Two Filipino women who vanished last year found dead in flooded Cyprus mine shaft, daughter of one still missing
- Cypriot army officer suspected of killing all three, as campaigners claim police ignored concerns about their safety when women disappeared last year
Police in Cyprus are probing the actions of a possible serial killer after two women were found murdered and dumped in a flooded mine shaft and a third, a six-year-old child, is still missing.
The victims were discovered in the space of a week at an abandoned mine about 30km (18.6 miles) west of the capital Nicosia.
One has been identified as a 39-year-old woman from the Philippines who disappeared in May, 2018 along with her six-year-old daughter.
A second victim, found late on Saturday, is thought to be a 28-year-old from the Philippines who was also reported missing last year, though has not been definitively identified.
A 35-year-old career officer with the Cypriot army is in custody on suspicion of killing all three.
State-run Cyprus News Agency reported that investigators told a court during the suspect’s remand hearing that he admitted to strangling one of the victims he met online after having sex with her.
“This is a form of crime unprecedented for the norms of Cyprus. It’s premature to assess the extent of this crime,” police chief Zacharias Chrysostomou told reporters.