Interpol's "Identify Me" Campaign Solves 20-Year Mystery: Russian Woman in Pink Finally Named

The victim has been identified as Liudmila Zavada, a Russian national, according to Interpol's announcement.

France:

After twenty years of mystery, "The Woman in Pink" - a nickname given to an unidentified female victim discovered in Spain - has finally been named, Interpol announced on Thursday.

This identification represents another success for Interpol's "Identify Me" cold case campaign, launched in 2023 with the specific mission of identifying deceased women found across Europe who were murdered or died under suspicious circumstances over recent decades.

Interpol revealed the victim as Liudmila Zavada, a Russian citizen. Her body was discovered in 2005 beside a road in Viladecans, Spain, near Barcelona. She was wearing distinctive pink clothing - a floral top, trousers, and shoes - and had been deceased for less than 24 hours.

Investigators determined that her body had been relocated within the 12 hours before discovery, suggesting homicide. However, her identity remained unknown for years despite investigation efforts.

When Spanish authorities exhausted all leads last year, they submitted the case to the Identify Me campaign, a collaborative effort coordinated by Interpol with Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain.

The breakthrough occurred this year when Turkish police matched the victim's fingerprints through their national biometric database, identifying her as Zavada, who was 31 years old at her death. DNA analysis comparing samples with a close relative confirmed the identification.

Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza stated, "After 20 years, an unknown woman has been given back her name."

This represents the third successful identification through the Identify Me initiative. In 2023, British citizen Rita Roberts, murdered in Antwerp in 1992, was identified when relatives recognized her distinctive tattoo. Earlier this year, authorities identified 33-year-old Ainoha Izaga Ibieta Lima when Paraguayan officials matched fingerprints submitted by Spain against their national records.

The Identify Me campaign continues working to resolve 44 additional cases of unidentified female victims.