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'John Smith' Found In Norway Snowdrift With No Memory

Police in Norway are now asking for the public's help months after finding a man with amnesia in a snow drift in Oslo.
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Police in Norway are now asking for the public's help months after finding a man with amnesia in a snow drift in Oslo.

Police released a photo of the man, believed to be in his 20s, who is currently identifying himself as John Smith. The BBC reports Smith gave police permission to release his picture publicly after months of searching for answers were unsuccessful.

Police have gone through missing person databases and sent Smith's fingerprints and pictures to police in eastern Europe. According to The Independent, Smith says he can understand five different languages, making it more difficult to find out where he came from.

The Daily Mail points out Smith didn't have his ID on him, doesn't know his name, and has no idea how he wound up in the snow drift. 

So far, police say they also don't know how Smith wound up in the snow drift, but the Daily Mirror reports police say he could have been the victim of a crime. Police didn't say why, though.

But Norway's NRK reports Smith was found in the snow drift with drugs in his system, his wrists tied up, and several cuts on his body that took months to heal.

Smith gave the paper his best guess for where he might have come from: "I think I'm Czech, it is the language I understand best. I also understand Polish, Slovak and Russian. But I think and dream in English."

According to the BBC, police in Norway are handling the bizarre case through its violence and sexual crimes unit.