On June 3rd, 1995, the body of an unidentified woman was found inside room 2805 of the luxurious Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in Oslo, Norway. As investigators scrambled to piece together a cohesive explanation of what happened to her, the circumstances surrounding her death only became more mysterious. To this day, it is still unknown how she died or even who she was.
Some Background on “Jennifer Fergate”
On May 31st, 1995, a woman using the name Jennifer Fergate checked into the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel. She booked room 2805 under two names: her own and Lois Fergate. However, according to the hotel’s receptionist, no one else was with her during check-in. Still, another hotel employee claimed to have seen Jennifer with a tall man aged 35 to 40, but he has never been identified.
Shockingly, Jennifer had not provided staff with any form of identification. She claimed to be 21 years old and gave an address and place of employment that were later proven to not exist.
Keycard registrations confirmed that Jennifer was not present in her room from June 1st at 12:34am to June 2nd at 8:50am. Finding out what she was doing during this time could be crucial to solving the case.
Upon her return, Jennifer extended her stay until the following Sunday. That night, she had dinner brought to her room. She supplied the waitress with a particularly generous tip (50-kroner, five times what was expected). This was the last time we know of that she was seen alive.
The Death of Jennifer Fergate
Hotel staff became concerned when several of Jennifer’s payments had been missed. This concern was only augmented by the “Do Not Disturb” sign that had been hanging from her door handle for two days. Security was contacted. On June 3rd, at 8:50pm, guard Espen Næss knocked on the door of room 2805. Within moments, he heard a gunshot. Now frantic, Næss ran to inform the security manager and police of what he had just heard. The room was temporarily left unattended.
Jennifer was found dead of a single gunshot wound to the forehead. It was initially presumed that she had committed suicide. In her right hand was a Browning 9mm pistol. It was stripped of its serial number, and no fingerprints were on the gun.
There was nothing on Jennifer’s person that could confirm her identity. Even the labels of her clothes had been removed. Of what was found in her room, items of interest include a bottle of men’s cologne and a magazine bag–marked “2816”–with another unidentified person’s fingerprint. The bag contained 25 rounds of ammo.
What the Autopsy Showed
While not revealing Jennifer’s identity, an autopsy performed on her body revealed some potentially crucial information:
- She was not actually 21, but was somewhere in the range of 25 – 35.
- Her stomach contents revealed that the food she had brought to her room was not eaten until nearly 24 hours after she ordered it.
- No blood or gunshot residue was on Jennifer’s hand.
- Strangely enough, police did not take DNA samples from beneath her fingernails. Doing so could have led to her identification.
Theories
Since no blood or gunshot residue was found on the victim’s hand, many dismiss the notion that she committed suicide. Also, if she planned to die by suicide, why would she need an additional 25 rounds of ammo? Another theory has been proposed.
Was Jennifer Fergate a Spy Killed By a Foreign or Domestic Intelligence Service?
While there is no concrete evidence proving that Fergate was a spy, her vehement efforts to keep her identity a secret insinuate that this may have been the case. Recall that the labels on her clothes were removed, her gun’s serial number was stripped, and she was carrying a lot of additional ammo. Add in the nearly 24-hour period in which her whereabouts cannot be accounted for, and you’ve got more than enough justification for the spy-on-a-mission theory.
Some go as far as to suspect that both the police and hotel were involved in a coverup. It is certainly strange that Fergate was able to check into the hotel without providing documentation. And it is even stranger that the police didn’t take DNA samples from underneath her fingertips, especially considering that her identity was unknown.
As to whether or not she was accompanied by a second person, the details are vague. Remember that she did check in to the hotel under two different names (the second being Lois Fergate), one employee claimed that she was with a “tall man,” a man’s cologne bottle was found in her room, and an unidentified fingerprint was found on the magazine bag. If there were someone else with her, locating this person could be the key to cracking this case.
One Response
Some things here do not make sense. One would expect that a spy on a mission would be raising as few red flags as possible. If she were actually a spy, she would have had ID and credit cards in whatever name she checked in under, and would have been wearing clothes with labels appropriate to that identity. Thie circumstances here raise too many red flags.