Covered with lime, next to a bloody knife and with a bouquet of flowers on her torso: this is how the National Police found yesterday the walled-up body of Sibora Gagani, the young Albanian-Italian woman who disappeared in 2014 in Torremolinos (Málaga) and allegedly stabbed to death by her ex-partner Marco R., currently in prison for another sexist crime.
An innovative X-ray system has been crucial in locating the body of the young woman, who has remained hidden for nine years behind a double brick wall built by the suspect in a corner of the bedroom of the apartment they both shared on GarcÃa de la Serna street. of Torremolinos.
Marco R., who was arrested on May 17 for the murder of Paula, with whom he had just broken up a sentimental relationship, spontaneously told the agents who were guarding him that Gagani “was buried in the attic” where he lived with her, although she did not later ratify it in the presence of a lawyer or in court.
From that moment on, National Police agents focused the investigation on the apartment in the El Calvario neighborhood, where initially a first entry and search procedure was carried out in the house to try to locate the body, even using densimeters and micro-cameras between the walls. .
To this initial record were added two new visual inspections by the Scientific Police on suspicion of the use of some abrasive substance by the person under investigation to eliminate evidence.
It was not until yesterday, with the help of an innovative X-ray technique, when the agents found the remains of Sibora Gagani, who was 22 years old at the time of her disappearance, that Marco R. himself denounced at the time, shortly after that they broke up the relationship.
The agents detected an alteration in the construction of one of the walls of a room. This space was compared with the adjoining house, with the same distribution, and it was observed that a closet had been built in the corresponding place, a hole that did not exist in the house being searched.
David, the current tenant of this apartment, explained to the media this Wednesday that this double partition, located in a corner of the room, was perfectly made, so it was impossible to know that it was not a wall of the original construction.
With the full collaboration of the owner and the current tenants of the house, according to the Police, the wall was demolished and a large chipboard box was located behind it.
The inside of the box, which was covered, was full of lime and gave off a strong smell of this substance.
The agents located a plastic bag wrapped in lime that contained a knife with traces of dried blood. They carefully extracted the lime and found buried under it different objects that could have belonged to the disappeared woman and a bouquet of flowers on the torso of a corpse, which was inside a camping bag.
Upon opening said sack, the agents found a body wrapped in plastic bags, which, once removed, revealed a complete corpse, in “saponification” conditions, although it could be intuited that it was a woman.
David, who has lived in the apartment for seven years, explained that he and his partner have lived the last few hours “with tension and a lot of emotion.”
“The important thing is that everything has gone as planned by the Police and that the family can rest and know the truth of what has happened to their daughter after nine years of uncertainty,” he said.
Sibora Gagani’s family was convinced that Marco R. had killed her when he found out about the crime of his other ex-partner.
“We one hundred percent knew that he had killed her at that moment,” Sibora’s sister, Kseva Gagani, has assured EFE, who has recounted that they are going through some horrible days and are currently waiting for the Police to confirm with the test. of DNA that the mortal remains found in Torremolinos belong to his sister.
The person investigated was included in the Comprehensive Monitoring System in cases of Gender Violence, known as VioGén, for two previous relationships, one of them even with precautionary measures, but he was not included for Paula or Sibora, both ex-partners.
Hence, the head of the Unit against Gender Violence of the Government Sub-delegation in Malaga, Amaya MartÃnez, today highlighted the importance of reporting, while praising the “impeccable” work of the National Police and the ” relief” that the family must feel when Sibora’s body has been found.
The agents are waiting to confirm if the mother and sister can travel to Malaga. If this were not possible, the Police would go to Italy, where they both currently reside, to take the pertinent DNA samples.
The Torremolinos City Council has declared a day of official mourning and the flags fly at half mast and this morning a silent concentration was held at the door of the town hall chaired by its mayoress, Margarita del Cid.
The Investigation Court number 3 of Torremolinos has taken charge of the investigation, which remains open and under summary secrecy.
