oslo wrote a letter to the FBI with background information and “two photographs of cosmetic tubes found in the luggage of the unknown subject.” The response, sent a few weeks later, was disappointing: “[e]fforts were made to identify the cosmetic containers shown in the color photographs by examination of the photographs and by exhibiting them to cosmetics buyers in the three largest Washington, D.C. department stores. None of the individuals contacted were able to identify the containers.”

But one of the buyers pointed out that many cosmetic products are packaged by firms in New York. Perhaps the bureau could speak to someone there? “It was suggested that the company of the magazine ‘Beauty Fashion’ at 60 East 42nd Street, New York, should be able to furnish information regarding the companies that do packaging for cosmetic products since many of these companies advertise in this magazine.”

And so the the two color photographs and a copy of the letter from Oslo was sent from Washington, D.C. to New York.

In early March 1971, New York reported that contacts were made at Beauty Fashion, Garrett Hewitt International, and Kolmar Cosmetic Specialities. “The results were negative.” A special agent spoke with two individuals at Beauty Fashion and Kolmar who “advised that, in their opinion, the cosmetics in question were not produced in the United States.” They both “expressed their puzzlement as to why the labels were scratched” off. 

A third individual said their “reaction upon seeing that the labels were removed was that the victim may have had a business interest in cosmetics and was given the cosmetics as samples for analysis.” The individual from Kolmar “advanced the theory that possibly the victim removed the labels to avoid having it become known that she had been in a particular country, perhaps one behind the Iron Curtain.” 

The origins of the cosmetics remains unknown, though plenty of theories have surfaced in the Death in Ice Valley group on Facebook. Perhaps the bottles are from an airline or a hotel? If you happen to know more, I’d love to hear about it.