Oslo
===

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June 3rd, 1995 was an ordinary Saturday at the luxurious Oslo Plaza Hotel, Norway's tallest building and a symbol of modern opulence. Guests came and went. The lobby bustled with life, and the city outside hummed with the energy of a vibrant weekend. But high above the streets of Oslo, in room 2805, something far more sinister was unfolding.

Espen Nass, a 21 year old student who had a part time job working security at the hotel, was tasked with a delicate job. He was sent to the room on the 28th floor where a Do Not Disturb sign had been hanging on the door for a while. The occupant had been asked to contact the front desk for some administrative business, but she never did.

Just as Espen was about to knock on the door, he heard the unmistakable blast of a gunshot. In shock, the young security guard [00:02:00] retreated into a nearby alcove. Contemplating his next move, he had a two way radio with him, but if he contacted the security office about a gunshot, all hotel staff would hear.

Fearing one of the guests in the room had shot the other one and was still inside with the weapon, he headed to the elevator and went straight to his colleagues to inform them of the situation. The head of security accompanied Espen, and they returned to the room. The door had been double locked from the inside.

But hotel security was able to override it. As they entered room 2805, they were met with a chilling discovery. The lifeless body of a woman, lying on the bed. She had been shot in the head. There was no sign of struggle, and it appeared to have been a tragic case of suicide. But in the weeks, months, and even years that followed, This perplexing case brought more questions than answers and remains one [00:03:00] of Norway's greatest unsolved mysteries.

Traveling to Oslo in the early summer in 1995 was magical. His locals and tourists alike enjoyed the charm of a Scandinavian summer. As the days grew longer, leading up to the midnight sun, Oslo's parks and waterfront areas were filled with locals enjoying the warm weather and outdoor cafes. At the time, Norway was still riding the wave of global attention it had received the year before, [00:04:00] when Lillehammer hosted the Winter Olympics in 1994.

This brought a renewed sense of pride and energy to Oslo, and the rest of the country. In the heart of the city, you'll find one of the city's most iconic buildings, the Radisson Bleu Plaza Hotel, or as locals call it, the Oslo Plaza. Standing at 117 meters, or 384 feet, it's the tallest building in Norway.

The hotel was, and still is, frequently used for business conferences, major events, and large gatherings, making it a hub for international travelers and dignitaries. The grand, sleekly designed lobby was bustling on the evening of Wednesday, May 31st, 1995. Oslo, being a key Scandinavian hub, saw many flights arriving late into the evening, and the hotel was alive with the energy of arriving travelers.

The sounds of rolling luggage, Multilingual conversations and the faint clinking of [00:05:00] glasses from the nearby lobby bar filled the air. Evie Tudum Geertsen was working as a supervisor at reception that night, and the main objective was to check guests in swiftly so they could be allocated rooms before the constantly revolving glass door brought more weary travelers into the lobby.

When it was a young woman's turn to check in, Evie did not notice anything strange. Her room had been booked by telephone on May 22nd. under the name Jennifer Fairgate. A few days later, a woman speaking German with an East German accent called and changed the check in date to May 31st. Receptionist Sasha Anonson presented the registration card that had some information pre completed.

Jennifer signed in, spelling her last name F E R, gate, not F A I R, gate, as it had been noted on the form by reception. Then, she paid in cash for [00:06:00] two nights for herself and the man with her, whom she identified as Louis Fairgate. Around midnight, both Sasha and Evie saw Jennifer in the lobby. Evie recalled seeing her exchanging cash and that there was a man with her.

Whether it was the man named Lois was not clear. Sasha recalled seeing her waiting for the elevator, but by that time, she was alone. In the days that followed, Jennifer's visit to the hotel seemed quite unremarkable. One guest passed her in the hallway and they exchanged greetings. On the Thursday morning, on a Thursday morning, she was at the reception desk and asked the concierge to extend her stay.

Adding two more days. Again, she paid up front, in cash. Nothing about her movements hinted at the fact that she would soon lose her life in that very hotel. On that afternoon, front desk staff realized that contrary to strict hotel policy, Jennifer [00:07:00] never provided a form of identification when she checked in.

As it was very busy on the night she arrived, and the queue of visitors was growing behind her, concierge must have agreed that she could sort it out later. Although this was not common practice, if one considers the practicality of the situation, it's not so strange. One can assume that Jennifer fumbled through her purse, and after a long flight was tired and, perhaps, flustered, she could have assured them that she would return with her ID at a later stage.

