Athens - Police have discovered another body in the search for
the victims of a serial killer on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
This brought the number of victims found so far in an unprecedented
series of murders for Cyprus to seven.
Divers found the body Wednesday afternoon in a suitcase that had been
sunk in a quarry pool, a police spokesman told Cypriot state
broadcaster (RIK) Thursday morning. It was apparently the body of a
young girl.
The corpse of a woman had been found on Tuesday. By all accounts it
was the remains of a woman from the Philippines, but this still had
to be confirmed by forensics, the spokesman said.
The alleged perpetrator, a 35-year-old captain in the Cypriot
National Guard, has so far confessed to seven murders, according to
police.
Cyprus police official says divers searching the bottom of a lake have discovered the remains of what authorities believe to be the remains of a 6-year-old girl that a serial killer has confessed to killing. The remains are thought to be the 7th and final victim of a 35-year-old Cyprus army captain. Picture: Philippos Christou/AP
The victims - five women and two children - are believed to come from
Asia and Romania. The women had worked as housekeepers in Cyprus.
The case has gripped Cyprus since April.
So far, the police have found bodies in an abandoned ore mine and in
the quarry pool. Officials do not expect any more bodies to come to
light, according to Cypriot media reports early Thursday.
Police officials stand next to a tent where divers brought what is believed to be remains of a 6-year-old girl, near the village of Xiliatos, Cyprus. Picture: Philippos Christou/AP
Criticism of the authorities led the Cypriot justice minister to
resign in May, while the police chief was fired.
Criticism was prompted above all because the missing were foreigners
and people on the margins of society and the police had therefore not
been active enough in tracing them despite missing person
notifications having been made from the year 2016.