Józefa "Małgosia" Wyka previously known as Rozenmeisje ("The Rose Girl") 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 a lot of attention in the Netherlands, Germany and subsequently in Poland, which led to her identification in 2010. Her killer has been identified yet still not imprisoned for her murder.
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Disappearance
Józefa, 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 following months, but none of those seeings had been confirmed. At one time information has been received that Józefa got married and doesn't want to contact her family any more, what didn't stop her aunt to report her missing in 1997. Her missing report has been filled once more in 2002 by her biological father.
Case
The victim was found on the morning of June 4, 1996, in a wooded area surrounded by rose fields near the town 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 recognizable when found and apparently hasn't been dead for a long time; the authorities described her to be of age between 18-25, height 5'3 and detected old surgical scars on left leg and hips. Her cause of death has been stated as homicide by 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 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, 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 her, Lange and his friend took part in the unidentified woman's killing. According to her statement, Rozenmeisje was a prostitute 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 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 had been widely aired in Polish media and TV, and in 2010 a woman came forward recognizing unidentified woman as her long-missing stepdaughter. The DNA comparison confirmed her identity.
