Interpol have launched a public appeal to identify 46 murdered women in a review of cold cases.
The international police operation wants to find the names of the women as they try to unlock cases where the trail has gone cold.
Cases Interpol are re-opening under Operation Identify Me span decades and include the mystery of a teenager found with a British coin.
The body of the teenager with red shoes, beaded necklaces and a 10p piece was found underneath layers of leaves in a layby near a village called Le Cellier in France in 1982.
Her death is one of 46 cold cases European police are seeking to solve as part of the second phase of a campaign aimed at finding the names of unidentified murdered women.
Jürgen Stock, secretary-general of Interpol said: “We want to identify the deceased women, bring answers to families, and deliver justice to the victims.
“Whether it is a memory, a tip, or a shared story, the smallest detail could help uncover the truth.”
The second phase of the Operation Identify Me campaign includes cases in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain.
Interpol’s website has pictures of the women along with photographs of possible identifying items and facial reconstructions. Most of the victims are thought to have been aged between 15 and 30.
The body of the teenager with red shoes, beaded necklaces and a 10p piece was found underneath layers of leaves in a layby near a village called Le Cellier in 1982. It had been there for several months.
Speaking near the area she was found, now overgrown with brambles, nettles and horse chestnut trees, detective Franc Dannerolle said the teenager’s body was “disposed of like garbage”.
He added: “There was no respect, no care for her before her death,
The 10p coin led investigators to believe that she was either British or had been travelling in Britain before her murder.
Retired detective Alain Brillet worked on the case at the time said: “The strangest and most incredible thing was that we had someone who had been murdered, because we knew she had been murdered, but we could never find out what her name was, where she was from, or who had killed her.”
Interpol is using targeted social media to advertise the campaign in specific locations and demographics.
Another case that Interpol is hoping people may be able to help solve is that of a woman whose body was discovered in sand dunes Wassenaar in the Netherlands some two decades ago.
Dutch forensic investigator Det Baasbank, who worked on the case, said: “Maybe she made me better at what I do. ‘Never give up,' is my motto. I’m determined in the work I do, and maybe she’s the reason why.”
