Ainoha Izaga Ibieta Lima's identification marks significant progress in Interpol's efforts to identify unknown victims, highlighting the importance of global cooperation in solving cold cases and restoring dignity to families.
Identification of Paraguayan Woman Seven Years After Discovery Opens New Path in Unsolved Cases
Identification of Paraguayan Woman Seven Years After Discovery Opens New Path in Unsolved Cases
Interpol successfully identifies Ainoha Izaga Ibieta Lima, a woman found deceased in Spain almost seven years ago, through the Operation Identify Me initiative.
A campaign by Interpol, dubbed Operation Identify Me, has successfully identified a Paraguayan woman found deceased in a poultry shed in Spain nearly seven years ago. The renowned global policing agency announced on Thursday that the woman, identified as 33-year-old Ainoha Izaga Ibieta Lima, has been connected to her family thanks to cooperative efforts in fingerprint analysis.
Lima is the second person to be positively identified through the ongoing operation, which aims to shed light on the identities of numerous unidentified women discovered across Europe. This initiative comes in the wake of the identification of a British woman, murdered in Belgium, whose family recognized her through a tattoo picture circulated in a BBC News article.
Interpol's Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza emphasized that each identification achieved through this effort brings renewed hope to those who continue to search for missing loved ones. "Our mission transcends mere case resolution; it is fundamentally about restoring dignity to the victims and giving a voice to the grieving families impacted by tragedy," Urquiza commented.
Ainoha Izaga Ibieta Lima was discovered in August 2018 in Girona province, but no identification documents were found on her person. The local residents and those living in the adjacent farmhouse stated they had no prior knowledge of her identity. A distinctive tattoo on her body, displaying the word "success" written in Hebrew, was one of the few clues to her identity.
Last year, Lima was added to the database of unknown victims as part of the Operation Identify Me initiative, which has published "black notices"—requests for information regarding unidentified bodies—publicly for the first time. This initial breakthrough occurred earlier this month when fingerprints submitted by Spanish authorities were matched with those in Paraguay's national database.
Lima's brother noted that she had moved to Spain in 2013 and reported her missing in 2019 after a prolonged period without contact. Although Lima has now been identified, Interpol has stressed that the circumstances surrounding her death remain elusive.
Following the identification of Lima, the campaign previously identified a 31-year-old Welsh woman, Rita Roberts, whose case had gone cold since her body was discovered in 1992, shortly after her last postcard home from Belgium.
Operation Identify Me is currently tasked with locating the identities of an additional 45 women found deceased across several European nations, including the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain. Most of these women are believed to have been murder victims aged between 15 and 30, reflecting growing concerns about increased global migration and human trafficking, which complicate the identification process.
Interpol is appealing to the public for assistance in solving these cold cases, urging anyone with potential information or connections to reach out, thereby contributing to the resolution of these tragic stories and aiding in the identification of other victims.
