‘Long shot’ key may lie in Perth

MYSTERY: Dutch TV show’s plea for help

A Dutch television programme is hoping the Perthshire public may hold the key to a grisly, decades old mystery.

They contacted The Courier to appeal for information on a woman who is thought to have come from the Perth area.

Admitting it was “a long shot”, journalist Kees van der Spek hopes that local people might remember something that could help their quest to put a name to an unidentified body.

“I’m working with Dutch Television on a programme that tries to find the names of unidentified deceased persons,” explained Kees.

“In the Netherlands there are almost 300 anonymous graves and our job is to give them a name.

“In January 1998 a deceased lady was found in Amsterdam. She had no ID on her. A witness stated that her name was Karen McKenzie from the UK, and that she lived in Belgium before.

“Research in Belgium learned that there was a Karen McKenzie born in Perth who lived in Brussels in the late ’70s.”

The woman is thought to have be in her twenties at the time of her death.

A trawl through the archives of The Courier revealed nothing and Police Scotland were also unable to help.

“We have no reports of anyone missing by that name,” they said.

Graf Zonder Naam – Grave with no Name – is a popular programme in Holland which has managed to solve a number of mysteries by putting a name to previously unidentified bodies.

It researches the stories behind unmarked graves in the Netherlands with the aim of putting a name to the “anonymous dead”.

Presenter and programme maker Kees van der Spek is an award-winning journalist.

Anyone who thinks they can help with the story of Karen McKenzie can email Kees.van.der.Spek@endemolshine.nl.

The scale of the task is not to be underestimated – around 40,000 people disappear each year in Scotland.

Some are only missing for hours, some for weeks and a small minority are never traced, causing years of heartache for their families.