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 in an effort 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, said the latest identification would give fresh hope to the families and friends of missing persons and new leads to investigators.
Ms Zavada's body was discovered in July 2005 beside a road in the province of Barcelona. She was dressed in a pink floral top, pink trousers, and pink shoes, leading police to refer to her as the woman in pink. The cause of death was deemed suspicious, as evidence suggested her body had been moved shortly before its discovery.
Last year, the case joined Operation Identify Me, with Interpol releasing 'black notices' seeking information about unidentified bodies for the first time. Turkish police matched Ms Zavada's fingerprints in their database, leading to a DNA match with a close relative in Russia.
Investigations into her death continue, as Interpol works to identify another 44 women found dead in various European countries. The campaign highlights the broader issue of gender-based violence and the challenges in identifying victims amid global migration and trafficking.
