Saturday, November 9, 2013

Five mysterious cases that gripped the world

Detectives in Ireland have identified a mystery girl who turned up in Dublin and are working with Australia.

The mysterious people who appear from nowhere Police in Dublin have identified the mystery girl found wandering the streets in a distressed state. Source: Supplied

A MONTH ago a woman was found wandering the streets of Dublin, dazed and confused.

She appeared mute and as her image was released to the globe, speculation was rife about who the mystery woman could be.

After mass speculation, she was identified as 25-year-old Australian Samantha Azzopardi.

As more details emerge about her troubled life, we take a look back at some of the other mysterious cases that have gripped the world.

The Piano Man The scared face of The Piano Man. The scared face of The Piano Man. Source: Supplied

A German man was found wandering the streets of Kent, England in 2005. He refused to speak, instead communicating through drawing and playing the piano. As intrigue increased across the world, he was dubbed The Piano Man.

He was discovered by police in a saturated business suit and tie. He refused to answer questions, so hospital staff left him with a pen and paper with the hope he would write down his name. Instead, the man drew a detailed picture of a grand piano.

The staff brought him a piano and for hours he sat and played music from a range of genres.

In the hope of tracing his identity, orchestras across Europe were contacted and his photo was posted on a missing persons' website.

As hype increased, numerous theories circulated.

One was that he was a French busker called Steven Villa Masson. This theory was dismissed by The Independent after they tracked the identified man down in his home town.

Another theory, claimed by the drummer of a Czech rock band, was that The Piano Man might be a pianist called Tomáš Strnad, as he had a striking resemblance to the musician. This lead was destroyed when Strnad was found and interviewed by Czech TV.

The first snippets of information revealed by The Piano Man himself about his identity were communicated via images. He pointed to Oslo the capital of Norway on a map, so a Norwegian translator was brought in. He failed to coerce The Piano Man to speak.

There were then reports he sketched the Swedish flag.

His identity was finally revealed, when the UK tabloid The Mirror published an article, citing sources claiming The Piano Man was a gay German man who had arrived in Britain on the Eurostar train after losing his job in Paris. It was suggested the man was flown back to Germany where his family resided.

The same day, the BBC revealed the man was a 20-year-old Bavarian man who had been flown home. This was confirmed by the German embassy in London, who advised they had provided a man with replacement travel documents.

Finally, his identity was revealed as Andreas Grassl, the son of farmers from a village in eastern Bavaria. His parents said their son was mentally ill and had told them on his return he had "no idea what happened to me. I just work up and realised who I was".

The Forest Boy The boy who turned out to be telling tales. The boy who turned out to be telling tales. Source: Supplied

In a tale that captured the public's imagination, a young boy turned up in Berlin claiming he had survived in the wild for years.

With broken German and speaking English, "Ray" who claimed to be 17 years old, said his father had died suddenly in the forest and after burying him he had hiked for five days to find help in Berlin.

He spoke to workers at Berlin City Hall saying: "I'm all alone in the world, I don't know who I am. Please help me."

Believed to be an orphan and a minor, the teen was given shelter and thousands of euros in benefits.

Not long after, holes started to appear in Forest Boy's story and police could not locate his father's body.

When attempts to identify Forest Boy failed, police released a photograph of the youth. After a month-long international appeal for answers, the truth was finally revealed.

A former girlfriend alerted authorities after recognising the boy in the photo and he admitted having made up the whole story.

The Forest Boy was in fact a young Dutch man, Robin van Helsum, who had left home nine months earlier. His friends say he was inspired by the films of the Zeitgeist Movement.

His stepmother was contacted and confirmed his identity. His real father had died earlier in the year.

The Isdal Woman An image of the woman believed to be a spy. An image of the woman believed to be a spy. Source: NewsComAu

In 1970, the unidentified charred body of a woman was found in "Death Valley" in Bergen, Norway, by a professor and his two daughters while out hiking. The circumstances surrounding her death are still considered a profound mystery.

She was naked, tags had been removed from all her clothing, her fingerprints had been sanded away and next to her was a burnt passport. At the scene, a significant amount of sleeping pills were discovered, along with bottles of petrol.

