More shock in Cyprus as police retrieve body of eight-year-old girl

Police in Cyprus have found the body of an eight-year old girl, the fifth victim of a confessed serial killer who preyed on foreign women for almost three years without detection.

The body was found in the second suitcase mentioned by the killer in the lake Kokkini Limni (red lake) in Mitsero, Cyprus.

Local reports indicated that the body was found in the second suitcase mentioned by the killer in an advanced state of decomposition.

The girl was the daughter of 36-year-old Livia Florentina, whose body was retrieved from the same lake with the help of sonar equipment on 28 April, Greek Orthodox Easter.

"A body has been found decomposed. It is not identifiable and is being taken to the mortuary now for further inquiries," a police official said. The latest body was also in a suitcase, another official on the scene said.

A 35-year-old career army captain has been in custody since late April on suspicion of killing five adult women and the young daughters of two of the victims.

The semi-official Cyprus News Agency reported that police believed the body in the suitcase was that of a child.
Four of those killed are thought to be from the Philippines, including a mother and her six-year-old daughter. A woman from Romania and her eight-year-old daughter and a further victim from Nepal were also killed.

Police say they have two written confessions from the suspect, who met the women online. Most were employed as housekeepers on the island, and disappeared between September 2016 and July to August 2018.

The case has triggered outrage and horror in Cyprus, where the cases appear to be the worst peacetime atrocities against women in living memory.

On Friday Cyprus's president fired the chief of police, citing apparent...