Body of young woman with signs of asphyxiation found dumped in a Torremolinos street

Spain's National Police force is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a young woman whose body was found abandoned in a street in Torremolinos. The victim, as yet unidentified, died some hours before the discovery, and it is presumed by the authorities that the body was left there during the night. According to sources, the woman showed signs of asphyxia.

It was a few minutes past half past one in the morning on Wednesday 13 September when the body was found. It was some young people on their way home who came across the body on the pavement. Specifically, it was next to a pedestrian crossing at the entrance to the Benyamina Norte residential development, which is made up of two blocks and is situated in the upper part of Playamar. It is an area busy with pedestrian traffic, especially during the day.

The first alert was received by the Local Police in Torremolinos, who sent a patrol to the scene and alerted the health services to try to revive the young woman. The 061 paramedics were unable to do anything to save her life and initial observations suggested that she could have been dead for several hours.

As it was a death on a public road, and given the possibility of violence being involved, Local Police officers alerted the Torremolinos-Benalmádena National Police station, which sent specialists from the UDEV specialised and violent crime unit, responsible for investigating homicides among other things.

The judicial commission - composed of the duty judge, the lawyer of the Administration of Justice (LAJ) and a forensic doctor - was also activated to allow the removal of the body, which lasted well into the early hours of the morning, as extreme precautions had to be taken to preserve anything at the scene that could eventually become evidence.

The victim's body was first taken to the Hospital Clínico Universitario de Malaga for X-rays to detect internal fractures or other signs of violence. After that, the body was taken to the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML), where the autopsy was carried out on Wednesday morning.

The forensic examination was carried out by two professionals from the pathology service, as per protocol in the case of violent deaths where, in addition, there is suspicion about the cause of death. The final report is pending chemical, toxicological and histopathological tests, which is a microscopic study of the samples collected during the autopsy.

At the time of publication, sources close to the case confirmed that the victim has not yet been identified. Investigators estimate that she could be aged between 20 and 30 years old - although she had no documents on her. The only thing found next to her was a handbag which was practically empty. Police will now start checking reports or calls from people who have gone missing in the last few days to see if it could be one of them.

Initial police investigations suggest that the woman died of asphyxia, although the type has not yet been determined. Although the main theory is that she died a violent death, it has not been ruled out that she may have died as a result of an adverse reaction to a substance. In any case, the body must have been carried there.

The death of the young woman is believed to be the third violent death of a woman in the Costa del Sol town so far this year. The first case was that of Paula, a 28-year-old waitress who was stabbed to death, allegedly by her ex-partner, Marco (45).

The victim had broken off her relationship with him and was even seeing someone else, but they were still living together until one of them could move out of the flat they shared in Torremolinos, where the crime took place on 11 May.

The alleged murderer fled the scene of the incident, but was arrested shortly afterwards by the Local Police. Once at the police station, where Marco invoked his right not to testify, he made a spontaneous statement about a previous partner, Sibora, who had been missing since 2014.

"Sibora is nearby, in Calvario, in a house, buried in a wall. Come on, I'll take you there", he continued to tell the police, who asked him to be more specific. "In García de la Serna's house, in the attic flat where I lived with her. We had a fight and I stabbed her", he literally told the agents.

After several searches of the flat, the police found the body of the young woman, which was in a kind of coffin hidden within the walls of the building.