The transcontinental cold case was identified as the victim known as the “woman in the chicken coop”
A campaign to resolve unexplained cold cases marks its first transcontinental success on Thursday, with the police station Interpol reporting that it identified a Paraguayan woman found in Spain in 2018.
The French-based agency, in a statement called the 33-year-old victim, was previously known only as “the woman in the chicken coop”, namely Ainoha Izaga Ibieta Lima.
It called the discovery the “first successful transcontinental identification” in the global agency’s “Identity Me” campaign Identification More than 40 women have died in six European countries in recent decades. Interpol has been seeking public help to nominate missing women.
Police said the proof of identity means they no longer need to identify victims by their features or clothing, such as “women with flower tattoos” and “women with artificial nails.” Other names include the location where the remains were found, such as “Woman in the Canal” and “Woman in the Suitcase”.
Izaga’s brother reported she disappeared in 2019 and told investigators she left Paraguay in 2013 for Spain.
In August 2018, she was found hanging on a farm in Girona, northeastern Spain.
She had nothing to identify her, and the residents and neighbors of the farm did not know who she was or where she came from.
After the 2023 Interpol appeal was initiated, Paraguayan authorities in March 2025 matched her fingerprint with those provided by Spain and with those in their records.
The sport was confirmed to have won its first European success in November 2023 by Rita Roberts, an murdered in Antwerp, Belgium in 1992. Relatives recognized her through tattoos.
Valdecy Urquiza, Secretary-General of Interpol, said in a statement Activity “It’s about restoring the dignity of the victims and making a voice to those affected by the tragedy.”
Forty-five cases in the “Identify Me” file are still unresolved.
