LYON: A woman nicknamed “The Woman in Pink” after her body was found in Spain two decades ago has finally been identified, Interpol said Thursday.
The case is the latest to be solved by the international police organization’s cold cases campaign “Identify Me,” created in 2023 and tasked with identifying women who were found dead across Europe in recent decades, murdered or in suspicious circumstances.
The woman was named as Liudmila Zavada, a Russian national, Interpol said.
She was found dead in 2005 by a road in Viladecans, Spain, close to Barcelona, dressed in a pink floral top, pink trousers, and pink shoes, and had been dead for less than 24 hours.
Police believed the body had been moved in the 12 hours prior to discovery, suggesting foul play. But her identity remained a mystery.
Last year Spanish police, having no new leads, handed the case to the Identify Me campaign, which Interpol coordinates in collaboration with Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain.
A breakthrough in the recent case came this year when police in Turkiye ran the woman’s fingerprints through a national biometric database, resulting in a match with Zavada, aged 31 at the time of her death.
The match was subsequently confirmed through kinship DNA analysis using the DNA of one of her close relatives.
“After 20 years, an unknown woman has been given back her name,” said Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza in a statement.
The case is the third success for the Identify Me appeal.
In 2023 it led to the identification of Rita Roberts, a British woman who was found murdered in Antwerp in 1992, thanks to relatives recognizing her tattoo.
Earlier this year, 33-year-old Ainoha Izaga Ibieta Lima was identified when Paraguayan authorities matched fingerprints uploaded by Spain against their own national databases.
The Identify Me campaign is still trying to solve 44 cases of unidentified women.
Interpol identifies ‘Woman in Pink’ after 20 years
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Interpol identifies ‘Woman in Pink’ after 20 years
- The case is the latest to be solved by the international police organization’s cold cases campaign “Identify Me,” created in 2023
- The woman was named as Liudmila Zavada, a Russian national, Interpol said
South Korea calls for resuming dialogue with North
- President Lee Jae Myung has sought to mend ties with the nuclear-armed North since taking office in June
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul
SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called on Sunday for dialogue with North Korea to resume, after Pyongyang last week shunned the prospect of diplomacy with its neighbor.
Since taking office in June, a dovish Lee has sought to mend ties with the nuclear-armed North, which reaffirmed its anti-Seoul approach during a party meeting last week.
“As my administration has repeatedly made clear, we respect the North’s system and will neither engage in any type of hostile acts, nor pursue any form of unification by absorption,” Lee said in a speech marking the anniversary of a historical campaign against Japan’s colonial rule.
“We will also continue our efforts to resume dialogue with the North,” he said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, describing its overtures as “clumsy, deceptive farce and a poor work.”
Speaking at the party congress in Pyongyang, Kim said North Korea has “absolutely no business dealing with South Korea, its most hostile entity, and will permanently exclude South Korea from the category of compatriots.”
But he also said the North could “get along well” with the United States if Washington acknowledges its nuclear status.
Speculation has mounted over whether US President Donald Trump will seek a meeting with Kim during planned travels to China.
Last year, Trump said he was “100 percent” open to a meeting.
Previous Trump-Kim summits during the US president’s first term fell apart after the pair failed to agree over sanctions relief — and what nuclear concessions North Korea might make in return.
