The 4 spookiest stories from Netflix’s reboot of Unsolved Mysteries

“A Death in Oslow”

The Story: Who was Jennifer Fairgate? Is that her real name? Who died in room 2805 at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in June of 1995? Was it a murder or suicide?

On the evening of June 3, 1995, hotel security realized that the woman in 2805 had checked in without providing payment information. When hotel staff knocked on her door, they heard a gunshot. They left to get the head of security, returned 15 minutes later, opened the door and found the woman dead of a gunshot wound to the head and holding a semi-automatic browning 9mm pistol. There were no other fingerprints found in the room, and police are still unable to identify the woman. She signed in under the name Jennifer Fairgate, and the official police theory was that she had committed suicide.

Theories: Of all of the stories on Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries, this might be the most mysterious of them all. Simply put, it makes no sense. So many facts about this case that are perplexing…

• Jennifer Fairgate (as she’ll be referred to from here on out) checked into the hotel with a man who signed in as Lois Fairgate. Both were seen by hotel staff, but Lois seems to have not returned to the hotel after checking in.
• Neither of these individuals presented identification or payment and were still given a room, which is extraordinarily unusual at this luxury hotel.
• On her registration card, Fairgate wrote that she was traveling from a small town in Belgium. Reporters visited this town and showed her picture to residents who had been living there all their lives, and no one recognized her.
• All of the tags from her clothing in the room had been removed. In her closet they found an array of tops, but no pants, skirts, or other clothing for the bottom half of her body.
• The toxicology tests after her death only checked for alcohol in her system, leaving out the possibility that she had been drugged or poisoned in some way.
• We know from the use of her room key that Jennifer was away from the hotel at one point for a period of 20-24 hours two days before her death.
• There was nothing in her briefcase aside from more rounds for the semi-automatic browning 9mm. The gun that was found in her hand is semi-automatic with a significant recoil. Also, there was no blood found on her hands as there typically is when someone shoots themselves.

So what happened to her and who was she? I don’t believe for a second that this was a suicide. The removal of tags from her clothing, lack of any other fingerprints in the room and the lack of blood on her hands all point to murder, and a professional and carefully planned murder at that.

I subscribe to the theory that Jennifer Fairgate was an alias used by a secret agent. This is why her fingerprints have no links to any real person and she’s been impossible to identify. It seems clear to me that she was involved with some sort of espionage, yet it baffles me how she was able to book a room at this hotel without any identification whatsoever. Furthermore, if she was assassinated, how did the assassin get away? The staff member heard a gun fire directly after knocking on the door, but I don’t believe this was the shot that killed Fairgate, but rather a warning shot to scare that staff member off. The window was left ajar when they entered the room, but the room was on the 28th floor, so there would be no way for someone to safely and discreetly exit.

I believe that the 15 minutes when the door was left unwatched are essential. A trained assassin could have easily slipped out and found a way out of the hotel in that time without being seen. Whoever killed this woman was good.

I believe that we will never know who Jennifer is, but all signs point to espionage and foul play.

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