IT is an ornate and much-cared-for shrine that marks the short life of 17-year-old Alisa Dmitrijeva, who disappeared two years ago. But it is also part of a series of images which police hope will held solve the mystery of what happened to the teenager.
FOR Alisa Dmitrijeva’s heartbroken family her graveside in Riga, Latvia, is the place they go to remember the tragic teenager who never got the chance to realise her dreams.
The beautifully-crafted black tombstone, which has an image of Alisa above a single rose carved into it, is a stunning but solemn reminder of the loved one they have lost whose remains were discovered by a dog walker in woodland on the Royal Estate near Sandringham on New Year’s Day 2012.
The grisly discovery came four months after the last known sighting of the teenager who had lived with her father Olegs Dmitrijeva, her younger sister Viktorija and grand-mother Lidija Nesterova in a semi-detached house in Railway Road, Wisbech.
Alisa, who was born in Latvia in May 1994 and moved to the UK with her family in 2009, had been due to enrol in a beautician course at the College of West Anglia in King’s Lynn on September 1 but disappeared before she could start.
The last positive sighting of her was in Friar’s Street, King’s Lynn, at 12.15am on Wednesday, August 31 2011, where she was seen in a green Lexus car with two men.
It is thought she may have socialised with friends in the vicinity of Snettisham beach that night.
Police have now released images of a pink V-neck jumper and black zip-up coat similar to that worn by Alisa when she was last seen and that have never been recovered.
They are also appealing for anyone with information about her black LG GM360 phone, which is also missing.
It is hoped that these new images – together with the emotive picture of her grave – might yet help generate the information they desperately need to solve the mystery with a new appeal, two years on from her disappearance.
Det Insp Marie James, of the Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team, said: “We absolutely know there are individuals out there who know how and why Alisa died.
“We also believe there are other people with important information who may have previously been too scared to come forward.
“Alisa was a young woman on the cusp of adulthood whose life was cut short. Her family want answers and we need to bring those responsible to justice.
“We are asking people who have the information to have the courage to come forward.”
Det Insp James insisted police are more determined than ever to solve the case and believe the answers lie within the Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian communities living in Wisbech and King’s Lynn which is where officers are placing updated posters in Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian.
She added: “We know Alisa socialised within the young local Eastern European communities in Wisbech and King’s Lynn and hope that, two years after she went missing, allegiances may have changed and people with important information, if they didn’t have the confidence at the time, will now feel able to come forward.”
Alisa’s partially-clothed body was found in a copse at Anmer, known as French’s Covert Belt, by a member of the public at about 4pm on January 1 2012.
Despite extensive inquiries and tests, police have been unable to confirm exactly how or when Alisa died but continue to treat her death as suspicious.
Two men arrested in connection with her death were later released without charge.
Anyone with information about Alisa’s death chould contact the Major Investigation Team at Norfolk Constabulary on 101 or visit their local police station. Translation services are available on request.
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