Investigators release new image in bid to identify woman killed on A1 while walking barefoot 50 years ago
New images have been released in an attempt to determine the identity of a woman who was killed 50 years ago while walking on the A1.
Investigators trying to identify the woman, who was last seen in February 1975 walking without shoes along the A1 outside Baldock when she was hit by at least one car, also revealed what they believe could have been her name.
When ‘Baldock Woman’ was found, she was shoeless but because her feet were not dirty, it is not thought she had been barefoot for long.
Volunteer investigators with Locate International, a charity which investigates cold cases, have worked with a couple who think they knew the woman in the 1970s and have produced new images by a forensic artist who recreates images of the unknown dead.
The couple first came forward after an appeal in June 2010 and identified her as a French woman who went by the name of Anna or Odile and believed to be aged 23-25.
Investigators with the charity have now found a mention of an Odile Ledoux with a similar description in the Cambridge Evening News on 25 November, 1972.
A charity spokesman said: “This is potentially a major development in the investigation and we would appeal to anyone who recognises the name to come forward. But until all lines of inquiry are ruled out, we will continue to investigate all leads.”
The woman stayed with the couple in the early 1970s. They said she was a regular at the Stotfold Social Club, near Baldock, and worked at an industrial estate in nearby Henlow, Bedfordshire before travelling to study at a language school in Cambridge.
The article stated Odile Ledoux was an English student at Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology (CCAT), now Anglia Ruskin University, and lived in the city’s Sturton Street.
Researchers working on the case believe she was from or had lived in the north of Paris and had friends in Newquay, Cornwall.
Mark Greenhalgh, the charity’s CEO, said: “Even after 50 years, we are confident someone out there can help provide the one important clue that can help us reunite ‘Baldock Woman’ with her identity.
“The window to do so is closing, however. If she was alive today, she would be in her late 60s to mid-70s, so we are eager for people to come forward before it is too late.
“For years, our volunteers have worked diligently to identify Baldock Woman. Just one clue, however small, can help progress our investigation, or send it in a new direction, so please come forward.”
The charity is actively investigating the name Odile Ledoux along with the name Anne, Anna or a variation thereof.
Anyone with information can email appeals@locate.international, call 0300 102 1011 or visit locate.international/appeals/baldock-woman.