Either way, staff followed up with her by leaving a message on the TV in her room. The log showed that she viewed the message when she returned the next day and acknowledged it. However, she did not come to see them. Housekeeping staff saw her return Friday afternoon, and as she entered her room, she hung the Do Not Disturb sign out.

Friday evening, she ordered room service. Bratwurst and potato salad. In Kristin Anderson, who was the waitress on duty, brought it [00:08:00] to the room. Her brief interaction with Jennifer was memorable. Firstly, it was customary for room service to take the food trolley into a guest's room and place the food on the table.

The waitress immediately noticed how tidy the room was. The bed was perfectly made, the table was empty, and nothing was out of place. The word Kristen used to describe the room has been translated to sterile, which is not what one would expect when someone had been staying at a hotel for three days.

Kristen recalled that Jennifer was friendly, and she seemed fine. In fact, so fine, she tipped her 50 kroner, disproportionately generous at the time. Kristen thanked her and left, not realizing this would be the last time that anyone would see Jennifer Farragate alive. At 8. 57pm, reception staff sent another message to Jennifer's TV, asking her to come and see them.

It [00:09:00] was acknowledged 8 minutes later, but she never went downstairs. On the Saturday, the Do Not Disturb sign outside of room 2805 was still keeping hotel staff at bay. Housekeeping informed reception and they sent another message to the TV at 7. 36pm on Saturday. And it was swiftly acknowledged, so when Jennifer didn't come downstairs or call, hotel staff decided it was time to take action.

This is when young Espen Nass was tasked with doing a welfare check on the occupant, and he became the ear witness to her death by shooting. When police entered the room, 15 minutes after the shot was fired, they found a woman's body slumped backwards onto the bed. A gunshot wound to her head had caused blood to pool up on the mattress beneath her, and spatter and brain matter covered the wall behind her.

At first glance, it looked like the occupant of room 2805 had ended her own life. But as investigators took a closer look at the scene, they could not help but [00:10:00] wonder if there was more to the story. Firstly, there were no signs of a struggle. The room was impeccably tidy, and Jennifer herself appeared composed.

She was found neatly, wearing a black dress, stockings, and shoes, as if she were going out. She had showered recently, as indicated by the dampness in the bathroom, yet there were no toiletries. Only one bottle of men's perfume. Both key cards were in the room. A barely touched bratwurst dinner sat on the table, her intended meal from the night before.

Upon examining the death scene, police uncovered several puzzling details. The deceased hotel guest had a semi automatic Brenning pistol in her right hand, her thumb still on the trigger. A fatal gunshot wound to her head confirmed the cause of death. The gun, a powerful weapon known for its significant recoil, had been fired at close range.

It was the same type of [00:11:00] firearm used by Norwegian military. One would not expect a petite woman to have this type of weapon on her person. Also, there was evidence of another shot, which seemed like a test shot, fired into the mattress next to her. The bullet's trajectory was downward, which implies that whoever fired the shot was standing.

But it was the physical evidence, or rather the lack of it, that raised the most questions. There was no blood on her hands, which is unusual in a suicide by gunshot, where the victim would typically steady the weapon in one hand. More confusingly, there was no gunpowder residue on her hands. A key indicator in determining whether someone has fired a weapon.

The fact that her thumb was on the trigger was also strange. If she had pulled the trigger like that, the recoil would have caused the shot to go past her head. All of these elements led to the growing suspicion that Jennifer may not have been the one to [00:12:00] fire the final shot. Adding to the mystery, The serial number on the Browning had been meticulously filed off, making the weapon untraceable.

Yet the bullet that ended Jennifer's life was undeniably fired from that very gun. This pointed to a sophisticated effort to conceal the origins of both the weapon and the woman. Then there was a briefcase in the room, containing 34 rounds of ammunition, further evidence that she had prepared for a confrontation.

However, there was nothing else of note in the room. No personal items, no identification, nothing that could help the investigators piece together who Jennifer Fairgate really was. Finally, a closer examination of a registration card revealed discrepancies. The postcode Jennifer provided, 7561 Verlaine, was incorrect.

Verlaine's real postal code is 4537. [00:13:00] Even her date of birth seemed to be a fabrication. The card listed her birth date is August 28th, 1973, but forensic analysis in 2016 would later suggest she was born between 1970 and 1972. Despite these inconsistencies, there was one definitive fact. Jennifer Fairgate was dead, and the bullet that killed her came from that Browning pistol.

Investigators decided to go back to the beginning. To analyze everything they did know, to analyze everything they did know about the mysterious victim. Jennifer Furgate's journey at the Oslo Plaza began on May 31st, 1995. She arrived with an unremarkable man whom she noted as Lois Fairgate on the registration card.

