Suspect arrested in Mitseros murder case

Police arrested a foreign national in connection with a female corpse that was found two days ago at an abandoned mine in Nicosia, with reports saying she has been identified as a woman from the Philippines.

(Click here for an update to the story)

According to preliminary reports, the body of an Asian female that had been dropped inside an elevator mine shaft in Mitseros has been identified as belonging to a slain Filipina woman.

During the early stages of the investigation, police had little information regarding the victim, while two forensic pathologists had failed to identify the woman or the cause of her death.

But on Tuesday it was reported that a pair of earrings worn by the victim helped authorities match the body to a woman from the Philippines who was reported missing in 2018. The earrings were identified by a person described either as close to the victim or next to kin.

Police have not yet officially confirmed the nationality of the victim. Information about a crucial item found by investigators had been withheld initially from the public, pending the course of the investigation. But reports of a pair of earrings came suddenly on Tuesday along with information that an arrest warrant had been issued against the foreign national.

Suspect arrested

Police wrote on Twitter in the late afternoon that a 33-year-old male suspect was arrested on charges of premeditated murder. Preliminary reports said the man had been living together with the victim.

On Sunday, two German nationals spotted the corpse at the abandoned mine in Mitseros, Kokkinoyia area in Nicosia district. The woman had been described as Asian but little else was immediately known. She is believed to have been killed elsewhere and then her body, tied up and wrapped in a sheet, was dropped into a well.

Media sources said the woman’s limbs, which had been cut off from the rest of her body, were found by crime investigators in the area.

This story has been updated with information about an arrest of a 33-year-old foreign national