The body was traced to two suitcases at a train station in Bergen, where police discovered a prescription for lotion - though the name and address of the doctor had been removed. They also discovered 500 German marks and a journal with entries in code.

Police established the deceased woman travelled around Europe with up to nine false identities: Jenevive Lancia, Claudia Tjelt, Vera Schlosseneck, Claudia Nielsen, Alexia Zarna-Merchez, Vera Jarle, Finella Lorck and Elizabeth Leen Hoywfer.

Witnesses said she would wear various wigs and spoke many languages including French, German, English and Flemish.

The final sight of The Isdal Woman was when she checked out of room 407 of Hotel Marlin, paying cash and leaving in a taxi. She was described as 30-40 years old, 164cm in height and good looking. She smoked cigarettes, appeared to be on guard and was heard saying the words "I am coming soon".

Three decades later, a man came forward saying he saw the mystery woman walking into the forest with two men in black coats following her. He said police had told him to keep quiet at the time.

The case remains unsolved to this day, with most assuming The Isdal Woman was a spy.

Cornelia Rau The tragic tale of Cornelia Rau The tragic tale of Cornelia Rau Source: Supplied

Ill and alone, a German woman going by the name Anna roams Cape York in Queensland during the wet season. She hitchhikes her way across the state, taking food and shelter from kind strangers.

In March 2004, Queensland police are called by concerned locals to the Exchange Hotel in Coen. Residents had become concerned for her well-being after she gave different accounts of her travel plans and identified herself as Anna Brotmeyer, but had no documentation to verify her identity. Speaking in both German and English, she told police she was from Munich.

The Department of Immigration had no record of Anna Brotmeyer, so they detain her as a 'suspected unlawful citizen'. She had in her possession a Norwegian passport, a book with two names which didn't include Anna, and $2413. She spoke in childlike German and could not recall basic information about her past.

She was transferred to Brisbane's Women's Correctional Centre where her mental health deteriorated.

Around this time in NSW, the family of Cornelia Rau reported her missing to police. She suffers from a schizo-affective disorder and had disappeared after discharging herself from Manly Hospital. She was not considered in serious danger as she had vanished numerous times before.

In August 2004, police launch a public appeal, advertising in newspapers and with posters.

It took another five months before Anna and Cornelia were identified as the same person after family saw a newspaper story.

Even after the discovery of Cornelia's true identity, she managed to become a mysterious wanderer yet again. In 2008, she was allowed to travel overseas during a break from medication. She bought a one-way ticket to Germany, but was committed to a psychiatric ward there after her condition deteriorated further.

Once she stabilised, she scraped together enough money for a plane ticket to Turkey but was turned away on arrival. She arrived in Dubai in December.

After wandering the Middle East without medication for months she again disappeared off the map. Then Cornelia was arrested after behaving erratically and refusing to pay her hotel and taxi bills in Jordan in 2009. The Germany embassy in Amman said: "She seems to have suffered a total loss of reality."

The same year she taken back to Australian with a nurse and guardian and admitted into the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide.

Huntington's Jane Doe The unidentified woman in a police sketch. The unidentified woman in a police sketch. Source: Supplied

In 1990, a woman was struck by two vehicles when she stepped on a highway in Huntington Beach, California. She was killed instantly.

She carried no identification but wore a strange ring on her finger - made of human hair - and a hotel key was discovered in her pocket.

As media reports surfaced of the unidentified crash victim, many residents came forward claiming they had information on her movements before the accident.

She had reportedly said her name was Andrea and that she was 25 or 26 years old, though she looked 10 years younger.

One witness, a salesman, said Andrea was homeless and he had taken her in to his family home after feeling sorry for her. It was here, he said, where she cut her hair and created a ring out of it.

Others said she was from Virginia or New York, with some accounts saying she was searching for her "well-known" birth family after discovering she was adopted.

More than 20 years on, the case remains open.

More stories:

• Australian link to mystery girl found in Dublin

• Who is Samantha Azzopardi?

• High school student found after decade missing


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