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Józefa Małgorzata Wyka, who went by her middle name, known as Rozenmeisje ("The Rose Girl") while unidentified, was a young woman found murdered in the Netherlands in 1996. She gained her nickname from the large field of roses that was the place of her discovery. Her case gained attention in the Netherlands, Germany, and, subsequently, Poland, which led to her identification in 2010. Her killer has been identified yet has not been imprisoned for her murder.
Disappearance[]
Józefa, who was living in her aunt's house at that time, left Poland for Germany in 1996 to work as a housekeeper, and her family had not since heard of her. Various persons claimed to have seen Jozefa in the following months, but none of those seeings had been confirmed. At one time, information was received that Józefa got married and didn't want to contact her family any more, but this didn't stop her aunt from reporting her missing in 1997. Her biological father filed her missing report once more in 2002.
Case[]
The victim was found on the morning of June 4, 1996, in a wooded area surrounded by rose fields near the town of Lottum, in the Dutch part of Limburg. The local functionaries stepped upon the body while searching for illegal dumpsites in the fields. Rozenmeisje's body was still intact, and her face was recognizable when found. She hadn't been dead for a long time; the authorities described her to be of age between 18 and 25, height 5'3 and having old surgical scars on her left leg and hips. Her cause of death has been stated as homicide by a skull fracture performed with a blunt object.
As she didn't match any missing reports from the area and no one came forward for her in the following months, she was buried in a nearby cemetery in Lottum under her nickname while her case went cold. Lottum residents held a memory of her and regularly put fresh roses on her gravestone.
Identification[]
In 2007, Dutch investigators re-opened Rozenmeisje's case, and in 2009, the main suspect- Erich Kurt Lange, a German registered sex offender- was identified via DNA testing. Initially, he denied any involvement in the homicide, but soon, his former female acquaintance testified that she, Lange and his friend took part in the unidentified woman's killing. According to her statement, Rozenmeisje was a sex worker working for Lange, most likely from Poland and possibly named Małgorzata. The motive for her murder might be Małgorzata's threat to Lange to turn him into the police - she was taken for a car trip near the German-Dutch border and then ruled by the woman to the woods, where Lange's friend bludgeoned her to death with a hammer. After Lange's arrest, Rozenmeisje's profile was widely aired in Polish media and TV, and in 2010, a woman came forward, recognizing an unidentified woman as her long-missing stepdaughter. The DNA comparison confirmed her identity.
Sources[]
- NU.nl (Dutch)
- Gazeta Lubuska (Polish)