LYON, France – The body of a woman found on a Dutch beach in 2004 has been identified as that of 35-year-old German citizen Eva Maria Pommer, following a tip-off to police in the Netherlands.
The case is part of Identify Me, an international campaign coordinated by INTERPOL in collaboration with six European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The initiative seeks to identify women who were found dead across Europe in recent decades. Since its launch in 2023, the Identify Me campaign has included 47 cases, all involving unnamed women who were murdered or who died under suspicious or unexplained circumstances.
One of these cases, known as ‘The woman with the German keys’, dated back to 4 July 2004, when a man walking on the dunes near a remote beach by the Dutch city of Wassenaar found a woman lying in the sand.
Despite extensive police investigations, the case remained unresolved and the woman’s identity a mystery. With no new leads, authorities in the Netherlands submitted the case to INTERPOL’s Identify Me in 2024.
A crucial breakthrough came in 2025 when the Dutch cold case and missing persons team in The Hague received a significant tip that led to an acceleration of the investigation in the German city of Bottrop, not far from the Dutch border with Germany. Subsequent DNA testing confirmed the identity of the deceased woman as Eva Maria Pommer, a German national.
While the cause of death remains unexplained, investigators have not ruled out the possibility of a crime. As a result, the Dutch authorities are continuing their investigation and urging the public to come forward with any information they may have regarding Eva Maria Pommer, particularly in relation to the summer of 2004.
Identify Me initiative achieves fourth identification milestone
The development marks the fourth successful identification linked to the Identify Me campaign. Conceived by the Dutch police to draw attention to cold cases with suspected transnational links, the INTERPOL-coordinated initiative publishes case details online and circulates them through international media.
Alongside the global public appeal, INTERPOL leverages its law enforcement network to share biometric records from Identify Me cases with all 196 member countries, requesting that they run the forensic data through their national databases.
INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza said:
“This latest identification is more than just a milestone in our ongoing campaign — it’s a testament to what we can accomplish when nations stand together. It’s also important to recognize the dedication of everyone involved in the Netherlands and Germany, whose close partnership has been key to this achievement. As we move forward, we remember the families and loved ones of missing persons who continue to wait for answers. We honour their strength, and reaffirm our shared commitment to finding answers, no matter how long it takes.”
Janny Knol, Commissioner of the Dutch National Police said:
“This identification demonstrates the importance of collaboration and information sharing between police organizations across the world. In fact, it is crucial, especially in cases like these. We are grateful for the role Interpol plays in international police cooperation in general, and in the Identify Me-campaign in particular. In combination with perseverance of Dutch and German detectives yet another woman has been given a name. Our thoughts are with all the families who have finally received answers about their loved ones and with the families who are still waiting for these answers.”
The launch of the campaign in 2023 led to the identification of Rita Roberts, a 31-year-old British woman who was found murdered in Antwerp in 1992. The family of Rita Roberts contacted the appeal hotline after they recognized their relative’s tattoo from news coverage.
In 2025 a second woman, 33-year-old Ainoha Izaga Ibieta Lima, was identified when Paraguayan authorities matched fingerprints uploaded by Spain to INTERPOL’s Black Notice against their own national databases, as part of the Identify Me initiative.
Another breakthrough in 2025 came when police in Türkiye ran the fingerprints associated with the body of a woman found in 2004 in Spain through its national biometric database. This resulted in a match with Russian national Liudmila Zavada, aged 31 at the time of her death.
Identify Me marks the first time INTERPOL has publicly shared extracts from Black Notices to help identify the deceased. These Notices are used to disseminate information globally on unidentified human remains, with the aim of determining the circumstances surrounding a death and identifying the individual.
Since 2021, INTERPOL has provided investigators with a new global tool, the I-Familia database. It has already solved 25 cases worldwide by helping identify unknown bodies through international family DNA kinship matching. This process relies on voluntary DNA contributions made by relatives of the missing, which are used solely for the purpose of identifying missing persons and are not matched against criminal databases.
The public appeal continues: 43 remaining cases
The Identify Me campaign continues, still seeking answers on 43 cases of unidentified women. We urge anyone who may have information, particularly those who remember a missing friend or family member, to visit our dedicated website at Identify Me and contact both INTERPOL and the relevant national authorities.
If you believe one of the deceased women may be your missing loved one, you can also reach out to your national police, who can then work with INTERPOL to facilitate international DNA comparisons and potentially bring answers to your family.