It's also significant to remember that she spelled her last name F E R G A T E and not F A I R G A T [00:14:00] E. The pair checked into room 2805 at approximately 1044 p. m. She provided sparse details, her name, a fake address in Belgium, and an incorrect birthdate. She claimed to be employed by a company called Service based in Belgium.

But this, too, was a dead end. From the moment she checked in, Jennifer's behavior was peculiar. Hotel records show that she interacted very little with staff and appeared to avoid the hotel's public areas. Over the next two days, she remained largely unseen. But the hotel's keycard system provided some clues to her movements.

Between May 31st and June 2nd, Jennifer's keycard was used multiple times, indicating that she left and returned to her room on several occasions. However, the exact details of her movements during this period remain murky. Witnesses recalled seeing her in the hallway, dressed entirely in black, projecting an air of confidence [00:15:00] while keeping to herself.

She wasn't seen engaging with other guests or staff, further adding to the air of mystery surrounding her final days. After checking in late Wednesday night, Jennifer was seen in the hotel lobby, exchanging currency in the early morning hours of June 1st, 1221 AM, to be precise. Her keycard was used to access her room.

The next morning, she was back in the lobby and extended her stay at reception. Housekeeping used their keycards to enter her room. Housekeeper, Vigdis Vallow, recalled visiting the room just before 1 p. m. on Thursday, June 1st, and neither Jennifer nor Lois was there. She noted something peculiar, a nice pair of shoes, a kind or brand she hadn't seen before.

Curious, Vigdis wanted to check the label inside the shoe, but it had been removed. These shoes were also absent when Jennifer's body was later discovered, [00:16:00] adding yet another layer to the intrigue. The next recorded use of Jennifer's keycard was at 11. 03am on Friday, June 2nd. Housekeeping was cleaning a room across the hallway and saw her hang a Do Not Disturb sign on the door as soon as she arrived.

Curiously, she did not return to her room for at least 20 to 24 hours after extending her stay the day before. And there's no record of when she exactly left the hotel reception. Investigators have never been able to establish where she went or why. Whether she had business in Oslo that kept her away or if she stayed in another room remains a mystery.

At 8. 06pm on the evening of June 2nd, Jennifer ordered room service, and it was delivered at 8. 23. That plate of food was barely touched when her body was found the next evening. Because of the Do Not Disturb sign, housekeeping did not enter her room on the Saturday, [00:17:00] June 3rd. The door had been double locked, which can only be done from the inside.

Someone in the room acknowledged the TV messages from reception just after 7. 30 pm, and her official time of death was recorded as approximately 8. 23 pm. And although an initial police document stated that they were 99. 9 percent sure that Jennifer Fairgate had died due to a self inflicted gunshot to the head, it soon became clear that this was not the case at all.

So if this wasn't suicide, what happened? Was it cold blooded murder disguised as suicide? Perhaps if they could establish the woman's true identity, investigators would be able to establish who may have killed her. As investigators delved into these questions They quickly realized that this case was anything but ordinary.

The evidence painted a picture of a woman who had gone to great lengths to conceal her identity. But why? Her fingerprints [00:18:00] were run through international databases, but no match was found. She seemed to have no past. No history. No connections. No identity. As the investigation progressed, the case attracted a swirl of theories.

Some believed the woman was involved in espionage. It's a mystery. Citing the hotel's proximity to various embassies and international organizations, the precision and secrecy with which she had erased her identity, combined with the strange circumstances of her death, fueled these speculations. The possibility that she was a spy, perhaps from Eastern Europe, given the time frame, was compelling, but ultimately unproven.

Others theorize that the woman might have been involved in organized crime. The ammunition in her briefcase and the execution style shooting suggested a professional hit, possibly connected to a high stakes criminal underworld. But if that were true, who would have wanted her dead, and [00:19:00] why? This all seemed too familiar, echoing the eerie mystery of a case Norway would never forget, the Isdal Woman.

Like Jennifer Fairgate. The unknown woman found in Bergen's Isdalen Valley in 1970 left behind more questions than answers. A false identity, suspicious circumstances, and an untimely death. The parallels between these two unsolved cases are striking. If you want to learn more about the Isdal Woman story, we covered that in detail in Evidence Locker episode 189.

Still, if you look at these two cases side by side, this is what you'll find. Both women had taken on false identities. Jennifer Fairgate checked into the Oslo Plaza under a fabricated name with a fake address. Similarly, the Isdal Woman was found with multiple passports, each with a different alias. Both went to great lengths to conceal who they truly were.

