Body on Queen's estate identified

8 January 2012 Last updated at 09:56 ET

Alisa was last seen in Norfolk in August

Detectives investigating the murder of a young woman found on the Queen's Sandringham Estate have named the victim as 17-year-old Alisa Dmitrijeva.

Her body was found by a dog walker in woodland at Anmer, near King's Lynn, on New Year's Day.

Latvian-born Miss Dmitrijeva was identified by comparing detail from her palm with records held.

Miss Dmitrijeva, from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, was last seen in Friars Street, King's Lynn, on 31 August.

In a press statement, Miss Dmitrijeva's family said they were "devastated" by news of her death.

Forensics experts had struggled to identify the body.

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Attempts to get a useable DNA profile for Miss Dmitrijeva from tooth and muscle samples were inconclusive.

The teenager was finally identified by comparing details from her palm with records held, which were further verified by DNA from her thigh bone.

A £5,000 reward was offered for information about Miss Dmitrijeva's whereabouts in December, just over three months after she went missing.

A Facebook advert, translated into Lithuanian and Latvian, was also used to try to trace the missing teenager.

Miss Dmitrijeva's remains were found on the Queen's Sandringham estate by a dog walker

Det Ch Insp Jes Fry, head of the Joint Norfolk and Suffolk major investigation team, said detectives would be working with officers from Cambridgeshire who had been trying to find Miss Dmitrijeva as a missing person.

The site where Miss Dmitrijeva's body was found is used regularly for pheasant and partridge shoots, often attended by members of the royal household.

'Highly unlikely'

Police have spoken to the Sandringham gamekeeper, estate manager and beaters for potential leads.

Officers want to speak to anyone who may have been in the area between the end of August and the end of September.

"I should add we are still trying to establish any activity which took place on or around the site during the time frame of the end of August to the end of September 2011," Mr Fry said.

"We would like to identify people who may have worked in that area or were involved in organising or running any specific events that may have taken place."

Police said it was "highly unlikely" Miss Dmitrijeva had died through natural causes.

There was no evidence of accidental injury, damage due to firearms or a bladed weapon, they said.