She Was Buried Under the Wrong Name for 30 Years. And Her Case Remains Unsolved. Who is Heulmeisje?

When the severely decayed corpse of a teenage girl was found in the Netherlands in 1976, she was quickly identified as a young woman who disappeared from a nearby town — until she appeared 30 years later to say that she was still alive.

October 24, 1976, Maarsbergen, the Netherlands

Between the cities of Arnhem and Utrecht, an hour’s drive away from Rotterdam, sits the small settlement of Maarsbergen. From this small town, the A12 takes you directly to Arnhem near the German border; a quick drive. In 1976, there was a small parking lot along the A12 named De Heul.

When a forester went for a walk near De Heul on a late October Sunday, he made a shocking discovery: hidden beneath a pile of leaves lay the severely decomposed body of a naked woman.

Aerial view of De Heul and the A12 in 1976; Source: Interpol

Cause of death remains inconclusive, but manner of death was determined to be homicide

A day after the gruesome finding, an autopsy revealed that the corpse belonged to a young woman who was between 150 and 165 cm tall and had…