Skull found off Peterhead coast two years ago identified as missing Norwegian woman

A skull which was found 150 miles off the coast of Peterhead two years ago has been identified as a missing Norwegian woman.

A fishing boat discovered the human remains in the North Sea at around 1.40pm on May 15, 2024.

Forensic work initially determined that the skull belonged to a 50-year-old woman. Detectives at the time were treating the death as unexplained.

In February 2025, a reconstruction of the woman’s face, created by a team at the University of Dundee, was released by Police Scotland.

North East & Tayside

Facial reconstruction image released after woman’s skull found off coast

Forensics has confirmed the skull found in the North Sea belongs to a woman.

Seven months on, the skull was identified via DNA match as missing Norwegian woman Eleah Sneve, who was last seen in the city of Kristiansand on April 5, 2024.

The DNA identification was only made possible after the 27-year-old was searched for via Interpol’s database.

The autopsy carried out at the time did not identify any obvious signs of injury. Detectives are yet to determine how Eleah died, however, they are exploring a number of theories including whether she was the victim of crime.

Following the discovery, Norwegian police apologised to Eleah’s family for a failure in procedure.

With missing person cases in Norway, officers search for the individual both nationally, through the Schegen cooperation, and a search of Interpol’s database.

Eleah Sneve was reported missing in Norway. Facebook

However, a delay in expanding the search resulted in a longer wait for the skull to be identified.

Terje Kaddeberg Skaar, head of prosecution in Agder Police District, said: “The missing person should have been wanted in the Schengen cooperation when the missing person report was received by the police.

“We have apologized to the relatives that this has not been done. This case shows that we should be looking for people internationally at an earlier time than was done in this case.

“We are now reviewing our routines at the system level for international wanted persons. We have a great many missing person cases in the district, and it is important that our routines contribute to relatives receiving answers as quickly as possible in the search for missing persons, while at the same time safeguarding the privacy of people who do not want to be found.”

The rest of Eleah’s body has never been found.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “A human skull found by a fishing boat in the North Sea around 150 miles off the coast of Peterhead in May 2024 has been identified as a woman from overseas.”