Divers hold out in search for Maricar

Authorities are not giving up their efforts to locate the body of an adult Filipina, whose disappearance in connection to her alleged killer is documented with solid evidence according to police.

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Divers were scheduled to get back in the water at the Red Lake, in rural Nicosia, in search for the body of 30-year-old Maricar Valdez Arquiola who went missing in December 2017. New search points for Friday include diving to depths between 3 and 18 metres within a 500 square metre area, in search of a suitcase believed to contain Maricar’s body. 

Maricar, who is still missing and presumed dead, is believed to have been murdered by alleged serial killer Nikos Metaxas, a 35-year-old Greek Cypriot army captain also known as Orestis.

The suspect has reportedly confessed to killing Maricar and six other foreign females, including two children, with the bodies of four women and one child already recovered. Another young girl, six-year-old Sierra Graze Seucalliuc is also missing, with Orestis telling police he dumped her body in another lake.

Police say they have a ten-page confession hand-written by the suspect reportedly admitting seven murders. Investigators were also still sifting through an enormous collection of data, but it was still unclear which evidence could be circumstantial in connection to the females whose bodies have already been discovered.

Observers raised the possibility that the suspect could withdraw his confession, which could pose legal and prosecutorial challenges in the trial if no official cause of death and other hard evidence are linked to Orestis.

Cyber crime analysts are continuing to examine Orestis’ online activity, where he was known to prey on foreign women, while experts said crucial evidence may have already been destroyed forever.

Maricar’s body could be crucial for prosecutors as it is a case where the circumstances of her actual disappearance are reportedly linked directly to the suspect and his actions, including messaging, real-time information, and geographical data.