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Cyprus Confessed Serial Killer Trial Delayed for Evidence Hunt

May 30, 2019

NICOSIA – Despite having a confession from a military officer who said he killed five foreign female workers and two of their children, his trial has been set back at least another week so authorities can gather more corroborating evidence and find two of the victims.

Nikos Metaxas, also known as Orestis, reportedly admitted the murders and five bodies have been recovered, while those of the daughter of one victim and another adult female are still being searched for.

Prosecutors want authorities to find the body of 30-year-old Filipina Maricar Valdez Arquiola, who went missing in December 2017 as her case, unlike the others, is said to have damning evidence against Metaxas, Kathimerini Cyprus said in a report.

Local media said toxicology reports were pending on the five corpses recovered and it’s unclear what their causes of death were.

Fire Department Chief Marcos Trangolas, who has been overseeing the search for bodies outside the capital said it’s being concentrated at a toxic red lake where two bodies in suitcases – mother and daughter – linked to the case have already been retrieved.

Maricar’s body is believed to be in a third suitcase at the lake, while 6-year-old Sierra Graze Seucalliuc is believed to be at the bottom of Memi Lake, it was reported.

“The order I have from above is to exhaust all possibilities in locating the victims,” Trangolas told reporters. Divers are expected to be ate the lake another two weeks, joined by Israeli experts with special equipment.

“The divers go under water on a daily basis from the morning until late in the afternoon. We will need around 15 days especially at the Red Lake to exhaust all possibilities and these are the orders I have been given. To exhaust every possible chance in the search of the victims,” Trangolas said.

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