Second body retrieved from red lake

Divers retrieved another suitcase from the red lake on Sunday, with first indications pointing to the body of a young Romanian girl based on a confession by the alleged serial killer who admitted seven murders.

(Click here for an update to the story)

Crime investigators and forensic pathologists were called to the red lake in Mitseros, Nicosia district, on Sunday afternoon following the retrieval of a second suitcase in the serial killer case. Reports said the suitcase contained a decomposed corpse, fully clothed, believed to be the body of 8-year-old Elena Natalia Bunea.

Elena is believed to have been dumped in the red lake by alleged serial killer Nikos Metaxas, a 35-year-old Greek Cypriot army captain who confessed to seven murders including the girl’s mother, 36-year-old Romanian national Livia Florentina Bunea whose body was found last Sunday at the same location.

A search for a third suitcase is still ongoing at the red lake after the use of sonar technology acquired on Saturday helped overcome technical difficulties and revealed a detailed 3D map of the lakebed. Officials believe the body of Maricar Valdez Arquiola, aged 30 from the Philippines, is still underwater in the red lake.

The red lake is right across from an old and abandoned flooded mine shaft where the bodies of two other Filipinas were found last month, 38-year-old Marry Rose Tiburcio and 28-year-old Αrian Palanas Lozano. Another female body was found in a pit at a remote location in Orounda, rural Nicosia, believed to be 30-year-old Asmita Khadka Bista from Nepal.

Marry Rose’s daughter, 6-year-old Sierra Graze Seucalliuc is also feared dead, with the suspect saying he dumped her body in Memi lake, a few miles west of the mine shaft.

The suspect was once again remanded in custody for eight days on Sunday, with rape charges added to a long list of serious crimes including seven counts of premeditated murder.