A woman whose body was discovered in Spain more than 20 years ago has been identified through an international police campaign. The woman was named on Thursday as 31-year-old Russian citizen Liudmila Zavada.
She is the third person to be identified through the Operation Identify Me initiative, which was launched by police in 2023 in an effort to find the names of women who had been murdered or died in suspicious or unexplained circumstances in Europe.
Valdecy Urquiza, secretary general of international policing agency Interpol which leads the campaign, said the latest identification would give fresh hope to the families and friends of missing persons and new leads to investigators.
Ms. Zavada's body was discovered in July 2005 beside a road in the province of Barcelona, dressed entirely in pink. Local police indicated the death was suspicious as evidence suggested movement of the body prior to its discovery. Despite ongoing investigations at the time, her identity remained a mystery.
In a recent effort, Turkish police matched her fingerprints against national databases, which eventually led to her identification through familial DNA confirmation.
This case highlights the realities faced by many victims of violence, particularly women, who often remain unidentified due to various societal and systemic challenges, including migration and trafficking.
Efforts continue with police still searching for the identities of at least 44 women found dead across several European countries, underlining the ongoing struggle against gender-based violence.
