Two suitcases have been found at the bottom of the man-made red lake where detained Cypriot military officer told investigators he had dumped the bodies of three of his victims.
A robotic camera found the suitcases and will be used to keep scouring the lake for a third suitcase that is suspected to be under water.
The 35-year-old National Guard captain has confessed to killing seven foreign women, including two young girls, however there are fears that the toll may be higher.
The lake where the suitcases are found is part of an abandoned copper pyrite mine. The first victim’s body had been found in a nearby flooded mine shaft on 14 April. A second victim’s body was recovered on 20 April, before the suspect confessed to killing them both.
Police told a judge at a court hearing on Saturday that the suspect gave details of the slayings, dating as far back as 20 September 2016, in 10 handwritten pages. The police found a photos of the abandoned mineshaft where the women were dumped in the possessions of the suspect and had evidence of online chats with the murdered women.
He has yet to be formally charged, however he faces charges of premeditated murder and kidnapping.
Hundreds showed up at a vigil outside the Cypriot presidential palace on Friday to mourn the victims. The police are criticised for their failure to adequately investigate the missing person’s reports that had been filed by friends and colleagues of the foreign women, who had come to Cyprus to work as housekeepers and other jobs.