Tell me about the body of a teenage girl that as found on queens property in England

Checked on February 7, 2026
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Executive summary

A decomposed body discovered on New Year’s Day 2012 in woodland on the Sandringham Estate was later identified as 17‑year‑old Alisa Dmitrijeva, a Latvian teenager reported missing in August 2011; police treated the discovery as suspicious and launched a murder inquiry [1][2]. The investigation produced arrests but no prosecutions, and after years with few public breakthroughs detectives said the inquiry was exhausted and the case was passed to the coroner [3][4].

1. The discovery and initial police assessment

A dog‑walker found human remains on 1 January 2012 in a wooded area at Anmer on the Sandringham Estate, the 20,000‑acre private property where the royal family traditionally holiday, and detectives soon said the remains were of a young adult female and “highly unlikely” to be from natural causes or accident, prompting a murder investigation [5][6][7].

2. Identification as a missing 17‑year‑old

Forensic work eventually identified the body as Alisa Dmitrijeva, a 17‑year‑old Latvian who had been reported missing from Wisbech in late August 2011; identification relied on partial palm records and DNA from a femur after initial attempts to build a full DNA profile from bone and tissue had failed [1][8][9].

3. Scene details, condition and timeline

Police said the remains had been at the site for some time — estimates ranged from about one to four months — and reports described the body as partially clothed and located in undergrowth near a country lane that links Sandringham with the village of Anmer; entomological evidence was used to help refine how long the remains had been there [10][11][8].

4. Investigative steps and public profile

The discovery drew intense media attention because it occurred on land owned by the Queen and because Sandringham was occupied by members of the royal family over Christmas, and police reportedly kept the royals informed; detectives conducted searches, arrested two men in connection with the death, and launched appeals to the public for information [6][11][1].

5. Arrests, lack of prosecution and later case status

Two men were arrested during the inquiry but police later announced no action would be taken against them; by mid‑2014 investigators said the probe had been “exhausted” with no new leads and the investigation materials were being passed to the coroner, leaving the case unresolved in the public record [3][4].

6. Media narratives, public reaction and investigative limits

Coverage ranged from straightforward reporting of police statements to more speculative pieces linking the find to other missing Eastern European women, and the royal connection amplified public interest and conspiracy‑tinged commentary — however, source reporting does not provide evidence implicating the royal household and repeatedly notes police warnings against speculation while keeping many investigative details confidential [12][6][7].

7. What remains unknown from the publicly available reporting

Contemporary sources give no definitive public account of the exact cause or precise circumstances of Dmitrijeva’s death beyond police treating it as suspicious, and while forensic identifications and timelines are reported, prosecutable evidence and the contents of the coroner’s further findings are not detailed in the articles provided; therefore reporting can confirm identification, scene and investigative milestones but cannot supply unanswered forensic or legal conclusions not published by police or coroners [8][4].

Want to dive deeper?
What did the coroner’s inquest conclude about Alisa Dmitrijeva's death, and where can the verdict be found?
How often do high‑profile crime scenes on private estates lead to public inquiries in the UK, and how are such investigations handled differently?
What are the challenges of identifying decomposed remains using femur DNA and palm records in forensic practice?