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 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, expressed that this identification brings fresh hope to the families and friends of missing persons and offers new leads to investigators.
Liudmila Zavada's body was discovered in July 2005 beside a road in Barcelona, dressed in pink attire, leading police to refer to her as the woman in pink. Despite the suspicious circumstances surrounding her death, her identity remained unknown until the recent breakthrough through Interpol’s campaign.
Last year, her case was added to Operation Identify Me, which has involved public notices seeking information on unidentified bodies and sharing records globally. Turkish police identified her using fingerprints, confirming her identity through a DNA match with a relative in Russia.
Investigations into her death continue, with authorities addressing the broader context of missing women amid increasing global migration and human trafficking.
