Body of ‘woman in pink’ found dead in Spain 20 years ago finally identified after Interpol campaign

Interpol led an international campaign to identify a woman whose body had been discovered in Barcelona, Spain more than 20 YEARS AGO.

On Thursday, an international policing organization announced that Liudmila zavada, 31, was the woman.

Previously known as ‘the woman in pink’, the female’s body was found on July 2, 2005 in Viladecans, near to the busy Barcelona El-Prat airport.

She was wearing a pair of pink, three quarter length trousers with floral prints, a black and pink top and sandals.

Investigators believed the woman was between 20 and 25, with brown hair and blue eyes, and a light complexion.

According to local police, the cause of death was suspicious as evidence suggested the body had been moved in the twelve hours preceding its discovery – although no one has ever been arrested over the case.

READ MORE: ‘Woman in the shed’ finally identified in Spain- igniting fresh hope for cold case investigators

Valdecy Urquiza, secretary general of the policing agency, said the campaign to identify Zavada would give ‘fresh hope to the families and friends of missing persons’.

He said, “After 20 Years, a woman who was unknown has been renamed.”

Interpol’s 196 member nations shared their biometric records as part of the operation.

Turkish police checked Zavada’s finger prints against a database of national fingerprints and found a match with a family member living in Russia.

“Congratulations on the collaboration between the Spanish authorities, Turkish authorities and Russian officials in this case. We are helping more families to find answers by leveraging global collaboration and connecting with police all over the world.

Zavada was the third woman to be identified by Interpol’s Operation Identify Me. This initiative, launched in 2023, aims to identify women who have been found dead under suspicious or unexplained conditions across Europe.

The first case that was solved involved a British woman who had been murdered in Belgium over 30 years earlier.

READ MORE: Interpol appeal: The seven murdered women in Spain who still need to be identified – and whose killers remain on the loose – Olive Press News Spain

Rita Roberts’ distinctive tattoo was recognized by members of Rita Roberts’ family in a TV news report.

Ainoha Lima Izaga, 33, from Paraguay, was found dead earlier this year in a chicken shed near Girona.

Paraguayan officials matched fingerprints from Spain with those in their national database.

Police are still trying to find the identities of another 44 women found dead in suspicious circumstances across Europe – including Spain.

The remaining cases from Spain are called ‘the woman of Mount Artxanda’, ‘the woman with the owl ring’, ‘the introvert’, ‘the woman who wasn’t alone’ and the ‘woman on the road’.

The victims were found in Ibiza and Madrid, as well as Catalunya. Interpol’s site has details on the cases.

Interpol reports that the increase in global migration and human traficking has made identifying dead bodies more difficult. Women are more disproportionately affected than men by gendered violence like domestic abuse, sexual assualt and trafficking.

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