Search parties continue today their search for a woman and a child, believed to have been murdered by a self-confessed serial killer, currently in police custody.
So far five bodies have been recovered – of four women and one child. Two women were found in an abandoned mine shaft, one in a dry well at Orounta firing range and one at Kokkini Limni (Red Lake), at Mitsero. A second body of an eight year old girl was also pulled from the depths of Kokkini Limni.
According to Philenews, the search parties believe that, sooner or later, the suitcase with the body of Maricar Valtez from the Philippines and her six year old daughter, Siera, will be located.
Authorities have been combing the lake for days using divers, a robotic camera and state of the art sonar equipment in their search for murder victims.
Speaking yesterday, after a meeting of those involved in the search, Fire Department Chief Markos Trangolas said it was decided to continue the search, as planned, with a diver to investigate three marked targets. The Authorities, he added, are in touch with a bureau in Britain, recommended by Scotland Yard, which has a special radar to scan the ground.
At Memi lake, in Xyliatos, the data collected so far from the sonar scan will be examined in order to identify the priority points, to enable a diver to search the marked locations.
On Monday, the self-confessed murderer will appear again before the court for a renewal of his remand order.
A Greek Cypriot army officer who has reportedly confessed to killing five women and two children, has told police he had put the bodies of three of his victims — a mother and daughter and another woman — in suitcases and thrown them in Kokkini Limni.
Divers have recovered the bodies of the mother and daughter but are still looking for the third victim. They are also still looking for the body of a six year old girl which the suspect said he had thrown into a lake at Xyliatou.
The case has shocked public opinion and led to the resignation of the Justice Minister and the sacking of the police chief. An independent inquiry is underway as to how police handled the case of women and children reported missing and later found to be dead. Critics say that had police properly investigated the disappearances then lives could have been saved.