Authorities hit the same dead ends when trying to trace their [00:20:00] backgrounds. Jennifer left behind no verifiable information about her life, much like the Isdal Woman. Peculiarly, both women had removed the labels from their clothing and belongings, making it nearly impossible to trace their origins. And then there were the deaths themselves.

Jennifer Fairgate found in a hotel room with a gunshot wound, her death shrouded in ambiguity. Was it suicide? Or was it murder staged to look like one? The Isdal Woman's death was equally mysterious. Her body was found burned in a remote valley with the lethal dose of sleeping pills in her system. Both women also seemed to have connections beyond Norway.

Jennifer claimed to be from Belgium, though her story didn't hold up. The Isdal Woman was thought to have traveled extensively across Europe before her death. was thought Her movements shadowed in secrecy, hinting at espionage or involvement in a broader, darker network. In The Baffling [00:21:00] Belongings, Jennifer left behind only a briefcase with ammunition, while the Isdal Woman's possessions included wigs, maps, and foreign currency.

These items hinted at lives lived in secrecy, and ultimately provided no real answers. Even their physical appearances bore similarities. Both were attractive and well groomed, and kept to themselves. Both had some contact with unidentified men at the hotels where they stayed, which only added to the mystery surrounding them.

Another case that comes to mind when looking into the death of the Oslo Plaza woman is the case of the Cambo Man, discovered near the train tracks in the village of Cambo in 1987. Cambo Man was found in an isolated location under mysterious circumstances. An autopsy estimated the man was between 55 to 65 years old.

His body showed signs of a violent death. Likely caused by a train. He had no identification on him, no [00:22:00] wallet or money, and the labels on his clothes had been cut off, just like it was with Jennifer's and the Isdal Woman. The clothing he wore was a mix of inexpensive and high end items, with his shoes being of particularly high quality, designed for long distance walking.

His underpants had a tag in, however. But no one had ever seen such a tag. It had the number 1 written in German, nothing else. This strange combination of clues led to various theories from accidental death to espionage. Much like Jennifer, Campbellman's case garnered national attention, but no one ever came forward to identify him.

Investigators speculated that he might have been involved in intelligence work. Given the location of his death near a NATO missile defense system and the hidden clues, such as the mysterious number taped inside his shoe, his story, like Jennifer's and the infamous Isdal Woman, remains unsolved. Three unidentified individuals [00:23:00] whose deaths point to a deeper, more troubling narrative of secrecy, espionage, and unanswered questions in Norway's history.

Despite extensive investigations by Norwegian police, The Jennifer Fairgate case was closed as a probable suicide. The remains of the Jane Doe, known as Jennifer Fairgate, Was buried in Oslo with no headstone. Most of the evidence was destroyed, complicating the possibility of ever solving the case. 30 years later, the identity of the Oslo Plaza woman remains a mystery.

Her body was buried in an unmarked grave and her case was largely forgotten until recent years, when true crime enthusiasts and amateur sleuths began to reignite interest in her story. In 1995, journalist Lars Christian Wagner became the first to report on a mysterious case of the woman known as Jennifer.

Over the years, it has become his personal mission to uncover her true identity. [00:24:00] His investigation led him to Belgium, specifically to the small town of Verlaine, the address Jennifer had written on her hotel registration card. Despite finding no direct answers there, his relentless efforts helped keep the case in the public eye, ensuring that it was not forgotten.

Thanks to Wegner's determination, a formal request to exhume the woman's remains was eventually granted. The exhumation took place in October of 2016, with new forensic analysis shedding further light on the enigma. Dental examination suggested that the woman was likely of German origin, a significant clue in narrowing down her background.

In addition, updated techniques determined that she was born between 1970 and 1972, slightly earlier than that 1973 birth year she had written on her hotel forms. Wegener also distributed a composite sketch of Jennifer to a Berlin newspaper. Which led to numerous tips from the public. However, despite the flurry of leads, her true [00:25:00] identity remains elusive.

In a further attempt to crack the case, Wegner reached out to a retired Norwegian intelligence operative, who speculated that this could have been an espionage related assassination. The signs were there. The labels cut from her clothing, the firearm with its serial number meticulously removed. In the ease with which her hotel room door could have been accessed and locked from inside without detection, pointing to a highly skilled operation.

Yet even with this theory, the question of who Jennifer truly was remains unanswered. Today, the Oslo Plaza woman stands as a symbol of the unknown, her life, her death, and her purpose leaving behind only questions and a lingering sense of unease. Who was she? Why did she come to Oslo? And what secrets did she take with her to her unmarked grave?