A charity reopens the case of an unidentified woman found dead on the A1 in 1975, seeking leads after nearly 50 years.
She walked on the road early one morning. A car hit her near Baldock. She had no shoes, but clean feet, and carried nothing and had no ID.
“Baldock Woman” remains unidentified. Locate International is a charity that investigates missing and unidentified people. They think they have a new clue now, and the charity also made a new image showing how she might have looked.
In 2010, a couple recognized her from a reconstruction. They said she was French and stayed with them. David Liversedge met her in 1972 during a thunderstorm on the North Circular Road.
She stayed with David and his wife, Barbara. She said she was from near Paris and used the names Anna or Odile. People said she was 23 to 25 years old. She went to the Stotfold Social Club and worked in Henlow, making souvenirs. She said she was going to a language school in Cambridge.
Someone saw her at 5:30 am on February 18, shortly before her death. She spoke with a foreign accent and said she was going to London. She was found on the A1 southbound. The investigators think she was 17 to 25. She had fair hair and hazel eyes, a scar on her leg, and a piercing on her right ear. She wore specific clothes.
Locate International found a newspaper article. The article mentioned Odile Ledoux, a 20-year-old French student who studied English in Cambridge. She was in a house fire in 1972. The article listed her address as 143 Sturton Street, Cambridge, where she went to college, now Anglia Ruskin University. Keith Gedney owned the house.
A spokesperson said they are now investigating Odile Ledoux, checking in the UK and France. They ask anyone who knows the name to contact them and will still check other leads. The woman knew people in Newquay, Cornwall, and may have been going to visit them. The body was found near the couple’s home.
A milkman saw “Baldock Woman” before she died. He said she seemed scared and he tried to reassure her. He believed she had not travelled far, and the charity thinks she was hurt before her death.
Witnesses say she used the name Anne, and investigators are considering this name too. Locate International asks for help now. Do you remember someone walking on the A1 early that morning? Do you recall someone matching her description back then? Remember the name Odile Ledoux.
You might have worked with her in Henlow. Did she go to women’s or gay-friendly places? The charity’s CEO, Mark Greenhalgh, spoke, saying even after all this time, information could help. The window is closing to find answers.
Hew Morrison made the new images, working with the Liversedges to create an accurate depiction of her. Hew said the new images can help the cold case, stating it’s important to identify her. She should have her name back, and nobody should be unidentified.
If you have information, contact Locate International. Email them, call them, or visit their website.