Phantom of Heilbronn

The Phantom of Heilbronn, often alternatively referred to as the "Woman Without a Face", was a hypothesized unknown female serial killer whose existence was inferred from DNA evidence found at numerous crime scenes in Austria, France and Germany from 1993 to 2009.

[1] An analysis of the mitochondrial DNA from samples collected in Austria showed characteristics most often found among people in Eastern Europe and neighbouring Russia.

[3][4] The investigations were concentrated in a special task force named Parkplatz ("parking lot") at the Heilbronn police department.

They subsequently came to the conclusion that there was no mysterious criminal and the laboratory results were due to contamination of the cotton swabs used for DNA probing.

It was found that the contaminated swabs all came from the same factory, which employed several Eastern European women who fit the type the DNA was assumed to match.